Senior Director, Software Development

Role Description

The Senior Director, Software Development is responsible for leading the engineering organization for Follett Software’s library portfolio, including K–12 library products, international library management solutions, and shared platform capabilities that support the portfolio. This role brings together engineering leadership across multiple library products and shared platform capabilities – serving K-12 school libraries and international library management – with accountability for delivery, modernization, and operational performance across the portfolio.

The Senior Director provides strategic and operational leadership across the full software development lifecycle, including:

• Planning
• Architecture
• Development
• Testing
• Release
• Maintenance
• Continuous improvement

This leader partners closely with Product, Design, QA, Cloud Engineering, Technical Support, and customer-facing teams to translate business priorities into engineering execution. They drive technical strategy and architectural modernization while balancing product innovation, platform stability, customer commitments, and operational excellence across all the library suite.

The ideal candidate is a pragmatic and collaborative senior engineering leader who combines strong people leadership with sound technical judgment, cross-product organizational experience, and a clear focus on customer outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 12+ years of software development leadership experience, including significant experience in senior engineering leadership roles with responsibility for multiple teams and/or product lines.
• Proven success leading large or multi-product engineering functions, including direct reports who are themselves people leaders.
• Strong experience delivering and supporting commercial software products in a SaaS, web application, or hybrid software environment.
• Strong technical foundation in modern software engineering practices and sufficient depth to credibly guide teams working across diverse technology stacks, including Java, J2EE, .Net and service integrations, SQL Server, JavaScript, Git-based workflows, and Jira or similar development tools.
• Experience leading modernization efforts in environments that include legacy technologies such as Java, J2EE, .Net, JBoss, WildFly, SQL, jQuery, or third-party UI frameworks, while moving teams toward more scalable and maintainable approaches.
• Familiarity with Azure or comparable cloud platforms, CI/CD practices, automated testing, release management, and secure software development principles.
• Demonstrated ability to balance strategic thinking with operational execution in a fast-paced, multi-product environment.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to influence across functions, communicate clearly with technical and non-technical audiences, and lead through change.
• Experience setting direction through metrics, managing budgets and resources, and making data-informed decisions.
• Strong judgment, emotional intelligence, and a track record of building healthy, accountable, high-performing teams.

Requirements

• Familiarity with AI development techniques, coding agents, Spec-Driven Development, and AI-embedded CLI/IDE tooling.
• Experience in EdTech, K-12 software, library systems, resource management, or other education-adjacent software environments.
• Experience leading engineering across international or multi-market product lines, including awareness of regional compliance, data residency, or localization considerations.
• Experience supporting customer-facing products with complex implementation, integration, and support considerations.
• Experience leading teams through seasonal or customer-critical operating periods with high continuity requirements.
• Experience driving adoption of modern engineering practices such as AI-enabled development, spec-driven workflows, or similar operating models.

Benefits

• Fully remote work, giving you the flexibility to do your best work from anywhere in the continental U.S. (unless otherwise noted)
• Subsidized healthcare plans, including orthodontic coverage, with HSA option that includes employer matching
• Company-paid disability and life insurance, with the option to enhance coverage through voluntary plans
• Robust Paid Time Off, including Flex PTO for salaried roles, paid parental leave, company holidays, and paid volunteer service time
• Retirement savings with employer match, vesting every pay period
• Flexible Spending Accounts for healthcare and dependent care
• Optional supplemental coverages, such as accident, hospital, and critical illness insurance, identity theft and credit monitoring, and legal protection services
• Meaningful recognition and tangible rewards that celebrate achievements, fuel motivation, and recognize both individual and team success