Director of Technology Operations & Assurance

Job Description

Director of Technology Operations & Assurance

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Location: San Diego, CA — In Office

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Employment: Full-Time

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Reports to: CEO

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Works closely with: Chief Architect/CTO and Director of Engineering & AI Product Development

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The Mission

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Create the operating discipline and independent verification system around the technology organization.

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Engineering builds the technology.

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You make sure leadership knows what was promised, whether it was delivered, whether it works, whether it is documented, and where risk exists.

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Your operating model is:

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Commitment → Owner → Date → Verification → QA → Documentation → Risk → CEO Visibility

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You are not responsible for building the company's software or managing engineers.

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You are responsible for making technology execution visible, accountable, testable and resilient .

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What You Own

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Technology Program Governance

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Maintain the company's single source of truth for technology execution.

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Every meaningful initiative should have:

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• Defined objective
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• Accountable owner
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• Deliverables
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• Dependencies
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• Committed dates
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• Current status
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• Risks
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• Blockers
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• Acceptance criteria
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• Definition of done
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You do not decide how engineering builds something.

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You make sure commitments are explicit and measurable.

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Problems should surface before deadlines are missed.

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Independent QA & Release Assurance

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Own the verification layer between:

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"Engineering says it's finished"

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and

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"The company has verified that it works."

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Establish processes for:

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• QA
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• Acceptance testing
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• Regression testing
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• Release verification
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• Production validation
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• Defect tracking
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• Post-release verification
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Engineering owns building and fixing the software.

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Technology Operations owns independently determining whether it meets the agreed requirements.

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A project is not complete because code exists.

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It is complete when it meets its acceptance criteria and works in production.

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Documentation & Key-Person Risk

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Make sure critical company technology does not exist only inside someone's head.

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Establish documentation requirements covering:

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• System architecture
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• Infrastructure
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• Databases
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• Data flows
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• APIs
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• AI agents
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• Repositories
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• Deployment procedures
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• Environments
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• Integrations
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• Vendors
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• Access requirements
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• Technical decisions
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• Runbooks
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• Recovery procedures
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Engineering creates and maintains technical documentation.

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You verify that required documentation exists, is current and can actually be used by another qualified person.

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Security Governance & Operational Resilience

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Establish visibility and accountability around:

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• Infrastructure access
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• Credentials and permissions
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• Source-code repositories
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• Production environments
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• Data security
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• Vendors
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• Backup and recovery
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• Business continuity
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• Incident response
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• Security policies
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• Technical risk
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You are not expected to personally operate every security system.

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You ensure appropriate controls exist, ownership is clear and material risks are surfaced.

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Technology Risk

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Maintain a technology risk register covering areas such as:

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• Key-person dependency
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• Security exposure
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• Infrastructure concentration
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• Undocumented systems
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• Vendor dependency
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• Data risks
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• Production instability
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• Recovery capability
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• Technical operational risk
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Escalate material risks directly to leadership.

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CEO Technology Visibility

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Create a simple executive technology dashboard that answers:

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What are we building?

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Who owns it?

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When was it promised?

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What's at risk?

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What's blocked?

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What shipped?

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Did it pass QA?

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Does it work in production?

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Is it documented?

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The CEO should not have to chase engineers for answers.

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What You Do NOT Own

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You do not own:

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• Writing production software
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• Engineering architecture
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• Engineering implementation
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• Managing software engineers
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• Assigning engineering resources
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• Code reviews
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• Choosing frameworks
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• Building AI agents
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• Technical product development
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• Resolving engineering problems yourself
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Those responsibilities belong to the Director of Engineering and Chief Architect/CTO.

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Your role is to measure, verify, challenge, document and escalate—not become a shadow engineering department.

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First 90 Days

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First 30 Days: Map projects, commitments, systems, ownership, access, documentation, security exposure and key-person risks. Establish the technology source of truth.

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By Day 60: Implement delivery reporting, QA standards, acceptance criteria, documentation requirements, risk tracking and CEO reporting.

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By Day 90: Establish a repeatable Technology Assurance operating system providing independent visibility into whether engineering is delivering working, documented and resilient technology.

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How Success Is Measured

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• Can leadership see exactly what engineering is working on?
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• Are commitments and dates explicit?
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• Are missed commitments identified early?
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• Does released technology pass independent verification?
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• Are defects being identified systematically?
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• Is critical technology documented?
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• Is key-person dependency decreasing?
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• Are security risks visible?
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• Are operational risks being addressed?
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• Can leadership understand technology status without chasing engineers?
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Your job is to create accountability and assurance without creating bureaucracy.

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