Technical Director, Platform Engineering

NRG Energy; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 265,000 - 340,000; Full time

Job summary

NRG Energy, owner of Vivint Smart Home, seeks a Technical Director to set the technical vision for Vivint's Platform Engineering. You will define strategy across cloud services, event pipelines, APIs, and infrastructure for millions of connected homes, partnering with Mobile and Embedded teams to ensure end-to-end integration.

This senior principal IC role requires leading architectural changes, guiding standards for reliability and security, and advising executives on major platform

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience.
• 15+ years building and operating production software systems, incl. 5+ years in principal-level or equivalent leadership.
• Track record setting technical direction for large engineering org (multiple teams).
• Deep expertise in large-scale distributed systems and cloud-native architecture (GCP/AWS, Kubernetes, event-driven).
• Experience leading platform architecture changes and migrations, from strategy to delivery.
• Proven ability to influence peer organizations and executives without direct authority.
• Strong written communication and ability to author technical strategy docs.

Responsibilities

• Define the multi-year technical vision and architecture roadmap for Platform Engineering.
• Drive architecture decisions across the platform, including services, shared components, data flows and APIs.
• Collaborate with Mobile and Embedded teams to align interfaces and protocols.
• Establish and govern standards for reliability, security, scalability, observability and developer productivity.
• Advise executives on platform investments, build-vs-buy, and technical risk.
• Lead technical reviews of high-impact initiatives across platform, mobile and device systems.
• Identify systemic debt and drive multi-team remediation plans.

Skills

Distributed systems

Cloud-native architecture

GCP/AWS

Kubernetes

Event-driven systems

Technical leadership

Executive influence

Technical writing

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

MQTT

Job description

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Technical Director, Platform Engineering

Welcome to the intersection of energy and home services. At NRG, we’re driven by our passion to create a smarter, cleaner and more connected future.

Vivint Smart Home, an NRG owned company, is a leading smart home company in the United States, dedicated to redefining the home experience with intelligent products and services. We find purpose in proactively protecting and keeping our customers connected to home, no matter where they are. Join the Smart Home team to create smarter, safer and more sustainable homes.

About This Role

We are seeking a Technical Director to set the technical vision for Vivint's Platform Engineering organization: the cloud services, event pipelines, APIs, and infrastructure behind millions of connected homes. This is a senior principal-level individual-contributor role with scope across a large organization. You will define platform strategy and architecture, and work closely with the Mobile and Embedded software organizations to make sure the platform meets their needs and that systems integrate cleanly end to end. In this role, you will be responsible to:

• Define the multi-year technical vision and architecture roadmap for Platform Engineering, aligned with company strategy.
• Drive architecture decisions across the platform organization, including service boundaries, shared services, data flows, and APIs.
• Partner with Mobile and Embedded engineering leaders to align on platform interfaces, device-to-cloud protocols, and integration patterns, and influence their technical decisions where they affect the platform.
• Establish and govern platform engineering standards for reliability, security, scalability, observability, and developer productivity.
• Advise executive leadership on major platform investments, build-vs-buy decisions, and technical risk.
• Lead technical review of the highest-impact platform initiatives, and engage directly on the most complex problems, including those that span platform, mobile, and device systems.
• Identify systemic technical debt and architectural risk in the platform, and drive multi-team plans to address them.
• Develop principal and staff engineers, and shape technical career paths and the hiring bar for Platform Engineering.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 15+ years of experience building and operating production software systems, including 5+ years in principal-level or equivalent technical leadership roles
• Track record setting technical direction for a large engineering organization (multiple teams), not only a single team or product
• Deep expertise in large-scale distributed systems and cloud-native architecture (e.g., GCP or AWS, Kubernetes, event-driven systems)
• Experience leading major platform architecture changes, such as migrations or service decomposition, from strategy through delivery
• Track record of influencing peer engineering organizations and executives, and driving alignment without direct authority
• Strong written communication, including authoring technical strategy and architecture documents

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with IoT, connected devices, or consumer smart home products
• Working knowledge of mobile and embedded software, including device-to-cloud communication (e.g., MQTT) and mobile API design
• Experience with AI/ML platforms, or integrating AI into platform services and engineering workflows
• Experience with security, privacy, and compliance for consumer products
• Experience with private cloud or hybrid infrastructure and cloud cost management
• Experience establishing architecture review processes, engineering standards, or technical career frameworks

The base salary range for this position is: $265,000 - $340,000* *The base salary range above represents the low and high end of the salary range for this position. Actual salaries will vary based on several factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of the total compensation package for employees. Other rewards may include annual bonus, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards. In addition the position may be eligible to participate in the benefits program which include, but are not limited to, medical, vision, dental, 401K, and flexible spending accounts.

NRG Energy is committed to a drug and alcohol-free workplace. To the extent permitted by law and any applicable collective bargaining agreement, employees are subject to periodic random drug testing, and post-accident and reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing. EOE AA M/F/Vet/Disability. Level, Title and/or Salary may be adjusted based on the applicant's experience or skills.

Official description on file with Talent.