Director of Software Engineering

Ambition; Singapore; On-site; SGD 300,000 - 600,000; Full time

Job summary

Ambition in Singapore seeks an Executive Director of Technology to define and lead the enterprise software engineering strategy, operating model and long-term platform direction.

You will drive architecture, resilience, security and automation across multiple teams, partnering with senior business and technology stakeholders on strategic decisions.

You should bring a track record of large-scale, enterprise-grade delivery and strong executive presence.

Qualifications

• Experience leading multiple engineering teams and senior technology leaders.
• Strong background in enterprise architecture and distributed systems.
• Experience with microservices, service mesh, and observability platforms.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive the enterprise software engineering strategy and operating model.
• Shape software architecture and long-term platform strategy.
• Drive improvements across software delivery, SDLC, quality engineering and automation.
• Strengthen application security, operational resilience and service reliability.
• Develop engineering standards, governance and best practices across teams.
• Drive observability, production ownership and operational excellence.
• Lead productivity initiatives through automation and AI.
• Explore AI-native and agentic approaches to software engineering.
• Build engineering capability through leadership development, mentoring and succession planning.
• Partner with senior business and technology stakeholders on strategic technology decisions.

Skills

Senior leadership

Software architecture

Enterprise architecture

Distributed systems

Microservices

Cloud platforms

SRE resilience

Stakeholder management

Executive presence

Regulated environments

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, ICT or related

Job description

I am currently working on a senior technology leadership opportunity with an established organisation in Singapore.

This is an Executive Director-level role with broad responsibility for software engineering strategy, engineering transformation, platform resilience and technical leadership across multiple teams and technology domains.

The role will suit a senior engineering leader who enjoys working at an enterprise level while still having a strong understanding of modern engineering practices and technology.

What you’ll be responsible for:

• Define and drive the enterprise software engineering strategy and operating model
• Shape software architecture and long‑term platform strategy
• Drive improvements across software delivery, SDLC, quality engineering and automation
• Strengthen application security, operational resilience and service reliability
• Develop engineering standards, governance and best practices across teams
• Drive observability, production ownership and operational excellence
• Lead productivity initiatives through automation and AI
• Explore AI-native and agentic approaches to software engineering
• Build engineering capability through leadership development, mentoring and succession planning
• Partner with senior business and technology stakeholders on strategic technology decisions

What we’re looking for:

• Extensive experience in senior software engineering, platform engineering or technology leadership
• Experience leading multiple engineering teams and senior technology leaders
• Strong background in enterprise architecture, distributed systems and modern software engineering
• Experience with microservices, service mesh and observability platforms
• Strong cloud experience across AWS EKS, Azure AKS and/or GCP GKE
• Strong understanding of SRE, incident management, resilience and capacity planning
• Experience operating in complex, high‑availability or regulated environments
• Strong executive presence and stakeholder management skills
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, ICT or a related discipline
• Exposure to financial markets, trading, clearing, settlement or other market infrastructure would be advantageous