Vice President of Software Engineering

CIS; United States; Remote; USD 191,000 - 344,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Dental & Vision Insurance

401(k) with Company Match

Paid Time Off

Holidays

Wellness Program

Tuition Reimbursement

Employee Assistance Program

Job summary

Center for Internet Security (CIS) seeks a Vice President of Software Engineering to lead software teams delivering CIS products and internal infrastructure. You will guide architecture, leverage AI-enabled practices, and ensure high quality, scalable delivery aligned to business goals.

You will mentor engineers, drive agile development across remote and distributed teams, and partner with stakeholders to manage risk and metrics. A US work authorization is required.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in software engineering, computer engineering, computer science, or related field
• 15+ years of progressive technical experience in software engineering
• 7+ years in leadership, managing software teams using agile methods and AI tools
• Experience defining software architecture and design standards
• Experience leveraging AI throughout the software development life cycle
• Proven success leading software organizations using agile methods
• Experience reviewing and approving technical designs
• Experience establishing coding standards and best practices
• Ability to influence technology and platform choices with a focus on quality, maintainability, and scalability
• Experience leading modernization and reducing technical debt
• Proven success leading remote and distributed teams with technical mentorship
• Ability to evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends
• Experience acquiring software products and integrating third-party software
• Strong leadership, project management, and communication skills
• Business acumen with experience managing departmental budgets
• Ability to translate mission objectives into measurable engineering outcomes
• Attention to detail and strong prioritization skills
• Must be authorized to work in the United States

Responsibilities

• Provide hands-on technical leadership for Software Engineering teams and architectures
• Lead end-to-end agile software development lifecycle with AI-driven tools
• Drive adoption of modern engineering practices including AI-assisted development and CI/CD
• Mentor engineers through architecture and code reviews
• Lead evaluation and governance of AI technologies and tools
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, learning, and data-driven decision making
• Collaborate with users, stakeholders, product owners, and cybersecurity teams
• Establish and measure engineering performance with meaningful metrics
• Identify risks early and develop mitigation strategies
• Recruit, build, and lead high-performing engineering teams and leaders
• Advocate engineering excellence and AI-enabled modernization across CIS products

Skills

AI & ML in software

Cloud platforms

Software architecture

DevOps

Technical leadership

Mentoring

Security & compliance

Agile methodology

Education

Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering / Computer Science

Tools

CI/CD

Code quality tools

Security tooling

Job description

The Vice President of Software Engineering is part of the Chief Information Technology Office, which resides on the Engineering Leadership team and reports to the Chief Information Officer. As our Vice President of Software Engineering, you will be responsible for leading the CIS Software Engineering teams that develop and support our products and internal infrastructure. The Vice President of Software Engineering provides technical leadership, including managing and mentoring software engineering personnel, guiding software development practices in leveraging state-of-the art practices and tools including leveraging AI-enabled practices, ensuring architectural standards compliance, fostering rapid, agile development and high-quality delivery, and aligning technology solutions with business objectives. This role oversees a portfolio of mission-driven engineering efforts and ensures alignment with organizational goals, user needs, and evolving technologies. The VP of Software Engineering empowers high-performing teams, drives engineering excellence, and ensures that CIS products and services consistently deliver exceptional value, reliability, and impact.

What You’ll Do:

• Provide hands‑on technical leadership for Software Engineering teams, serving as a trusted expert in software architecture, engineering best practices, modern development frameworks, cloud platforms, security, DevOps, and AI‑enabled software development.
• Lead the end‑to‑end agile software development lifecycle, leveraging AI‑driven tools and practices, to rapidly deliver incremental capabilities aligned with user needs and expectations.
• Drive the adoption of modern engineering practices, including AI‑assisted development, automated testing, code quality analysis, intelligent code reviews, DevSecOps, CI/CD, and cloud‑native development methodologies.
• Actively mentor and develop engineers through technical coaching, architecture reviews, code reviews, and the adherence to engineering standards and best practices.
• Lead the evaluation, implementation, and governance of AI technologies and tools, ensuring effective, secure, and responsible use throughout the software development process.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, continuous learning, innovation, accountability, and data‑driven decision‑making within Software Engineering and User Experience teams.
• Collaborate closely with end users, business stakeholders, product owners, architects, cybersecurity teams, and Operational Support teams to ensure solutions are scalable, secure, maintainable, and aligned with organizational objectives.
• Establish and measure engineering performance through meaningful metrics, including product quality, software delivery effectiveness, system reliability, team productivity, AI adoption outcomes, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency.
• Identify technical, operational, and product risks early, leveraging data, engineering insights, and AI‑assisted analysis to proactively develop mitigation strategies and ensure successful delivery.
• Recruit, build, and lead high‑performing Engineering teams; attracting and retaining top technical talent while creating clear pathways for technical growth and leadership development.
• Serve as the primary advocate for engineering excellence, continuous modernization, and AI‑enabled innovation across CIS products and platforms.
• Other tasks and responsibilities as assigned.

