Director of Application Engineering

Director of Application Engineering at Inside Higher Ed. Lead the strategy, development, and support of our Enterprise Applications. Build and manage a world-class engineering team to ensure the stability, scalability, and innovation of mission-critical systems across the organization.

• Application Architecture: Designing scalable, secure, and sustainable solutions.
• Application Integration: Driving seamless interoperability across enterprise systems.
• Custom Application Development: Leading teams to build tailored applications that advance organizational goals.
• Application Administration: Ensuring reliable operations, monitoring, and performance.
• Application Lifecycle Support: Managing upgrades, enhancements, and long-term system sustainability.

You’ll collaborate with IT leaders, business units, and external partners to align technology with organizational priorities and deliver forward-thinking solutions that empower users and enhance efficiency.

• Proven leadership experience in application engineering, enterprise architecture, or software development.
• Strong knowledge of integration technologies, application lifecycle management, and enterprise platforms.
• Background in custom application development and administration.
• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional teams and manage vendor/partner relationships.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Experience in higher education or large-scale enterprise IT environments.
• Familiarity with cloud-native architectures, APIs, and DevOps practices.
• Knowledge of IT governance, compliance, and security best practices.

This is a strategic leadership role at the intersection of technology and business operations. You’ll have the opportunity to shape the future of enterprise applications, lead a high-performing team, and make a lasting impact on the organization’s digital transformation. We offer competitive salary, comprehensive benefits, professional development opportunities, and flexible work options.

• Job Open Date: 08/25/2025
• Job Close Date: 10/09/2025
• Open Until Filled: No
• Location: Columbia, SC (on-site)
• Employment type: Full-time
• Hours per week: 37.5
• Seniority level: Director
• Job Function: Engineering and Information Technology
• Department: IT Enterprise Applications

Job Related Minimum Education And Experience: Requires a bachelor’s degree in a job-related field and at least 8 years of job-related experience, which may be substituted by an equivalent combination of job-related certification, training, education, and/or experience. Some prior management is also required.

• Skill in IT project management.
• Knowledge of planning IT programs and work activities in an IT environment.
• Ability to plan and supervise the implementation of IT-based activities and objectives.
• Ability to plan, organize, direct, and review the work of technical personnel.
• Ability to lead other IT management professionals.
• Ability to establish and maintain working relationships with users, technical staff, management, vendors, and others.
• Ability to develop external relationships and partnerships.

• Supervises employees by applying appropriate management principles according to university policy and procedures, completing EPMS timely and accurately, and monitoring employee progress toward goal attainment. Communicates expectations and provides feedback to assist employee with performance improvement, professional development, and skills/competency development.
• Application Integration: Manages team responsible for application integration including any integrations where an endpoint is an application that the Division of IT supports.
• Application Architecture: Responsible for oversight of all aspects of application architecture, which encompasses how applications are built, deployed, configured, and supported.
• App Administration and Support: Responsibility for 3rd party application administration and support for applications for which the Division of IT is responsible, including technical aspects of managing the 3rd party vendor applications.
• Custom Application Development: Responsible for the application development, deployment, and support of applications that the Division of IT has responsibility for.
• Enterprise Wide Application Lifecycle Management: Facilitate application package RFPs and provide guidance across campus during procurement to support architecture and integration that meet university business and IT needs.

Safety Sensitive Or Security Sensitive: No

Hazardous Weather Category: Non-Essential

The University of South Carolina does not discriminate in educational or employment opportunities or decisions for qualified persons on the basis of age, ancestry, citizenship status, color, disability, ethnicity, familial status, gender, gender identity or expression, genetic information, HIV/AIDs status, military status, national origin, pregnancy, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status, or any other bases under federal, state, local law, or regulations.