Director - Data engineering
Summary
Lead multiple engineering teams to deliver scalable cloud-native platforms using modern practices like microservices and DevOps, while overseeing architecture, delivery governance, and talent development.
The Director of Software Engineering is responsible for leading multiple engineering teams, driving technology strategy, ensuring successful product delivery, and building a high-performance engineering organization. This role combines technical leadership, people management, delivery governance, architecture oversight, and stakeholder management to deliver scalable and secure software solutions.
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership
- Define and execute the technology roadmap aligned with business objectives.
- Lead engineering managers, architects, and software development teams.
- Establish engineering best practices, standards, and governance processes.
- Drive innovation, modernization, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Product & Delivery Management
- Oversee end-to-end software development lifecycle (SDLC).
- Ensure predictable and high-quality delivery across multiple programs.
- Partner with Product Management, Architecture, and Business teams to prioritize initiatives.
- Track delivery metrics, engineering productivity, and operational excellence.
Technical Strategy & Architecture
- Guide architectural decisions for scalable cloud-native platforms.
- Promote microservices, API-first, event-driven, and modern engineering practices.
- Ensure security, reliability, scalability, and maintainability of systems.
- Drive adoption of DevOps, CI/CD, automation, and engineering excellence frameworks.
People Leadership
- Build, mentor, and develop engineering managers and senior engineers.
- Conduct workforce planning, hiring, succession planning, and talent development.
- Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, innovation, and accountability.
- Lead performance management and career growth initiatives.
Stakeholder Management
- Collaborate with executive leadership on strategic technology investments.
- Communicate engineering progress, risks, dependencies, and business impacts.
Manage vendor relationships and technology partnerships when required.
Required Skills & Qualifications
Leadership
- Proven experience leading large engineering organizations (50+ engineers preferred).
- Strong experience managing Engineering Managers and Technical Leads.
- Excellent stakeholder and executive communication skills.
Technical Expertise
- Strong understanding of modern software engineering practices.
- Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP.
- Expertise in API architecture, distributed systems, and enterprise application development.
- Experience implementing DevOps, Git-based development, and CI/CD pipelines.
- Strong knowledge of SQL and NoSQL technologies.
Business & Delivery
- Experience managing multimillion-dollar technology programs.
- Expertise in Agile, Scrum, SAFe, or scaled delivery frameworks.
- Strong risk, budget, and vendor management capabilities.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
- Experience in AI/ML platforms, Data Engineering, and Cloud Transformation initiatives.
- Exposure to Kubernetes, Containers, Serverless Architectures, and Enterprise Platforms.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
- On-time delivery of strategic initiatives.
- Platform availability and reliability.
- Engineering productivity and cycle time.
- Employee engagement and retention.
- Technology modernization and automation adoption.
- Customer satisfaction and business impact.
Typical Reporting Structure
Director of Software Engineering → Engineering Managers
→ Technical Leads / Architects
→ Senior Software Engineers
→ Software Engineers / QA Engineers / DevOps Engineers