Director, Software Engineering | Platform and Quality Engineering

Nationwide•Columbus, OH

About The Position

If you’re passionate about innovation and love working in an environment where you can constantly improve and adopt new technologies to drive business results, then Nationwide’s Technology team could be the place for you! At Nationwide®, “on your side” goes beyond just words. Our customers are at the center of everything we do and we’re looking for associates who are passionate about delivering extraordinary care. Platform & QE Director – Commercial Line Solutions We are seeking a seasoned technology leader to serve as Platform Director for Commercial Line Solutions, supporting Small, Middle, and Farm markets. This strategic role is responsible for the technical stewardship, evolution, and stability of the platform, guiding a team of 20–25 associates and matrixed resources. The Platform Director will report to the AVP, Application Owner for Commercial Lines and collaborate closely with business and technology leaders across the organization. If you’re enthusiastic about delivering secure technology solutions to support a company providing extraordinary care to its customers, then Nationwide Technology is the place for you. Nationwide's industry-leading technology workforce embraces an agile work environment and a collaborative culture to deliver outstanding solutions and results. If that sounds like something you aspire to, we want to hear from you! As a Software Engineering Product Manager, you’ll be accountable for a suite of in-house or third-party applications. You'll lead teams of technology professionals to enable business outcomes and provide reliable customer-centric solutions and experiences.

Requirements

Demonstrated success in leading technical and QE teams, delivering large-scale, complex platform solutions.
Deep expertise in software engineering, application architecture, and modern technology stacks.
Proven ability to drive strategic initiatives, manage escalations, and foster cross-functional collaboration.
Undergraduate studies in management information systems, engineering, math, computer science or comparable experience and education preferred.
Eight years of experience in application suite management with five years or more leading numerous teams across multiple technologies.
Proven experience in empowering and building an engaged team.
Detailed understanding and expert knowledge of the systems development life cycle and modern methodologies, practices, tools, and techniques.
Extensive knowledge of concepts and techniques in project delivery, budgeting, forecasting and financial analysis.
Ability to develop and implement roadmap strategies.
Proven decision-making and problem-solving skills.
Coaching and career development of team.
Ability to develop and maintain positive relationships.

Nice To Haves

Experience in the Property & Casualty insurance industry, preferably with Commercial Lines focus.
Familiarity with Guidewire Insurance Suite and related technologies is strongly preferred.
Technology certifications or designation are not required, but encouraged, e.g., Amazon Web Services, Azure, Scripting and Development Languages, Delivery Methods, Security).
Insurance/financial services industry knowledge is a plus.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership: Provide deep technical expertise and hands-on guidance to engineering teams supporting mission-critical applications, including Guidewire suite, GW PolicyCenter, IBM App Connect, APIGEE, IBM ODM, Informatica, and related technologies.
Strategic Direction: Drive the evolution and modernization of the Commercial Lines platform, ensuring solutions are scalable, secure, and aligned with business objectives for Small, Middle, and Farm market segments.
Operational Excellence: Oversee platform health, stability, and performance, engaging with the dedicated Run/Incident team as needed to resolve escalations and ensure 24x7x365 availability of critical applications and APIs.
Incident Engagement: Serve as the primary technical escalation point for Level 3 and Level 4 incidents, collaborating with the Run/Incident team to resolve CritSit and problem scenarios, support continuity management (DR), and facilitate weekend release deployments.
Team Leadership: Lead, mentor, and empower a team of technical professionals, fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Stakeholder Collaboration: Partner with business leaders, product owners, and technology stakeholders to translate strategic objectives into high-impact platform solutions.
Financial Stewardship: Manage departmental budgets and resources to deliver efficient, high-quality technology services.
Technology Modernization: Champion remediation of technical debt, infrastructure upgrades, vulnerability management, and automation initiatives.
QE Strategy & Execution: Lead the platform’s QE function, responsible for building, maintaining, and updating regression, performance, and automation scripts to ensure the ongoing quality and reliability of the platform.
QE Team Management: Oversee a mix of Nationwide leads and partner resources (onshore and offshore), ensuring effective collaboration and delivery of QE objectives.
Quality Ownership: Maintain high standards for platform quality through robust automation, performance testing, and regression coverage. Proactively identify and address quality risks and gaps.
Continuous Improvement: Drive adoption of best practices in test automation, CI/CD integration, and performance engineering to support rapid, reliable platform releases.
Partner Management Resource Management: Build and maintain strong relationships with multiple Nationwide partners, managing both onshore and offshore resources to ensure optimal team composition and delivery capability.
Vendor Collaboration: Oversee partner performance, set clear expectations, and ensure alignment with platform goals and quality standards.
Talent Acquisition: Interview and select full-time employees (FTEs) and contractors, building a high-performing, diverse team aligned with organizational goals.
Workforce Planning: Strategically allocate work across internal and partner teams, balancing cost, quality, and speed to meet business needs.
Ensure platform and API availability through proactive monitoring, escalation support, and incident management.
Provide technical leadership for application and infrastructure releases, including weekend and off-hours support as required.
Lead code reviews, vulnerability remediation, and semi-discretionary enhancement work.
Responsible for applying secure software and systems engineering practices throughout the delivery lifecycle to ensure our data and technology solutions are protected from threats and vulnerabilities.
Ensures a viable total cost of ownership and ongoing health and wellness of applications.
Owns the strategic vision, develops and implements application suite roadmaps that encompass evolving the application capabilities and operating platforms through the evaluation of business needs, competitive landscape, technology currency and information security considerations.
Owns risk mitigation controls and provides support for internal and external audits.
Supports the engineering build of the application suite and non technical efforts for the products.
Represents voice of the customer, acts in a forward-facing role to business partners as an active member of a portfolio management team in the advocation of business case development, planning, financial management and evaluation of portfolio.
Leads all aspects of associate management, including performance, salary administration, training and development, hiring, day-to-day management and disciplinary actions.
Responsible for delivery availability and resiliency following established operating mechanisms and best practices.

Benefits

medical/dental/vision
life insurance
short and long term disability coverage
paid time off with newly hired associates receiving a minimum of 18 days paid time off each full calendar year pro-rated quarterly based on hire date
nine paid holidays
8 hours of Lifetime paid time off
8 hours of Unity Day paid time off
401(k) with company match
company-paid pension plan
business casual attire
Nationwide is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone feels challenged, appreciated, respected and engaged. Nationwide prohibits discrimination and harassment and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to any characteristic (or classification) protected by applicable law.