Director of Software Engineering

Quick Facts

• Senior, hands-on engineering leadership for software architecture, delivery, and modernization
• Leads engineering standards, roadmap execution, and AI-enabled development

Description

Partner Engineering and Science is seeking a creative, hands-on Director of Software Engineering to lead teams, architecture, and delivery of software that supports a professional services business. The role sets technical direction while staying close to the work to make sound architecture, engineering, and AI decisions, including modernization of legacy platforms without disrupting operations.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and develop software engineers; establish engineering standards, architecture principles, code-review practices, and delivery expectations
• Partner with business leaders, product owners, data/analytics teams, and end users to prioritize the development roadmap and deliver projects through deployment
• Guide evolution of legacy and modern applications balancing reliability, security, scalability, maintainability, and speed to value
• Identify and deliver practical AI capabilities across workflows, reporting, knowledge retrieval, automation, and client-facing experiences
• Simplify business workflows by removing repetitive steps and improving the user experience
• Integrate software platforms effectively with enterprise data, APIs, relational databases, Power BI, and internal/external dashboards
• Strengthen engineering operations: testing, CI/CD, observability, documentation, release management, source control, and DevSecOps
• Embed security, privacy, access controls, and responsible AI considerations into application design and development
• Stay hands-on: review designs and code, troubleshoot complex issues, and evaluate new technologies
• Communicate technical choices, risks, trade-offs, and progress clearly to executives and non-technical stakeholders

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive software engineering experience with meaningful responsibility for production applications and architecture
• 8+ years leading developers or engineering teams (preferred)
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or equivalent professional experience
• Strong software engineering and architecture background in modern web and enterprise application development
• Experience delivering complex software projects across multiple stakeholders, priorities, and systems
• Ability to make pragmatic build-versus-buy decisions and balance quality with business urgency
• Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in ambiguous, fast-paced environments
• Excellent communication and critical thinking skills for technical and non-technical audiences
• AI fluency: LLMs, chatbot/agent frameworks, prompt engineering, RAG, embeddings/vector search, evaluation and monitoring, and responsible AI/security practices

Benefits

• Competitive benefits package including health, dental, and vision insurance; vacation and sick time
• 401(k) plan with company match
• Discretionary incentive bonus program (dependent on individual and organizational performance)
• Salary range: $175,000 - $215,000