Director, Software Engineering
About The Position
Partner Engineering and Science, Inc. is seeking a creative, hands-on Director of Software Engineering to lead the teams, architecture, and delivery of software that supports its professional services business. The company develops in-house systems for resource management, report writing, workflow automation, internal Power BI analytics, and external client dashboards. The Director sets technical direction while remaining closely involved in architecture, engineering, and AI decisions. The role translates business needs into practical technology, modernizes legacy platforms without disrupting operations, and accelerates delivery in a fast-paced, AI-forward environment. AI fluency is essential, including knowledge of development best practices, LLMs, chatbot and agent frameworks, prompt engineering, RAG, responsible AI, and platforms such as Microsoft Copilot, Azure OpenAI, and OpenAI/ChatGPT tools. The position combines engineering and product leadership, architecture and modernization, AI-enabled development, data and analytics integration, engineering operations, security and governance, hands-on technical guidance, and communication with executives and business partners. The Director will lead and develop engineers, establish standards and delivery practices, and work with business leaders, product owners, data and analytics teams, and end users to deliver software that improves business workflows and user experiences.
Requirements
- 15+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including meaningful responsibility for production applications and architecture.
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.
- Demonstrated success delivering complex software projects across multiple stakeholders, priorities, and systems.
- Ability to make pragmatic build-versus-buy decisions and balance technical quality with business urgency.
- Ability to work independently and manage multiple priorities in an ambiguous, complex, fast-paced environment.
- Excellent communication and critical-thinking skills, including the ability to work effectively with technical and non-technical audiences.
- Flexibility in work style and willingness to shift among strategy, team leadership, problem-solving, and hands-on technical engagement.
- Creative, curious, action-oriented mindset and a strong interest in how AI can reshape software development and professional services workflows.
- Strong software engineering and architecture background in modern web and enterprise application development.
- Experience with Ruby and Ruby on Rails is highly valuable given the existing application environment.
- Experience with modern front-end frameworks such as React, Vue, or Angular; HTML and CSS fundamentals; and REST and/or GraphQL API development.
- Strong knowledge of relational databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, and/or Microsoft SQL Server, including data modeling and application performance.
- Cloud experience with Microsoft Azure and/or AWS; familiarity with containers and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
- Experience with Git-based source control, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps/DevSecOps practices.
- Understanding of analytics and business intelligence environments, especially Microsoft Power BI, data integration, and dashboard delivery.
- Understanding of AI best practices, including LLMs, chatbot and agent frameworks, prompt engineering, RAG, embeddings/vector search, evaluation and monitoring, and responsible AI/security practices.
- Understanding of enterprise application security, authentication and authorization, secure coding, API security, data privacy, and role-based access.
Nice To Haves
- 8+ years leading developers or engineering teams.
- Strong experience in one or more additional languages such as Python, C#, TypeScript/JavaScript, or Java.
- Experience integrating with AI platforms and tools such as Azure OpenAI, OpenAI/ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and GitHub Copilot.
- Experience building AI-enabled applications, rather than only using AI productivity tools.
Responsibilities
- Lead, coach, and develop software engineers; establish engineering standards, architecture principles, code-review practices, and delivery expectations.
- Partner with business leaders, product owners, data and analytics teams, and end users to prioritize a development roadmap and take high-value projects from concept through deployment.
- Guide the evolution of legacy and modern applications, balancing reliability, security, scalability, maintainability, and speed to value.
- Identify and deliver practical AI capabilities for workflows, reporting, knowledge retrieval, automation, and client-facing experiences; establish secure and reliable patterns for LLMs, RAG, copilots, chatbots, and AI agents.
- Understand employee workflows and design software that simplifies processes, eliminates repetitive steps, and improves the user experience.
- Ensure software platforms integrate with enterprise data, APIs, relational databases, Power BI, and internal and external dashboards.
- Strengthen testing, CI/CD, observability, documentation, release management, source control, and DevSecOps practices.
- Build security, privacy, access controls, and responsible AI considerations into application design and development.
- Review designs and code, troubleshoot complex issues, evaluate new technologies, and provide technical direction when needed.
- Clearly explain technical choices, risks, trade-offs, and progress to executives and non-technical business partners.
- Work independently and manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment; shift between strategy, team leadership, problem-solving, and hands-on technical work as business needs change.
Benefits
- Competitive benefits package including health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, vacation and sick time, and a 401(k) plan with a company match.
- May be eligible to participate in a discretionary incentive bonus program, dependent on individual and organizational performance and other factors.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
