Director of Technology - Engineering

FINRA•Rockville, MD

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

The Director - Engineering is generally autonomous in their oversight and active management for a Technology program and/or practice area and most often reports directly to a Senior Director or Vice President. This role involves directly managing and influencing technology teams to deliver high-quality results across key disciplines including strategy, software development, operations, and engineering. The position requires deep expertise in enterprise software architecture, server-side technologies, modern Java frameworks, RESTful and GraphQL APIs, microservices architectures, and event-driven systems. It also involves providing technical leadership for comprehensive data storage strategies and guiding teams through data modeling decisions. The Director will build and lead high-performing engineering teams, establish accountability, drive agile development practices, ensure quality standards, manage technical debt, and oversee engineering budget activities. They will partner with product management, architecture, and business stakeholders, and provide data-driven reporting to senior leadership. Additionally, the role includes recruiting, hiring, performance management, and fostering a collaborative engineering culture. FINRA is an independent, non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the public in the United States, working to protect investors and maintain market integrity in partnership with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). FINRA uses technology to detect potential abuses across markets, including insider trading, and operates from Washington, DC, and New York, NY, with other offices around the country.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related discipline with at least ten (10) years of related experience, or equivalent training and / or work experience
Minimum of 5 years of technical project, program and / or practice area oversight
Past experience influencing decisions and building conscience across internal and external partners
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
Direct 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
Deep expertise in enterprise software architecture and server-side technologies with proven ability to set technical direction, make critical architectural decisions, and guide design and implementation of scalable, high-performance systems
Deep technical fluency in modern Java frameworks, RESTful and GraphQL APIs, microservices architectures, and event-driven systems, with experience across the full stack from API layer through data persistence to inform architectural decisions, conduct technical reviews, and establish engineering standards
Strong expertise in providing technical leadership for comprehensive data storage strategies across relational databases, NoSQL systems, and/or graph databases

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree
Past Financial Services industry experience

Responsibilities

Directly manage and influence technology teams to deliver high-quality results across key disciplines including strategy, software development, operations, and engineering
Set technical direction, make critical architectural decisions, and guide design and implementation of scalable, high-performance systems
Provide technical leadership for comprehensive data storage strategies across relational databases, NoSQL systems, and/or graph databases
Guide teams through data modeling decisions, evaluate architecture options, and deliver expert technical direction for implementing persistence solutions
Build and lead a high-performing engineering team capable of delivering complex software initiatives on time and within budget
Establish accountability structures, clear delivery commitments aligned to OKRs and foster a culture that balances fast-paced delivery timelines with engineering excellence and sustainable practices
Drive agile development practices focused on iterative delivery of measurable value against OKRs and strategic initiatives
Break down objectives into executable sprints with clear milestones, optimize delivery velocity and predictability, proactively manage risks, and hold teams accountable to committed timelines while maintaining quality standards
Establish rigorous quality gates, testing requirements, code review standards, and performance benchmarks to ensure all deliverables meet organizational standards
Manage technical debt proactively, ensure compliance with security controls and technology policies, and minimize production incidents through proactive quality and risk management practices
Direct engineering budget activities including cloud costs, tooling, and resource allocation—tracking spending against project budgets and identifying optimization opportunities
Partner with product management, architecture, and business stakeholders to align technical execution with strategic priorities
Provide transparent, data-driven reporting to senior leadership on initiative status, delivery metrics, budget utilization, risks, and progress toward OKRs with clear mitigation plans when needed
Recruit, interview, and hire top engineering talent with skills aligned to technical roadmap and delivery needs
Establish clear performance expectations tied to goals, conduct regular performance reviews with actionable feedback, and continuously assess team capabilities to identify skill gaps and training investments needed for current and future technical requirements
Foster a collaborative, high-performance engineering culture that embodies FINRA’s values, promotes knowledge sharing and mentorship across distributed teams, and creates an environment where engineers deliver their best work in support of FINRA’s mission

Benefits

Discretionary bonus
Overtime pay (for non-exempt employees)
Comprehensive health insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
Basic life insurance
Accidental death and dismemberment insurance
Supplemental life insurance
Spouse/domestic partner and dependent life insurance
Spouse/domestic partner and dependent accidental death and dismemberment insurance
Short-term disability
Long-term disability
Long-term care
Business travel accident insurance
Legal assistance
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 programs
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