Director of Software Engineering

SoTalent; Sussex (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Sotalent in Sussex, WI is seeking an Assistant Director of Software Engineering to provide technical leadership across web apps, APIs, and data platforms. You will guide architecture, oversee delivery, and mentor engineers to build scalable, secure solutions.

You will set engineering standards, drive modernization, and align projects with business goals while mentoring teams and shaping a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering, application development, or data engineering experience.
• Experience leading engineers directly or demonstrated readiness for people leadership responsibilities.
• Proven technical leadership across complex, enterprise-scale initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Define and communicate technical direction aligned with organizational objectives and enterprise technology standards.
• Translate business goals and product requirements into scalable technical solutions and implementation roadmaps.
• Lead solution design across front-end applications, backend services, APIs, data platforms, and analytics solutions.
• Establish architecture patterns, integration standards, and engineering best practices.
• Guide technical decision-making while balancing scalability, maintainability, performance, security, and delivery timelines.

Skills

Full-Stack Development

React

Node.js

REST APIs

Microservices

Data Warehousing

Data Modeling

Data Governance

Tools

CI/CD

Observability

Job description

Assistant Director, Software Engineering

Location: Sussex, WI, US

Work Setting: On-site

Are you passionate about leading high-performing engineering teams, building scalable full-stack and data-driven platforms, and driving technical excellence across modern web applications, APIs, and enterprise data ecosystems? We are seeking an Assistant Director, Software Engineering to provide technical leadership, delivery oversight, and people management for a multidisciplinary engineering organization. This role combines software architecture, full-stack development, data engineering, engineering management, and strategic leadership to deliver secure, scalable, and reliable technology solutions that support critical business operations and long-term digital transformation initiatives.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Strategy & Architecture Leadership

• Define and communicate technical direction aligned with organizational objectives and enterprise technology standards.
• Translate business goals and product requirements into scalable technical solutions and implementation roadmaps.
• Lead solution design across front-end applications, backend services, APIs, data platforms, and analytics solutions.
• Establish architecture patterns, integration standards, and engineering best practices.
• Guide technical decision-making while balancing scalability, maintainability, performance, security, and delivery timelines.

Full-Stack Application Development

• Oversee the development and enhancement of modern web applications and digital platforms.
• Drive delivery of responsive, secure, and user-centric solutions across front-end and backend environments.
• Ensure applications are built using modern engineering standards and reusable design patterns.
• Support development of scalable APIs and service-oriented architectures.
• Promote software quality through strong engineering discipline and technical governance.
• Lead the design and optimization of enterprise data platforms, pipelines, and reporting solutions.
• Guide development of scalable data models, transformation frameworks, and analytics capabilities.
• Ensure data quality, integrity, governance, and lineage across systems.
• Drive performance optimization initiatives within data warehouse and analytics environments.
• Support decision-making through reliable, well-structured data architecture.

Engineering Delivery & Execution

• Drive end-to-end delivery of software and data initiatives from concept through production deployment.
• Lead technical planning, decomposition, estimation, and execution activities across multiple initiatives.
• Coordinate delivery efforts spanning applications, APIs, integrations, data pipelines, and platform services.
• Ensure projects are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with business objectives.
• Maintain strong operational readiness and delivery excellence across engineering programs.

Engineering Standards & Operational Excellence

• Establish and enforce standards for coding practices, testing, CI/CD, observability, security, and reliability.
• Promote a culture of engineering excellence and continuous improvement.
• Improve software quality through automated testing, reviews, monitoring, and performance optimization.
• Ensure systems meet enterprise requirements for scalability, maintainability, and supportability.
• Drive adoption of modern development and deployment practices.
• Identify technical risks early and develop mitigation strategies.
• Assess architecture, performance, security, integration, and operational risks throughout project lifecycles.
• Support incident response, root cause analysis, and long-term remediation efforts.
• Improve system resilience through proactive engineering improvements and operational best practices.
• Ensure business-critical applications maintain high availability and reliability.

Engineering Leadership

• Serve as a direct leader and mentor for software and data engineers.
• Foster a culture of accountability, ownership, collaboration, and innovation.
• Support career growth through structured coaching, mentoring, and development opportunities.
• Conduct performance management, goal setting, and professional development discussions.
• Create an inclusive environment that encourages learning and knowledge sharing.

Talent Development

• Build technical capabilities and leadership skills across the engineering organization.
• Provide ongoing feedback and technical coaching.
• Support succession planning and long-term talent development strategies.
• Partner with leadership on recruitment, onboarding, and workforce planning initiatives.
• Develop future technical leaders through mentorship and exposure to strategic initiatives.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Stakeholder Partnership

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Architects, Engineering Leaders, and Business Stakeholders.
• Balance delivery speed, technical quality, and long-term maintainability.
• Coordinate dependencies across teams, platforms, and initiatives.
• Align engineering execution with strategic business priorities.
• Communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Partner with architecture and platform teams to drive consistency across engineering practices.
• Contribute to enterprise standards, technical roadmaps, and modernization strategies.
• Support adoption of shared technologies, frameworks, and engineering patterns.
• Ensure solutions align with broader organizational technology objectives.
• Foster collaboration across multiple engineering and business functions.

Required Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering, application development, or data engineering experience.
• Experience leading engineers directly or demonstrated readiness for people leadership responsibilities.
• Proven technical leadership across complex, enterprise-scale initiatives.
• Strong experience developing modern web applications and enterprise software platforms.
• Expertise in backend services, API design, and distributed application architectures.
• Experience with data warehousing, data modeling, and analytics platforms.
• Strong understanding of secure, scalable, and observable system design.

Technical Skills

Application Development

• Full-Stack Development
• React
• Node.js
• REST APIs
• Microservices
• Data Warehousing
• Data Modeling
• Data Governance
• Database Optimization

Software Engineering

• System Design
• Software Architecture
• CI/CD
• Automated Testing
• Observability & Monitoring
• Performance Tuning

Leadership & Delivery

• Agile Delivery
• Technical Roadmap Planning
• Stakeholder Management
• Team Development

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within investment management, financial services, or capital markets environments.
• Experience modernizing legacy applications and data platforms.
• Exposure to enterprise migration and platform transformation initiatives.
• Experience implementing shared engineering standards across multiple teams.
• Background leading complex technology transformation programs.