Associate Director / Lead Engineer, GenAI

FINRA•Rockville, MD

1d•$114,200 - $248,700•Hybrid

About The Position

The Associate Director / Lead Engineer leads a small team of software engineers responsible for designing and delivering the data pipelines, retrieval systems, and knowledge integrations that power a generative AI platform. This role combines technical leadership with people management — setting architectural direction, removing blockers, and ensuring the team delivers high-quality, scalable solutions. The Associate Director /Lead Engineer balances hands-on technical involvement with strategic planning, stakeholder communication, and team development.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related discipline with at least five (5) years of related experience, or equivalent training and/or work experience
Minimum of 3 years of managing technical programs and/or processes including staff management of at least four (4) resources and budget of at least $1 million annually.
Knowledge of business, technology and management principles involved in strategic planning, organizational change management, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, and coordination of people and resources.
Experience must include direct project experience in one of the following areas: strategy, software development, operations, engineering, development services, information security, and/or compliance.
Extensive knowledge of industry leading technology best practices including familiarity with technology methodologies including at least one of ISO-9000, ITIL, Agile and iterative.
Excellent written and verbal technical communication skills.
Demonstrated ability to develop effective working relationships and leverage those relationships to improve the quality of work products.
Must be able to identify, evaluate and recommend processes, tools, technologies and/or products to meet business and budgetary requirements.
Should be well organized, thorough, and able to handle competing priorities.
Ability to maintain focus and develop proficiency in new skills rapidly.
Ability to work in a fast paced environment.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree and past Financial Services industry experience preferred.

Responsibilities

Directly manage team(s) focused on delivering high quality project results within one or more major technology disciplines: strategy, software development, operations, engineering, development services, information security, and compliance.
Focus on team leadership, delivery of business value, risk mitigation, cost optimization and return on investment.
Deliver results based upon FINRA annual goals, department goals and management requests.
Direct and coordinate organization's financial and budget activities to fund operations, maximize investments, and increase efficiency for a project(s).
Ensure technology best practices are being implemented and improved within team(s).
Analyze information and evaluate results to choose the best solutions and solve problems.
Support the evaluation of new technologies, techniques, and tools.
Report status and issues to senior Technology management team.
Work directly with outside vendors to negotiate services and product agreements
Willingness to lead, take responsibility and offer options.
Serve as a backup to more senior level management as needed.
Develop constructive and cooperative working relationships with peers both within and outside of Technology, and maintain them over time.
Establish and maintain external relationships with strategic product/service vendors and industry forums (government & private councils, standards bodies, product forums, etc.), as appropriate.
Contribute to the establishment, evolution and continued compliance with standard practices and processes within the disciplines.
Assist with adherence to technology policies and comply with all security controls.
Ensure all work products meets/exceeds FINRA standards and risks are effectively managed.
Participate in periodic Disaster Recovery (DR), Business Continuity Planning (BCP) and Sarbanes Oxley (SOX) testing and reporting.
Identify and hire resource/skills needed within their organization.
Responsible for staff performance management and training.
Coordinate assignment of subordinate staff.
Demonstration of FINRA’s values.
Collaboration, both in-person and virtually, in furtherance of FINRA’s mission of investor protection and market integrity.
Set the technical vision and architectural direction for knowledge framework integrations, including data ingestion, embedding pipelines, and retrieval systems
Make key design decisions on pipeline architecture, data modeling, and search strategies, balancing quality, performance, and delivery timelines
Evaluate and recommend technologies, frameworks, and approaches for knowledge integration challenges
Maintain sufficient hands-on involvement to provide credible technical guidance and unblock the team on complex problems
Demonstrate solid understanding of systems and processes within the domain and recommend improvements
Manage, mentor, and develop a small team of software engineers, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement
Conduct regular one-on-ones, provide constructive feedback, and support career growth for direct reports
Plan and prioritize team workload, balancing feature delivery, technical debt, and operational responsibilities
Recruit, onboard, and ramp new team members as the team scales
Champion collaborative resolution of defects and lead internal process improvement initiatives
Establish and enforce engineering standards for code quality, testing, documentation, and peer review across the team
Guide the team in best practices for data pipeline development, retrieval system design, and test automation
Ensure comprehensive test coverage including unit testing, integration testing, and retrieval quality evaluation
Drive adoption of test-driven development (TDD) practices and automated quality gates
Own the team's roadmap and delivery commitments, translating business requirements into actionable technical plans
Break down complex integration initiatives into well-scoped work items with clear acceptance criteria
Track progress, identify risks early, and adjust plans to meet deadlines without sacrificing quality
Provide regular status updates and delivery forecasts to leadership
Partner with product, platform engineering, and agent development teams to align knowledge integration priorities with broader platform goals
Communicate complex or technical information at the appropriate level for diverse audiences including leadership, peers, and external partners
Represent the team in cross-functional planning sessions, architecture reviews, and prioritization discussions
Build strong working relationships across the organization to facilitate collaboration and shared accountability
Stay informed of advances in RAG architectures, embedding models, retrieval optimization, and knowledge management approaches
Evaluate emerging technologies and techniques for applicability to the team's work, making build-vs-buy recommendations
Drive innovation within the team by creating space for experimentation and proof-of-concept work
Ensure all team deliverables meet or exceed organizational standards for secure development practices
Oversee secure handling of sensitive domain data throughout the ingestion and retrieval lifecycle
Assist with adherence to technology policies and ensure the team complies with all security controls
Participate in threat modeling and security discussions for data pipeline and infrastructure components

Benefits

comprehensive health, dental and vision insurance
basic life, accidental death and dismemberment, supplemental life, spouse/domestic partner and dependent life, and spouse/domestic partner and dependent accidental death and dismemberment, short- and long-term disability, long-term care, business travel accident, disability and legal.
immediate participation and vesting in a 401(k) plan with company match
eligibility for participation in an additional FINRA-funded retirement contribution
tuition reimbursement
commuter benefits
adoption assistance
backup family care
surrogacy benefits
employee assistance
wellness programs
15 days of paid time off
5 personal days
9 sick days
two volunteer service days
military leave
jury duty leave
bereavement leave
voting and election official leave for federal, state or local primary and general elections
care of a family member leave (available after 90 days of employment)
childbirth and parental leave (available after 90 days of employment)
nine paid holidays