Senior Director Software Engineering

Fanatics Momentum; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 900,000 - 1,300,000; Full time

Job summary

Fanatics Momentum in Abu Dhabi is seeking a Senior Director of Software Engineering to lead a large, multi-vertical engineering organization, set technical strategy, and deliver robust software across customer-facing products and internal platforms.

You will mentor leaders, drive architectural vision, nurture talent, and ensure speed and quality while aligning with business goals. Occasional travel to Fanatics Betting & Gaming offices may be required.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience managing engineering teams
• 10+ years managing other engineering leaders
• Proven ability to communicate complex technical topics to diverse audiences
• Strong track record with Agile software delivery and SCRUM practices
• Demonstrated experience driving architectural decisions and roadmaps
• Experience building scalable, customer-facing platforms and internal systems
• Ability to recruit, retain, and develop top engineering talent
• Comfort with data-driven decision making and KPI reporting
• Wleads a technically proficient, high-performing organization
• Experience in fast-growth, entrepreneurial environments
• Willingness to travel occasionally to Fanatics Betting & Gaming locations

Responsibilities

• Lead multiple senior technology and engineering leaders across domains
• Deliver the roadmap and ensure achievement of commercial and engineering goals
• Foster leadership and succession planning across teams
• Drive continuous improvement and remove bottlenecks in the department
• Communicate KPI updates to executives and stakeholders
• Shape 5-year architectural visions and forward-looking product solutions
• Mentor engineers and engineering leaders at all levels
• Support talent recruitment and onboard high-potential engineers
• Align engineering strategy with company goals and product roadmap
• Represent Fanatics externally at conferences and industry events

Skills

Engineering leadership

Strategy & roadmapping

People management

Software architecture

Agile / SCRUM

Stakeholder management

Hiring & talent development

Communication

Mentoring & coaching

Cross-functional collaboration

Technical risk management

AI-driven engineering

Job description

About Fanatics Momentum

Fanatics Momentum is building the UAE's leading regulated commercial gaming operator. Licensed by the General Commercial Gaming Regulatory Authority (GCGRA), we operate across lottery, iGaming, sportsbook, and digital content, combining Momentum's regional foundation with Fanatics' global product, technology, and scale. The business is ambitious, well-resourced, and moving fast. If you want to help build a category-defining operator in one of the world's most exciting regulated gaming markets, this is the right time to join.

Senior Director Software Engineering

We're looking for a Senior Director of Software Engineering with strong technical leadership experience to grow and scale our engineering team, deliver business results, and ship high-quality software across customer-facing products and internal platforms. Your department is a sizable domain with many independent verticals, each pursuing multiple paths of tactics and strategy. Your teams will be responsible for architecting, designing, implementing, testing, and maintaining the software needed to provide our customers with an industry-leading experience. This role involves both technical leadership and people management, ensuring that our engineering team is effective, motivated, and aligned with the company's goals.

We are one team; we employ the principles of data-driven development, operational excellence, process calibration, and efficiency to deliver a stable, extensible platform at scale. Through strong fundamentals and excellence in object-oriented design, coding patterns, modern open-source frameworks, and third-party platform integrations, we can achieve our goals of rapidly delivering and innovating in this exciting new market. You will be AI-forward and able to lead the way, inspiring teams to push AI to its boundaries in modern engineering.

Responsibilities

• Build organizations of leaders who lead, fostering an environment where leaders are stretching the boundaries of the art of the possible to solve organizationally impactful software problems
• Lead multiple senior technology and engineering leaders tasked with teams that will deliver software while adhering to and contributing to engineering best practices. These teams will evolve and create architecture and/or product solutions that are exemplary in terms of robustness, stability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness
• Deliver the roadmap and ensure we achieve our commercial and engineering goals
• Ensure the right people are in the right positions, actively building succession plans and creating leadership opportunities
• Foster an environment of continuous improvement, supporting our mission and advocating for the removal of bottlenecks that impact your department
• Drive others to make the business case for communications externally and speak at public events on behalf of Fanatics and at the cutting edge of technology and culture
• Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders, inside and outside of Engineering, and collaborate with leaders to prioritize technical efforts and provide input on product features and capabilities
• Challenge the bar for operational excellence, pushing leaders to set their sights higher
• Provide clear updates (KPIs, status, metrics) to an executive audience and key stakeholders
• Own the direction of your domain and influence the direction of multiple domains, understanding the impact of decisions on the company, delegating tactics and focusing on strategy
• Use metrics and qualitative feedback to drive decisions, and understand and challenge the status quo on developer experience
• Lead other leaders to create 5-year architectural visions and/or forward-looking product solutions that test the boundaries of engineering creativity
• Mentor at all levels of the organization and externally on developing talent
• Help to recruit, assess, and onboard a diverse group of talented engineers and engineering leaders, using metrics, qualitative feedback, and previous experience to achieve hiring targets
• Ultimately responsible for the hiring body of knowledge and the hiring pipelines, and look for opportunities for systemic improvements
• Develop a solid understanding of our industry, product, feature set, and roadmap
• Remain current on the latest technologies and trends in software development
• Must be open to occasional travel to Fanatics Betting & Gaming offices and other locations for conferences, meetings, and team-building activities

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience managing engineering teams, 10+ managing other engineering leaders
• You are an expert technologist with experience in managing multiple teams that can influence and defend our quality posture
• Demonstrated experience determining when to make a case for resourcing (and when not to)
• Able to effectively communicate complex technical subjects to a variety of audiences (engineers, technical leaders, marketing and operations teams, non-technical functional leaders)
• Familiar with Agile software product delivery and SCRUM methodology
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills
• Excellent influencing and problem resolution skills
• Excellent report writing skills with the ability to gather, evaluate and analyze relevant information while structuring material in a logical and coherent manner.
• You have an agile mindset; able to embrace new initiatives in a fast-paced environment
• Thrives in an entrepreneurial, hyper-growth environment where priorities evolve regularly and decisions are made quickly
• Team-first mentality, with a willingness to do what it takes to get the job done and a desire to strive for better
• Able to effectively work cross-functionally within an enterprise environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a start-up/scale up environment
• Demonstrate advanced AI skills and practices
• Experience in international expansion is a bonus

At Fanatics Momentum, we’re proud to be a fair, transparent, and inclusive employer. We value diversity, collaboration, and innovation, and we’re committed to creating an environment where every team member can thrive. If you’re ready to grow your career and help us build Momentum, we’d love to hear from you.