Job Title:
Director of Software Engineering
Location:
Remote, United States
FLSA Classification
Exempt
Job Description:
The Director of Software Engineering is responsible for the strategic leadership, operational excellence, and technical direction of Orbital Engineerings software engineering organization. Reporting as a senior technology leader, this role oversees multiple software engineering teams responsible for enterprise applications, customer-facing platforms, system integrations, APIs, automation, and emerging digital technologies. The Director establishes engineering standards, drives technical modernization, and ensures software solutions are secure, scalable, reliable, and aligned with business objectives.
This leader combines executive leadership with deep technical credibility to build high-performing teams, modernize software delivery practices, and deliver technology solutions that create measurable business value.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Engineering Leadership
Lead and develop a high-performing software engineering organization through effective leadership, coaching, mentoring, succession planning, and performance management.
Responsibilities include:
Build and lead engineering managers, architects, technical leads, and software engineers
Create a culture of accountability, innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement
Develop career progression frameworks and technical competency models
Recruit and retain top engineering talent
Foster collaboration across Engineering, Infrastructure, Cybersecurity, AI, GIS, PMO, and Business Operations
Establish organizational structures that support scalability and execution
Technology Strategy & Architecture
Provide strategic leadership for the organizations software architecture while ensuring technology investments align with business objectives.
Responsibilities include:
Develop and execute the enterprise software engineering strategy
Govern enterprise application architecture and technology standards
Lead modernization initiatives toward cloud-native and API-first architecture
Define enterprise integration strategies and shared platform services
Establish software engineering governance and architectural review processes
Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend strategic investments
Partner with executive leadership to develop long-term technology roadmaps
Software Delivery & Engineering Excellence
Establish a mature, predictable, and scalable software delivery organization focused on operational excellence.
Responsibilities include:
Lead execution across multiple software development initiatives
Improve Agile planning, backlog management, sprint execution, and release planning
Implement engineering best practices throughout the Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
Remove delivery constraints and improve organizational velocity
Establish engineering metrics and delivery scorecards
Partner with Product, Project Management, and business stakeholders to align priorities and capacity
DevSecOps & Platform Engineering
Drive engineering modernization through automation, security, and operational excellence.
Responsibilities include:
Establish enterprise DevSecOps practices
Standardize CI/CD pipelines and deployment automation
Implement Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) practices
Govern source control, branching strategies, and release management
Improve deployment reliability and change success rates
Implement application observability, monitoring, and performance management
Reduce operational risk through automation and standardized engineering practices
Enterprise Platform & Application Strategy
Lead the evolution of Orbitals enterprise software ecosystem.
Responsibilities include:
Provide technical oversight for enterprise applications and customer-facing platforms
Lead software platform consolidation and modernization initiatives
Define API management and enterprise integration standards
Ensure systems are scalable, resilient, and secure
Partner with Infrastructure and Cybersecurity teams to maintain platform reliability
Support enterprise data strategy and application interoperability
AI-Enabled Software Engineering
Lead the responsible adoption of artificial intelligence within the software engineering organization.
Responsibilities include:
Implement AI-assisted software development practices
Establish governance for AI-generated code
Evaluate emerging AI development technologies
Partner with AI leadership to integrate intelligent capabilities into enterprise applications
Improve developer productivity through automation and AI-assisted engineering
Secure Software Development
Ensure enterprise software meets the organizations security, compliance, and governance requirements.
Responsibilities include:
Establish Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC) practices
Partner with Cybersecurity to integrate security throughout the development lifecycle
Implement secure authentication and authorization standards
Support compliance initiatives including SOC 2, ISO 27001, and other security frameworks
Improve vulnerability remediation and application security posture
Quality Assurance & Engineering Governance
Build a culture of engineering quality and operational discipline.
Responsibilities include:
Standardize SDLC governance and quality gates
Implement automated testing strategies
Improve defect management and root cause analysis
Manage technical debt reduction initiatives
Establish engineering documentation standards
Ensure audit readiness across engineering processes
Business Partnership
Serve as a trusted technology partner across the organization.
