Director Software Engineering

At Ascensus, technology is more than just a solution. It powers the business that helps millions of people save for what matters—retirement, education, and healthcare.  Our technology experts tackle exciting challenges in collaborative teams, but work in an environment where individual and career development is always valued.  Technology associates leverage their talents and passion, building new and innovative platforms, creating programs founded in automation in agile frameworks, and driving existing and new markets—all of which supports the rapid growth of a dynamic industry leader.

Position Summary

The Director of Software Engineering & Development reports to the VP/SVP of Software Engineering & Development for a Business line within Ascensus (i.e. Retirement, Government Savings, FuturePlan).??Directors are directly responsible for the health and growth of our associates. Directors will typically manage associates that have a common trait, either by Scrum Team assignment or by discipline. It will vary based on the teams and skillsets, but each Director will manage from five to twenty-five associates. Directors are accountable for training plans, reviews, one on one and other HR related practices to ensure we retain and develop our talent. They are also responsible for finding new talent. Beyond the HR responsibility, Directors are very engaged with the needs of the scrum teams and identifying ways to continuously improve their ability to deliver software. Communication and the ability to influence outcomes are two key attributes of a director. The?Directors leads across teams and discipline are aligned and commonly work together to drive organizational outcomes and changes to support growth and efficiencies.??As a Director of Software Engineering, you will be responsible for building strong relationships with business leaders and provide oversight and direction to the technology teams on strategy, standards, and opportunities for scale to promote and deliver business value.

Job Functions, Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Management of approx.?5-25?Software Engineers in disciplines of Software Architect, Software Engineers, Front-End Developers, DevOps, Software Test Engineers and Quality Analysts.? When applicable, indirect management of 10 3rd party resources
• Motivate, inspire and provide direction, support, coaching and mentoring to the entire team
• Develop associates by goal settings and assisting them in creating development/training plans. Consistently review performance and stretch individual performance to create high performance teams. Create succession & career planning activities for your associates.
• Host and promote centers of excellence around the skills and roles within the organization (ex: Scrum/Agile; Quality Engineering; Software Engineering, etc..)
• Advocate and advance modern software development practices in teams
• Ensure policies and procedures are followed by the group
• Communicate with Product Owners and Scrum Masters on a regular cadence to ensure successful outcomes for scrum teams.
• Screen candidates for potential employment and make final hiring decisions for the teams?
• Responsible for protecting, securing, and proper handling of all confidential data held by Ascensus to ensure against unauthorized access, improper transmission, and/or unapproved disclosure of information that could result in harm to Ascensus or our clients.
• Responsible for consultants assisting scrum teams with deliverables.? Securing consultants, on-boarding, invoices and impact on budgets and forecasting consultant needs with the Product Owners.
• Work with the recruiting team to attract, on-board and retain diverse top talent.? Promote Ascensus by utilizing social media channels (LinkedIn) and attending conferences/local events.
• Consistently enhance & improvement all activities related to management of your engineering teams. This includes improving the screening, hiring, on-boarding, performance review and developing talent responsibilities.
• Be a change agent by evaluating processes to improve or impediments to the entire organization.? Understand opportunities and communicate steps to implement changes with the organization
• Develop & share best practices with other Managers or Directors of Software Engineering & Development.? Standardize best practices within the department & the organization
• Develop KPIs for your team to drive continuous improvement?
• Monitor technology changes in the IT industry and advocate and advance these modern software development practices into our teams
• Continuously evaluate ways to enhance and speed the delivery of business solutions by better utilizing our teams resources.?
• Champion and proactively implement strategies to improve associate satisfaction and deliver results.
• Set objectives and strategies for the Resources and communicate this vision to additional stakeholders, business partners and the broader IT organization?
• Our I-Client service philosophy and our Core Values of People Matter, Quality First and Integrity Always? should be visible in your actions on a day to day basis showing your support of our organizational culture.
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Supervision ?

