Director, Software Engineering & SaaS Platforms

Director, Software Engineering & SaaS Platforms

IL, United States

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Job Description

The Director of Software Engineering provides strategic and operational leadership for software engineering teams responsible for designing, building, and scaling high quality software platforms and products. The role bridges business strategy and technical execution, ensuring engineering outcomes deliver customer value, operational excellence, and long term platform scalability.

This leader sets technical direction, develops engineering talent, and partners closely with Product, Platform Engineering, Security, Data, and Business leaders to drive innovation and reliable delivery across portfolios.

Responsibilities

1. Engineering & Technical Leadership

• Define and drive the software engineering strategy and technical roadmap aligned with the Product Roadmap, business priorities and product vision.
• Ensure adoption of engineering best practices across architecture, development, testing, CI/CD, security, and reliability.
• Guide platform scalability, performance, and resilience across cloud and SaaS environments.
• Evaluate and introduce new technologies where they create measurable business value (e.g., AI/ML, data platforms, automation).

2. Delivery & Execution

• Own end‑to‑end delivery accountability for software initiatives, ensuring predictable execution, quality, and speed to market.
• Partner with Product Management to translate business and customer needs into executable engineering plans.
• Use AI to assist with product development and deployment of AI capabilities in our customer-facing solutions.
• Establish and monitor KPIs and engineering metrics related to delivery, quality, reliability, and team health.
• Ensure compliance with security, privacy, and regulatory standards across software products.

3. People & Organizational Leadership

• Build, lead, and develop high‑performing engineering managers and teams.
• Set clear accountabilities, performance objectives, and growth paths for leaders and individual contributors.
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, ownership, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
• Support workforce planning, succession, and capability development aligned to future needs.

4. Cross‑Functional & Stakeholder Partnership

• Collaborate with Product, Architecture, Security, Data, Operations, and Business leaders (GMs) to align priorities and execution.
• Communicate complex technical topics clearly to executive and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Represent Software Engineering in strategic planning, investment decisions, and governance forums

Success Measures

• Delivery predictability and product quality
• Platform scalability and reliability
• Engineering talent retention and growth
• Alignment between engineering output and business outcomes

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field (Master’s preferred).

Extensive experience in software engineering, with multiple years in senior engineering leadership roles.

Proven success leading large‑scale software platforms or SaaS products.

Strong understanding of modern software architectures, cloud platforms, DevOps practices, and secure development.

Demonstrated ability to lead through change and scale organizations.

Preferred Experience

Global or matrixed organizational leadership.

Budget ownership and investment prioritization.

Background in regulated or enterprise environments.

Success Measures

• Delivery predictability and product quality
• Platform scalability and reliability
• Engineering talent retention and growth

Alignment between engineering output and business outcomes

Total Rewards: We understand compensation is an important factor as you consider the next step in your career. The estimatedsalary range for this position is $177,000 to $236,000 and is based on multiple factors, including job-related knowledge/skills, experience, geographical location, as well as other factors. This position is eligible for annual bonus compensation with a target payout of 30% of the base salary and a 30% RSU grant. This position also provides health benefits such as medical, dental and vision; wellness benefits such as mental and financial health; and retirement savings (401K) commensurate with the standard rewards offered in each individual location or country. We also provide full-time employees with paid time off including vacation (20 days), holidays including 3 floating holidays (12 days) and sick time off (72 hours).

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About Us

A global leader in applied safety science, UL Solutions (NYSE: ULS) transforms safety, security and sustainability challenges into opportunities for customers in more than 110 countries. UL Solutions delivers testing, inspection and certification services, together with software products and advisory offerings, that support our customers’ product innovation and business growth. The UL Mark serves as a recognized symbol of trust in our customers’ products and reflects an unwavering commitment to advancing our safety mission. We help our customers innovate, launch new products and services, navigate global markets and complex supply chains, and grow sustainably and responsibly into the future. Our science is your advantage.