Senior Director, Platform Software Engineering

Description

Sets platform strategy for large groups; operates program-level budgets to evolve shared services with broad organizational impact. Accountable for cross-group delivery of observability frameworks, error budgets, and resilience standards. Orchestrates complex migrations and deprecations with safe upgrade paths for numerous downstream teams. Influences organizational-wide adoption and compliance with platform guardrails and security controls. Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Platform Software Development:

• Set 1–3 year platform direction for large groups, funding core shared services and establishing organization-wide API/SDK governance.

• Orchestrate complex, multi-team migrations and upgrade programs with enterprise error-budget targets and adoption KPIs.

• Harmonize observability and resilience standards across groups; enforce platform guardrails that reduce systemic reliability and compliance risk.

Software Development and Coding - Design, Testing, and Optimization:

• Drives key strategic initiatives to design and implement multiple software solutions and identify and analyze requirements to ensure alignment with business and organizational goals.

• Integrates information from multiple areas to develop, guide, and innovate new software features and enhancements for design specifications, ensuring accessibility, and to develop documents to clarify software design and code.

• Leads design and specification reviews to drive improvements across multiple programs, products, and/or organizations.

• Provides thought leadership and pioneers new approaches for group for software development and quality assurance.

• Oversees departments to implement software testing (e.g., functional and non-functional), quality assurance processes, software error logging, monitoring, and observability for effective debugging.

• Adapts and/or drives optimization of design and development practices to improve performance across products and domains to meet evolving business priorities.

• Oversees a group in troubleshooting and resolving issues related to application programming interface (API) functionality and integration.

• Addresses ambiguous challenges for implementing API versioning, lifecycle, and interoperability strategies.

Software Architecture - Software System Structural Design:

• Oversees the design and development of software, systems, and services.

• Coaches directors/managers to provide technical guidance and domain expertise in software architecture decisions and best practices.

• Pioneers new approaches and utilizes conceptual thinking for group to conduct periodic reviews and ensures adherence to architectural standards.

• Collaborates with stakeholders and cross-functional teams within and outside of organization, including executive leadership to align and build software architecture with business and/or customer goals and priorities in focus.

• Sets standards to implement performance optimization and scalability strategies in software design.

• Develops and provides strategy, vision, and direction for group to conduct regular technology research and evaluation for architectural enhancements.

Issue/Defect Collaboration - Software Products Support:

• Cultivates partnerships with stakeholders and senior leaders within and outside the organization to understand customer issues and align solutions.

• Oversees group to provide technical guidance and appropriately prioritize support to customers regarding reported issues.

• Drives key strategic initiatives that advocate for customers' interests and suggests product enhancements based on feedback.

• Champions the organization to ensure customer success and satisfaction through timely resolution of issues and effective communication.

• Drives direction for the implementation of training for customer issue and/or defect handling processes.

• Directs group through the investigation and troubleshooting of the most complex and broadly reaching product maintenance issues to ensure customer agreement on short- and long-term solutions.

Practices and Standards Compliance - Security and Compliance:

• Collaborates with group and senior leadership to ensure compliance and alignment to evolving/dynamic industry best practices and processes.

• Develops strategic plans and objectives for driving adherence to broad acceptance criteria to impact development processes across the organization.

• Implements highly complex and strategic secure software development practices/solutions to prevent security vulnerabilities that span across the organization.

Development Operations - System Maintenance:

• Drives strategic initiatives to ensure group performs periodic maintenance and testing operations for systems that require upgrading or patching (e.g., for critical vulnerabilities).

• Ensures group is aware of and adheres to service contract, terms, and conditions.

• Oversees group to proactively evolve standard operating procedures (SOP) for development and drive improvements, and sets direction to ensure automation, testing, and debugging of systems to ensure service/product availability, health, support, and reliability.

Core Responsibilities

Planning & Execution:

• Provides strategic oversight on the management and execution of large-scale projects or initiatives, monitoring timelines, deliverables, and budgets when applicable to ensure success. Sets strategies for appropriately delegating work, setting priorities, and aligning projects with business needs. Drives the strategic planning process across teams, providing guidance on resources or timelines in anticipation of changes.

Collaboration & Partnership:

• Sets a strategic direction for collaborating with cross-functional teams to ensure alignment of expectations and strategic objectives. Drives a culture of teamwork, empowering teams to build and maintain partnerships with business leaders, stakeholders, and/or customers to contribute to organizational success. Promotes a culture of transparency and inclusivity where all voices are valued and respected.

Problem Solving:

• Develops and implements strategies for specialized, advanced problem-solving efforts across the organization, serving as an escalation point for highly complex operational and/or technical issues. Oversees teams leveraging innovative techniques to address significant ambiguous issues, identify root causes, and prevent recurrence, reviewing solutions as needed.

Continuous Learning:

• Champions continuous learning to maintain cutting-edge skills and influence organizational best practices. Inspires teams to build and maintain expertise in relevant areas by proactively monitoring emerging trends, technologies, and industry standards to help position the organization as an industry leader. Contributes to the organization’s strategy for learning and development, influencing leadership to foster learning opportunities for the team.

Continuous Improvement:

• Drives a culture of continuous improvement that sets a standard for efficient and effective processes, protocols, and workflows across the organization. Oversees work to implement large-scale approaches and methods for continued improvement, ensuring changes align with organizational goals. Sets the strategic direction, prioritizes, and approves the roadmap of improvement initiatives to maximize return on investments.

Performance and Development:

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