Job Description

Director of Software Engineering

Working with our business partners to create, improve and sustain industry and infrastructure. Orbital Engineering has been driven by this core purpose for more than 50 years - energizing Orbital team members and helping our clients solve challenging and complex problems with innovative engineering, inspection, and construction solutions. Orbital team members are guided by the fundamental beliefs of building trusted relationships, personal accountability, innovation, and excellence in everything we do. Orbital is looking for others to join our team to continue activating our purpose and embrace our values.

The Director of Software Engineering leads the organization’s software development functions, overseeing multiple development teams while driving the technical maturity, operational discipline, and architectural direction of the company’s enterprise software ecosystem. This is a fully remote position within the United States.

This role is responsible for:

• Building and leading high-performing engineering teams
• Delivering secure, scalable enterprise applications
• Establishing modern DevOps, CI/CD, QA, and SDLC practices
• Supporting the evolution of a unified enterprise platform accessible to both internal users and external clients

The Director balances strong people leadership with technical credibility and operational execution.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Position duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

Development Team Leadership & Organizational Development

Director owns the primary accountability for Team performance, morale, growth, and delivery consistency.

• Lead and develop development managers, technical leads, and senior developers
• Build high-performing, accountable teams aligned to business priorities
• Establish clear role definitions, ownership models, and reporting structures
• Create career development paths and technical growth frameworks
• Conduct performance management, coaching, and talent reviews
• Drive strategic hiring to support platform maturity and delivery needs
• Foster a culture of engineering excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement

Delivery Leadership & Execution Discipline

This role is accountable for increasing delivery confidence and reducing operational friction.

• Oversee incident response processes and platform monitoring standards. Oversee execution across multiple concurrent software initiatives
• Improve backlog management, sprint discipline, and cross-team coordination
• Establish developer performance metrics such as:
  • Delivery predictability
  • Deployment frequency
  • Change failure rate
  • System reliability and uptime
• Remove obstacles impacting delivery and execution
• Partner with Product and Project leadership to align capacity with priorities

Enterprise Platform & Architecture Oversight

The Director sets direction but enables teams to own implementation.

• Provide architectural oversight across the organization’s core applications
• Guide consolidation of systems into a unified enterprise ecosystem
• Define shared services strategy (authentication, authorization, APIs, logging, monitoring, data services)
• Support scalable, secure system design capable of supporting external client access
• Govern major technical decisions while empowering teams to execute

External Client Access & Secure System Design

The Director must have experience delivering enterprise-grade applications that meet security and compliance expectations.

• Oversee development of systems accessible to external clients
• Implement role-based access control and identity management standards
• Partner with infrastructure and security teams on:
  • Cloud architecture
  • Secure data handling
  • Audit logging
  • Environment separation

Development Operations & CI/CD Ownership

The Director owns development operational maturity. The objective is to move the organization from manual or inconsistent processes to repeatable, automated, low-risk delivery pipelines.

• Implementing and standardizing CI/CD pipelines
• Governing source control and branching strategies
• Establishing environment promotion models
• Formalizing release management practices
• Driving infrastructure-as-code and automation where appropriate
• Improving deployment reliability and release velocity

Quality Assurance & SDLC Governance

This role raises development from project-driven execution to disciplined lifecycle management.

• Establish standardized SDLC lifecycle gates
• Define testing expectations (unit, integration, regression, security, performance)
• Introduce automated testing standards
• Improve defect management and root cause analysis
• Manage technical debt prioritization
• Align development documentation with audit-readiness and compliance needs

Performance & Value Measurement

The Director is accountable for defining and reporting on the performance, health, and business impact of the software development function and enterprise platform.

Responsibilities include:

• Establishing KPIs across:
  • Platform adoption and utilization
  • System uptime and reliability
  • Deployment frequency and change failure rate
  • Security posture and vulnerability remediation timelines
  • Development throughput and delivery predictability
• Developing dashboards and reporting mechanisms that provide visibility to executive leadership
• Delivering quarterly updates summarizing:
  • Platform performance and reliability metrics
  • Roadmap progress
  • Technical risk areas
  • Strategic outcomes and value delivered
• Evaluating emerging technologies, architectural trends, and evolving client needs to guide platform evolution
• Using data to inform investment decisions, staffing models, and technical prioritization

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related discipline (Master’s preferred).
• 10+ years of product leadership experience, including managing or owning SaaS products or platforms.
• Demonstrated success delivering enterprise-grade digital platforms with strong security, stability, and integration requirements.
• Strong technical background—capable of partnering with software engineers, AI/ML developers, GIS analysts, and field tech experts to build a unified platform.
• Experience with enterprise architecture, API design, cloud infrastructure, and data governance.
• Knowledge of SOC 2, ISO 27001, cybersecurity frameworks, and modern DevSecOps practices.
• Strong understanding of agile product delivery, software development lifecycles, UX principles, and platform release management.
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, able to translate technical concepts into business value.
• Experience in the AEC, industrial, utility, or field operations technology sectors is highly desirable.

Preferred:

• Experience supporting secure software development environments or product security programs.
• Prior experience in engineering, industrial, or technology services industries

Orbital Engineering, Inc. has provided worldwide professional engineering and consulting services since 1969. Our commitment to quality, responsiveness, and attention to detail has earned us the reputation as a leading provider of engineering and design services.

A commitment to excellence and hard work will be rewarded with a competitive salary, career advancement opportunities, and an excellent benefits package including medical, dental, vision, prescription drug, 401(k), and supplemental insurance.

Orbital Engineering, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer, EEO/AA/M-F-V-D. Orbital Engineering, Inc. seeks diversity among its employees. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals to perform the essential job functions.

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