Director of Software Engineering

Agilent Technologies•Santa Clara, CA

1d•$184,800 - $346,500•Remote

About The Position

Agilent is seeking an experienced Director of Software Engineering to lead teams building a unified software platform. The role is responsible for developing high-performing engineering organizations, delivering high-quality commercial software, establishing strong technical and architectural practices, and improving execution across the product lifecycle. It requires deep software engineering expertise, technical judgment, people leadership, life-sciences domain knowledge, and the ability to operate across a global, multi-business organization. The Director will work closely with Product Management, R&D, Systems Engineering, Architecture, Quality, and business leadership to turn customer and market needs into software strategies and roadmaps. The role also supports adoption of AI-enabled and automated engineering practices when these improve productivity, quality, and speed. The engineering scope may span instrument and embedded software, desktop applications, enterprise informatics, cloud services, APIs, and data platforms, including software for analytical products within a larger portfolio. The position is full-time, offers the option to work remotely, requires travel 25% of the time, and has a day shift. The posted full-time equivalent pay range is $184,800–$346,500 per year, with eligibility for bonus, stock, and benefits. Applications are accepted until at least November 17, 2026, or until the job is no longer posted.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Bioinformatics, or a related technical discipline.
Minimum of 5 years of experience formally or informally leading people, projects, and/or programs.
Deep software engineering and architecture credibility, with strong systems thinking and technical problem-solving capability.
Proven ability to lead and develop engineering organizations and other engineering leaders.
Ability to balance technical quality, speed, customer needs, regulatory requirements, and business priorities.
Strong understanding of software quality, cybersecurity, reliability, and regulated development.
Strong product and customer orientation, change-leadership capability, executive communication, and stakeholder management.
Ability to influence across a distributed, multi-business organization and openness to new technologies and engineering approaches.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or equivalent advanced technical education.

Responsibilities

Own software engineering execution across the product lifecycle, from concept through development, verification, release, sustaining engineering, and lifecycle management.
Partner with Product Management and R&D leadership to translate customer needs and business priorities into executable software strategies and roadmaps.
Establish predictable planning, development, and release processes while balancing new-product development, platform investment, technical debt, sustaining engineering, and regulatory commitments.
Lead, develop, and scale a high-performing software engineering organization responsible for analytical products as part of a larger portfolio.
Provide leadership across software domains that may include instrument and embedded software, desktop applications, enterprise informatics, cloud services, APIs, and data platforms.
Develop engineering managers, senior technical leaders, and individual contributors; attract and retain strong software engineering talent.
Manage dependencies across software, firmware, hardware, systems engineering, automation, and scientific workflows; provide senior leadership visibility into risks, tradeoffs, and investment needs.
Lead globally distributed teams and create an operating model that enables teams across regions to work as one integrated engineering organization.
Ensure software development practices meet the quality and regulatory expectations of life-science, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, and other regulated customer environments.
Partner with Quality and Regulatory teams to strengthen lifecycle practices, design controls, verification and validation, documentation, traceability, and audit readiness.