Director of Software Engineering

Job Title:

Director of Software Engineering

Location:

Remote, United States

FLSA Classification

Exempt

Job Description:

The Director of Software Engineering is responsible for the strategic leadership, operational excellence, and technical direction of Orbital Engineering's software engineering organization. Reporting as a senior technology leader, this role oversees multiple software engineering teams responsible for enterprise applications, customer-facing platforms, system integrations, APIs, automation, and emerging digital technologies. The Director establishes engineering standards, drives technical modernization, and ensures software solutions are secure, scalable, reliable, and aligned with business objectives.

This leader combines executive leadership with deep technical credibility to build high-performing teams, modernize software delivery practices, and deliver technology solutions that create measurable business value.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

Engineering Leadership

Lead and develop a high-performing software engineering organization through effective leadership, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, and performance management.

Responsibilities include:

• Build and lead engineering managers, architects, technical leads, and software engineers

• Create a culture of accountability, innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement

• Develop career progression frameworks and technical competency models

• Recruit and retain top engineering talent

• Foster collaboration across Engineering, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, AI, GIS, PMO, and Business Operations

• Establish organizational structures that support scalability and execution

Technology Strategy & Architecture

Provide strategic leadership for the organization's software architecture while ensuring technology investments align with business objectives.

Responsibilities include:

• Develop and execute the enterprise software engineering strategy

• Govern enterprise application architecture and technology standards

• Lead modernization initiatives toward cloud-native and API-first architecture

• Define enterprise integration strategies and shared platform services

• Establish software engineering governance and architectural review processes

• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend strategic investments

• Partner with executive leadership to develop long-term technology roadmaps

Software Delivery & Engineering Excellence

Establish a mature, predictable, and scalable software delivery organization focused on operational excellence.

Responsibilities include:

• Lead execution across multiple software development initiatives

• Improve Agile planning, backlog management, sprint execution, and release planning

• Implement engineering best practices throughout the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)

• Remove delivery constraints and improve organizational velocity

• Establish engineering metrics and delivery scorecards

• Partner with Product, Project Management, and business stakeholders to align priorities and capacity

DevSecOps & Platform Engineering

Drive engineering modernization through automation, security, and operational excellence.

Responsibilities include:

• Establish enterprise DevSecOps practices

• Standardize CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation

• Implement Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices

• Govern source control, branching strategies, and release management

• Improve deployment reliability and change success rates

• Implement application observability, monitoring, and performance management

• Reduce operational risk through automation and standardized engineering practices

Enterprise Platform & Application Strategy

Lead the evolution of Orbital's enterprise software ecosystem.

Responsibilities include:

• Provide technical oversight for enterprise applications and customer-facing platforms

• Lead software platform consolidation and modernization initiatives

• Define API management and enterprise integration standards

• Ensure systems are scalable, resilient, and secure

• Partner with Infrastructure and Cybersecurity teams to maintain platform reliability

• Support enterprise data strategy and application interoperability

AI-Enabled Software Engineering

Lead the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence within the software engineering organization.

Responsibilities include:

• Implement AI-assisted software development practices

• Establish governance for AI-generated code

• Evaluate emerging AI development technologies

• Partner with AI leadership to integrate intelligent capabilities into enterprise applications

• Improve developer productivity through automation and AI-assisted engineering

Secure Software Development

Ensure enterprise software meets the organization's security, compliance, and governance requirements.

Responsibilities include:

• Establish Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) practices

• Partner with Cybersecurity to integrate security throughout the development lifecycle

• Implement secure authentication and authorization standards

• Support compliance initiatives including SOC 2, ISO 27001, and other security frameworks

• Improve vulnerability remediation and application security posture

Quality Assurance & Engineering Governance

Build a culture of engineering quality and operational discipline.

Responsibilities include:

• Standardize SDLC governance and quality gates

• Implement automated testing strategies

• Improve defect management and root cause analysis

• Manage technical debt reduction initiatives

• Establish engineering documentation standards

• Ensure audit readiness across engineering processes

Business Partnership

Serve as a trusted technology partner across the organization.

Collaborate with:

• Executive Leadership

• Engineering Operations

• Business Unit Leaders

• AI Organization

• GIS

• Infrastructure

• Cybersecurity

• PMO

• Finance

• External technology partners and vendors

Translate business strategy into technology solutions that improve operational efficiency, customer experience, and business performance.

Performance Measurement

Establish and monitor executive-level engineering KPIs, including:

• Deployment Frequency

• Lead Time for Change

• Change Failure Rate

• Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)

• Platform Availability

• Application Performance

• Engineering Velocity

• Sprint Predictability

• Technical Debt Reduction

• Customer Adoption

• Security Vulnerability Remediation

• Platform Reliability

• Budget Performance

• Employee Engagement

Provide executive dashboards and quarterly business reviews demonstrating engineering performance, operational health, technology risks, and business outcomes.

Other Duties

• Please note that this job posting does not list all duties and responsibilities that are required of this job.  Duties and responsibilities may change at any time with or without notice.

Work Environment

• Fully Remote

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Engineering, or a related discipline (Master's degree preferred)

• 12+ years of progressive software engineering leadership experience

• 5+ years leading engineering managers and multiple software development teams

• Proven experience delivering enterprise-scale software platforms

• Strong experience with cloud-native architectures (Microsoft Azure preferred)

• Experience with DevSecOps, CI/CD, Infrastructure-as-Code, containers, APIs, and enterprise integration

• Demonstrated experience establishing engineering governance and software delivery standards

• Strong understanding of enterprise architecture, application modernization, cloud technologies, and distributed systems

• Experience managing technology budgets, vendors, and strategic investments

• Knowledge of Agile, Scrum, SAFe, SDLC, and engineering operating models

• Experience partnering with executive leadership and business stakeholders

• Strong understanding of cybersecurity frameworks, application security, SOC 2, and secure software development

• Excellent executive communication, organizational leadership, and change management skills

Preferred

• Experience within engineering consulting, AEC, utilities, industrial services, construction, or infrastructure industries

• Experience leading enterprise application modernization initiatives

• Experience with AI-enabled software engineering and modern developer productivity tools

• Experience with Microsoft Azure, Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, Power Platform, Kubernetes, and enterprise integration platforms

• Experience building customer-facing SaaS or enterprise software products

Salary Range

• $177,000 - $230,000 annually (based on experience, qualifications, and location)

Benefits:

A commitment to excellence and hard work will be rewarded with a competitive salary, career advancement opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, financial security, and work-life balance. Our benefits include medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage; a 401(k)-retirement savings plan; and supplemental insurance options. We also provide company-paid life and AD&D insurance, company-paid short-term disability coverage, and a generous paid time off program to ensure you have the support and flexibility you need both professionally and personally.

About Orbital:

Powered by People, Driven by Solutions

Since 1969, Orbital has been specializing in project development, project execution and asset management for the heavy industrial sectors and utilities. Our regional offices, hands-on mentality, and world-wide integrated teams provide an ability to leverage subject matter experts and industry best-practices wherever a project may lie geographically. Our focus steadfastly remains on finding and delivering the best solution, regardless of where that team sits across our organization. At Orbital, our power is our people.

Equal Opportunity Statement:

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.

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