• Manage a diverse team of Software Professionals including; Software Architects, Software Engineers, Software Test Engineers, DevOps Engineers & Quality Analysts.? Growth may involve leading Managers of Software Engineering & Development
• Develop team members through One on One Meetings, Coaching, Mentoring, Feedback and the performance process to enhance the technical leadership at Ascensus
• Ability to influence and motivate teams while resolving conflicts and if necessary make difficult decisions on removing individuals from teams
• Develop & maintain Succession Planning for your associates
• Quarterly check-ins with team members regarding goal setting and performance review

Leadership Experience, Skills, Knowledge Requirements

• 10 years of managing software development professionals with the ability to maintain a strong technical background
• 5 years of experience with Agile processes (Scrum, TDD, XP, Lean, etc.)
• Possesses a level of breadth and depth of software development experience that allows for influence and competence in technical discussions with internal and external stakeholders
• Strong understanding of adjacent roles (product ownership, project management, IT operations, business operations etc.). Ability to adapt to these roles as defined at Ascensus
• Proven experience in leading and participating in design discussions with both technical and non-technical audiences
• Ability to engage, motivate and inspire staff? ?
• Exceptional?leadership, management and interpersonal skills
• Strong analytical, problem solving, organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills
• Experience and judgment to plan and accomplish goals/objectives
• Strong skills and knowledge of servant leadership, facilitation, situational awareness, conflict resolution, continual improvement, empowerment, and increasing transparency.
• Bachelor?s degree or? equivalent work experience
• Previous leadership experience

Technical Experience, Skills, Knowledge Requirements

• 5 years of experience as a software engineer or related field
• Proven experience?of mentoring and coaching guiding less experienced team members
• Proven experience working with other developers, quality engineers, quality analysts, ops engineers and support engineers to ensure smooth deployment, continual operation and passion for developing good software.
• Proven experience?in leading and participating in design discussions with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong experience in multiple programming languages, technologies and software platforms, such as C#, ?Java, JavaScript, MS-SQL Server, Sybase.
• Strong experience with object-oriented design, data structures and algorithms
• Experience with continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) - DevOps practices?
• Experience and worked with Services Oriented Architecture and RESTful services development
• Experience with writing clean and maintainable code using engineering best practices (unit testing, TDD, continuous integration and deployment, automation, design patterns, refactoring etc.)
• Experience with?microservices
• Solid understanding of?techniques, methodologies, testing tools and best practices
• Solid understanding of software engineering fundamentals (high level understanding of OO concepts, design patterns, service based architecture, API?s etc.)
• Solid understanding of adjacent roles (product ownership, project management, IT operations, business operations etc.). Ability to adapt to these roles as defined at Ascensus
• Solid understanding?of continuously deploying software in the Cloud
• Experience and good understanding of designing scalable, distributed systems for running small to medium scale web based applications and services
• Experience with loosely-coupled, modern system architectures and the ability to improve the architecture of an assigned product or program line

For all virtual remote positions, in order to ensure associates can effectively perform their job duties with no distractions, we require an uninterrupted virtual work space and there is also an expectation of family care being in place during business hours. Additionally, there is an internet work speed requirement of 25 MBps or better for individual use. If more than one person is utilizing the same internet connection in the same household or building, then a stronger connection is required. If you are unsure of your internet speed, please check with your service provider. Note: For call center roles specifically, it is a requirement to either hardwire your equipment directly to the internet router or ensure your workstation is in close proximity to the router. Please ensure that you are able to meet these expectations before applying.

At Ascensus, we aspire to make a difference for others. We are a technology-enabled services company that helps people save for retirement, education, and healthcare through our network of institutional, financial advisor, and state partners. Our culture is guided by sound principles, is committed to high standards, operates with transparency, and welcomes diversity—housed within our Core Values: People Matter. Quality First. Integrity Always.®

As a leading independent recordkeeping services partner, retirement plan third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator, we aim to hire associates who find pride in going to work every day knowing that they help more than 12 million people save for what matters.