What You’ll Need:

• Bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field_
• 15+ years of progressive technical experience in software engineering
• 7+ years of leadership experience, managing software development teams implementing agile methods and leveraging AI tools
• Experience defining software architecture and design standards
• Experience in effectively leveraging AI into the full software development life cycle
• Proven success leading software development organizations using agile methods
• Experience in reviewing and approving technical designs
• Experience establishing coding standards and best practices
• Ability to make and influence decisions on technology and platform selections with an emphasis on software quality, maintainability, and scalability
• Experience leading modernization and technical debt reduction efforts
• Proven success leading remote and distributed teams with the ability to provide technical mentorship to developers
• Ability to proactively evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends
• Experience in the acquisition of software products and services as well as integration of third‑party software products
• Exceptional leadership, project management, and communication skills
• Demonstrated business acumen with experience developing and managing departmental budgets
• Ability to translate mission objectives into measurable engineering outcomes
• Strong organizational and prioritization skills, with attention to detail
• Must be authorized to work in the United States

It’s a Plus if you Have:

• Advanced degree in Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Business, or a related discipline
• Experience implementing or operating knowledge graph technologies
• Additional years of relevant experience or a combination of an Associate’s degree or equivalent and relevant experience may be substituted for the Bachelor’s degree.

Compensation Range: USD$191,100.00 - $344,000.00

At CIS, we are committed to providing an inclusive environment in which the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and views of our employees, members, and customers are valued and respected. It is through this commitment that we are able to work together towards our common mission: to make the connected world a safer place.

CIS takes pride in providing a comprehensive benefits package and supportive work environment. CIS offers a competitive total rewards package at the Center for Internet Security. Benefits include:

• Health (PPO, EPO, HSA)
• Dental & Vision Insurance eligibility starting from the first day of hire $500 wellness card for Health Coverage Participants
• 401(k) with 4% Company Match
• vested from the first day of hire Flexible Spending Account (FSA) & Dependent Care Account (DCA)
• Life Insurance Bonding Leave Paid Volunteering Program Bonus eligibility
• Paid Time Off (PTO) inclusive of vacation, personal and sick time
• Paid Holidays
• Wellness Program
• Employee Engagement Activities
• Professional Development Opportunities
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Student Loan PayDown Program
• Employee Referral program
• Employee Assistance Program

The Center for Internet Security (CIS) makes the connected world a safer place for people, businesses, and governments through our core competencies of collaboration and innovation. We are a community‑driven nonprofit responsible for industry‑leading best practices for securing IT systems and data. CIS is also a trusted resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial (SLTT) government entities and election offices. CIS has an award‑winning reputation for investing in its people, as well as continuous learning and development. We offer our employees diverse opportunities to expand their impact personally and professionally, in their local communities, and among one another. Core Leadership Principles drive our employees at every level of the organization, empowering them to be leaders in everything they do. We are a community‑driven nonprofit, responsible for the CIS Controls® and CIS Benchmarks™, globally recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data. We lead a global community of IT professionals to continuously evolve these standards and provide products and services to proactively safeguard against emerging threats. Our CIS Hardened Images® provide secure, on‑demand, scalable computing environments in the cloud. CIS is home to the Multi‑State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS‑ISAC®), the trusted resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial government entities, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (EI‑ISAC®), which supports the rapidly changing cybersecurity needs of U.S. elections offices.