Collaborate with:
Executive Leadership
Engineering Operations
Business Unit Leaders
AI Organization
GIS
Infrastructure
Cybersecurity
PMO
Finance
External technology partners and vendors
Translate business strategy into technology solutions that improve operational efficiency, customer experience, and business performance.
Performance Measurement
Establish and monitor executive-level engineering KPIs, including:
Deployment Frequency
Lead Time for Change
Change Failure Rate
Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR)
Platform Availability
Application Performance
Engineering Velocity
Sprint Predictability
Technical Debt Reduction
Customer Adoption
Security Vulnerability Remediation
Platform Reliability
Budget Performance
Employee Engagement
Provide executive dashboards and quarterly business reviews demonstrating engineering performance, operational health, technology risks, and business outcomes.
Other Duties
Work Environment
Qualifications
Required
Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Software Engineering, Engineering, or a related discipline (Masters degree preferred)
12+ years of progressive software engineering leadership experience
5+ years leading engineering managers and multiple software development teams
Proven experience delivering enterprise-scale software platforms
Strong experience with cloud-native architectures (Microsoft Azure preferred)
Experience with DevSecOps, CI/CD, Infrastructure-as-Code, containers, APIs, and enterprise integration
Demonstrated experience establishing engineering governance and software delivery standards
Strong understanding of enterprise architecture, application modernization, cloud technologies, and distributed systems
Experience managing technology budgets, vendors, and strategic investments
Knowledge of Agile, Scrum, SAFe, SDLC, and engineering operating models
Experience partnering with executive leadership and business stakeholders
Strong understanding of cybersecurity frameworks, application security, SOC 2, and secure software development
Excellent executive communication, organizational leadership, and change management skills
Preferred
Experience within engineering consulting, AEC, utilities, industrial services, construction, or infrastructure industries
Experience leading enterprise application modernization initiatives
Experience with AI-enabled software engineering and modern developer productivity tools
Experience with Microsoft Azure, Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, Power Platform, Kubernetes, and enterprise integration platforms
Experience building customer-facing SaaS or enterprise software products
Salary Range
Benefits:
A commitment to excellence and hard work will be rewarded with a competitive salary, career advancement opportunities, and a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, financial security, and work-life balance. Our benefits include medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage; a 401(k)-retirement savings plan; and supplemental insurance options. We also provide company-paid life and AD&D insurance, company-paid short-term disability coverage, and a generous paid time off program to ensure you have the support and flexibility you need both professionally and personally.
About Orbital:
Powered by People, Driven by Solutions
Since 1969, Orbital has been specializing in project development, project execution and asset management for the heavy industrial sectors and utilities. Our regional offices, hands-on mentality, and world-wide integrated teams provide an ability to leverage subject matter experts and industry best-practices wherever a project may lie geographically. Our focus steadfastly remains on finding and delivering the best solution, regardless of where that team sits across our organization. At Orbital, our power is our people.
Equal Opportunity Statement:
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.
#LI-Remote
Since 1969, Orbital Engineering, Inc. has partnered with the industrial sector to provide full-service solutions in engineering and design, construction management and QA/QC, safety, and asset integrity services. Our expertise in Transmission & Distribution, Midstream and Downstream Oil, Gas and Chemical, Metals, and Infrastructure has allowed us to successfully support our customers both nationally and abroad. In having customers ranging from Fortune 500 companies to local municipal authorities, Orbital Engineering, Inc. understands how to technically and cost-effectively manage projects of all sizes.
Orbital Engineering, Inc. is a customer-centered organization committed to establishing long-term business partners and providing innovative solutions. Acknowledging that a superior deliverable is always the expected outcome, our staff is trained to create a customer experience focused on effective communication, a customized project delivery approach and complete transparency.
While our subject matter and technical expertise is comparable to much larger organizations, Orbital Engineering, Inc. maintains the flexibility and ability to provide personal attention at all levels.
For 50 years, Orbital Engineering, Inc. has been a strategic partner to the world’s most successful businesses with a strong reputation in providing engineering and design, construction management and QA/QC, safety and asset integrity services with an exceptional personal touch. Having completed over 25,000 successful projects across our regional offices, Orbital Engineering, Inc. has refined its process of leveraging subject matter expertise and available resources to provide a well-qualified team that strives to exceed the project expectations.