Director, Software Engineering, Customer Experience Platforms

CFA Institute•Charlottesville, VA

About The Position

Are you driven to build and scale platforms that power seamless, end-to-end customer experiences? The Director, Software Engineering, Customer Experience Platforms leads engineering delivery, architecture strategy, and technical operations across CFA Institute’s digital ecosystem—including enterprise CMS and Salesforce platforms. You’ll drive secure, scalable, and integrated solutions that support content, CRM, and omnichannel engagement, while leading high-performing teams and translating complex business needs into reliable, modern engineering outcomes. What You’ll Do Platform Strategy & Architecture Leadership Lead the architecture, development, enhancement, integration, and maintenance of CFA Institute’s customer experience platforms, including CMS and Salesforce. Define and govern a composable digital experience architecture leveraging headless CMS, Salesforce platform capabilities, and API-first integration patterns. Architect scalable, secure, and extensible solutions enabling personalized, omnichannel customer journeys. Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards, integration patterns, and security frameworks. Conduct “as-is” and “to-be” architecture assessments across CMS and Salesforce ecosystems to drive modernization and scalability. CMS & Digital Experience Platforms Own engineering strategy and delivery for enterprise CMS platforms (Acquia/Drupal), including headless and hybrid architectures. Enable content lifecycle management, publishing workflows, localization, and multi-channel content distribution. Ensure seamless integration between the CMS and various downstream digital channels. Support personalization, A/B testing, and dynamic content delivery capabilities. Salesforce Platform Engineering Lead engineering ownership of Salesforce platform ecosystem (e.g., Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud as applicable). Define and govern Salesforce architecture, including data model, integration patterns, and extensibility strategy. Oversee development of custom applications, automations, and integrations using Salesforce platform capabilities. Ensure scalability, data integrity, security, and performance of Salesforce environments. Partner with business stakeholders to enable customer lifecycle management, engagement, and revenue operations. Integration & Customer Data Ecosystem Define and oversee integration strategy across CMS, Salesforce, identity platforms, data platforms, and enterprise systems. Ensure robust API and event-driven integration patterns enabling real-time customer data exchange and orchestration. Oversee identity and access management (SSO, OAuth2, SAML) and customer identity resolution. Enable customer 360 data architecture in partnership with Data & Analytics teams. Engineering Delivery & Operational Excellence Ensure high-quality delivery of customer-facing digital platforms with strong SLAs and reliability. Maintain CI/CD pipelines, DevSecOps practices, and release governance for CMS and Salesforce platforms. Oversee vendors supporting CMS, Salesforce, and digital experience capabilities and services. Customer Experience & Commercial Enablement Architect solutions supporting customer acquisition, engagement, retention, and monetization models. Enable capabilities such as subscriptions, customer segmentation, campaign orchestration, and partner experiences. Serve as senior technical advisor for digital experience and CRM-related initiatives. Data, Analytics & Personalization Enable telemetry across CMS and Salesforce platforms to support customer behavior analytics and journey optimization. Support personalization engines, segmentation, and campaign performance tracking. Evaluate AI/ML use cases for content personalization, recommendations, and automation. Talent & Organizational Leadership Build, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams, including both FTE and vendor resources. Drive capability development in platform engineering, interoperability standards, and modern architecture patterns. Foster a culture of accountability, experimentation, and continuous improvement. Collaborate across Product, Education, Partnerships, Security, and Enterprise Architecture to ensure shared understanding of technical direction and priorities.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree required; master’s degree or equivalent experience preferred.
8+ years of progressive software engineering and platform experience, including enterprise-scale architecture and distributed systems.
3+ years of managerial experience with responsibility for people leadership, platform delivery, and operational outcomes.
Demonstrated experience designing and delivering multi-tenant SaaS or API-first platforms serving enterprise or B2B clients.
Experience with Salesforce platform (Sales, Service, Experience, Marketing Cloud).
Experience with enterprise CMS platforms (headless or hybrid).
Experience integrating enterprise systems such as CRM, CMS, identity providers, and analytics platforms.
Experience designing customer experience platforms and omnichannel architectures.
API-first, microservices, integration, identity, and enterprise architecture requirements
Strong understanding of secure architecture, identity and access management, compliance considerations, and data governance.
Excellent communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into business-relevant language for senior leaders and external partners.
Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale digital programs with high organizational visibility.
Excellent analytical, consulting, and problem-solving skills.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with customer data platforms (CDPs), personalization tools, and marketing technologies.

Responsibilities

Lead the architecture, development, enhancement, integration, and maintenance of CFA Institute’s customer experience platforms, including CMS and Salesforce.
Define and govern a composable digital experience architecture leveraging headless CMS, Salesforce platform capabilities, and API-first integration patterns.
Architect scalable, secure, and extensible solutions enabling personalized, omnichannel customer journeys.
Ensure alignment with enterprise architecture standards, integration patterns, and security frameworks.
Conduct “as-is” and “to-be” architecture assessments across CMS and Salesforce ecosystems to drive modernization and scalability.
Own engineering strategy and delivery for enterprise CMS platforms (Acquia/Drupal), including headless and hybrid architectures.
Enable content lifecycle management, publishing workflows, localization, and multi-channel content distribution.
Ensure seamless integration between the CMS and various downstream digital channels.
Support personalization, A/B testing, and dynamic content delivery capabilities.
Lead engineering ownership of Salesforce platform ecosystem (e.g., Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Experience Cloud, Marketing Cloud as applicable).
Define and govern Salesforce architecture, including data model, integration patterns, and extensibility strategy.
Oversee development of custom applications, automations, and integrations using Salesforce platform capabilities.
Ensure scalability, data integrity, security, and performance of Salesforce environments.
Partner with business stakeholders to enable customer lifecycle management, engagement, and revenue operations.
Define and oversee integration strategy across CMS, Salesforce, identity platforms, data platforms, and enterprise systems.
Ensure robust API and event-driven integration patterns enabling real-time customer data exchange and orchestration.
Oversee identity and access management (SSO, OAuth2, SAML) and customer identity resolution.
Enable customer 360 data architecture in partnership with Data & Analytics teams.
Ensure high-quality delivery of customer-facing digital platforms with strong SLAs and reliability.
Maintain CI/CD pipelines, DevSecOps practices, and release governance for CMS and Salesforce platforms.
Oversee vendors supporting CMS, Salesforce, and digital experience capabilities and services.
Architect solutions supporting customer acquisition, engagement, retention, and monetization models.
Enable capabilities such as subscriptions, customer segmentation, campaign orchestration, and partner experiences.
Serve as senior technical advisor for digital experience and CRM-related initiatives.
Enable telemetry across CMS and Salesforce platforms to support customer behavior analytics and journey optimization.
Support personalization engines, segmentation, and campaign performance tracking.
Evaluate AI/ML use cases for content personalization, recommendations, and automation.
Build, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams, including both FTE and vendor resources.
Drive capability development in platform engineering, interoperability standards, and modern architecture patterns.
Foster a culture of accountability, experimentation, and continuous improvement.
Collaborate across Product, Education, Partnerships, Security, and Enterprise Architecture to ensure shared understanding of technical direction and priorities.