R&D Global Director

Accountabilities:

• Lead and manage a global Java software development organization, providing strategic direction, operational oversight, and accountability across multiple engineering teams, managers, technical leads, and individual contributors.
• Oversee the design, development, modernization, and delivery of enterprise software solutions, ensuring alignment with customer commitments, business priorities, technical standards, and product roadmaps.
• Establish and execute engineering strategies that balance immediate delivery requirements with long-term platform modernization, architectural improvements, and sustainable technology investments.
• Guide technical architecture and engineering decisions across Java-based enterprise applications, evaluating design approaches, technology trade-offs, system dependencies, and modernization opportunities.
• Drive improvements in engineering productivity, software quality, build stability, release reliability, and delivery predictability through effective processes, standards, automation, and governance.
• Manage multiple concurrent development initiatives, allocating resources effectively, resolving competing priorities, and maintaining transparency around project progress, risks, and delivery commitments.
• Establish and strengthen software engineering practices aligned with Agile methodologies and CMMI Level 2 or higher frameworks, ensuring consistent execution, quality assurance, and process maturity.
• Define and monitor engineering performance indicators to identify bottlenecks, address technical debt, improve development efficiency, and support data-driven decision-making.
• Lead organizational transformation initiatives, introducing modern technologies, improved workflows, and engineering practices while maintaining continuity of ongoing software delivery.
• Foster collaboration across R&D, Professional Services, Quality Assurance, DevOps, IT, and other business functions to ensure coordinated planning, effective communication, and successful product delivery.
• Coach, mentor, and develop engineering managers and technical leaders, strengthening leadership capabilities, clarifying accountability, and building a high-performing global organization.
• Communicate technical strategies, delivery performance, operational challenges, and modernization plans to senior leadership and other stakeholders, translating complex engineering matters into clear business implications.
• Promote a culture of technical excellence, ownership, professional development, continuous learning, and constructive collaboration across geographically distributed teams.
• Ensure that software development practices support the reliability, security, performance, and compliance requirements of enterprise solutions serving public-sector organizations.
• Maintain a strong understanding of evolving software engineering practices and emerging technologies to guide the organization's long-term technical direction.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• At least 10 years of professional Java software development experience, including substantial leadership or management experience.
• Proven success leading complex software delivery initiatives in large-scale enterprise environments, with responsibility for multiple teams, delivery schedules, quality standards, and technical outcomes.
• Demonstrated experience managing geographically distributed engineering organizations across multiple time zones, cultures, and locations.
• Strong expertise in Java, Spring Framework and related ecosystem technologies, Spring Boot, REST APIs, and enterprise application development.
• Experience with front-end technologies such as JSF/MyFaces, React, or comparable frameworks.
• Solid understanding of relational and NoSQL databases, SQL, and object-relational mapping technologies, including Hibernate and JPA.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, and/or Google Cloud Platform, alongside containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes.
• Strong knowledge of software architecture, enterprise integration patterns, and monolithic, microservices-based, and event-driven architectures.
• Experience with Agile and Scrum methodologies, supported by tools such as Jira, Confluence, and Git.
• Understanding of DevOps practices, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD), infrastructure automation, source control strategies, automated testing, code reviews, build systems, and release management.
• Familiarity with the IT infrastructure and operational requirements that support complex enterprise application platforms.
• Ability to evaluate architectural approaches, engineering designs, and technology trade-offs while providing technical guidance without needing to act as the primary hands-on developer.
• Experience working with mature enterprise software systems involving legacy technologies, complex dependencies, technical debt, and ongoing modernization initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects aligned with CMMI Level 2 or higher, or comparable structured software development and process improvement frameworks.
• Proven ability to manage multiple concurrent projects, balance competing priorities, and maintain delivery commitments while supporting long-term product and technology objectives.
• Experience establishing engineering standards, development processes, quality controls, testing strategies, defect management practices, and performance metrics.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify systemic engineering challenges, resolve delivery bottlenecks, and implement sustainable improvements.
• Excellent leadership, organizational, and interpersonal skills, including the ability to motivate teams, coach managers, develop talent, and foster accountability.
• Strong executive communication and presentation skills, with the ability to explain complex technical and operational issues to senior stakeholders.
• Proven ability to influence stakeholders, build consensus, resolve cross-functional conflicts, and align engineering decisions with customer expectations and business goals.
• Sound judgment, resilience, adaptability, and effective decision-making in complex, fast-paced environments.
• Experience leading organizational change and securing adoption of new engineering processes, technologies, and working practices.
• A collaborative and inclusive leadership style, with the ability to establish clarity in ambiguous situations and build effective relationships across diverse global teams.