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 provides direct management and influence over technology teams to deliver high-quality results across key disciplines including strategy, software development, operations, and engineering. The position requires deep technical expertise in enterprise software architecture and server-side technologies, with a proven ability to set technical direction, make critical architectural decisions, and guide the design and implementation of scalable, high-performance systems. Strong fluency in modern Java frameworks, RESTful and GraphQL APIs, microservices architectures, and event-driven systems is essential, along with experience across the full stack from API layer through data persistence. The role also demands expertise in providing technical leadership for comprehensive data storage strategies, including relational databases, NoSQL systems, and/or graph databases, guiding teams through data modeling decisions and evaluating architecture options. Furthermore, the Director will build and lead a high-performing engineering team capable of delivering complex software initiatives on time and within budget, driving agile development practices, establishing rigorous quality gates, and managing technical debt. Budgetary oversight for engineering activities, including cloud costs and resource allocation, is also a key responsibility. Collaboration with product management, architecture, and business stakeholders is crucial for aligning technical execution with strategic priorities. The role involves recruiting, interviewing, and hiring top engineering talent, establishing performance expectations, conducting reviews, and fostering a collaborative, high-performance engineering culture that embodies FINRA’s values.

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.
Experience must include 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 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.
FINRA employees are required to disclose to FINRA all brokerage accounts that they maintain, and those in which they control trading or have a financial interest (including any trust account of which they are a trustee or beneficiary and all accounts of a spouse, domestic partner or minor child who lives with the employee) and to authorize their broker-dealers to provide FINRA with duplicate statements for all of those accounts.
All of those accounts are subject to the Code’s investment and securities account restrictions, and new employees must comply with those investment restrictions—including disposing of any security issued by a company on FINRA’s Prohibited Company List or obtaining a written waiver from their Executive Vice President—by the date they begin employment with FINRA.
Employees may only maintain securities accounts that must be disclosed to FINRA at one or more securities firms that provide an electronic feed (e-feed) of data to FINRA, and must move securities accounts from other securities firms to a firm that provides an e-feed within three months of beginning employment.
Employees must also execute FINRA’s Employee Confidentiality and Invention Assignment Agreement without qualification or modification and comply with the company’s policy on nepotism.

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.
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

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.
401(k) plan with company match
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