Director, Software Engineering (, IL, United States)

SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (ITC), Performance Review Institute (PRI) and SAE International (SAE), deliver shared solutions to industry's common challenges.

Join us and create a higher standard for a better world.

Provide the overall leadership for the technology strategy, software engineering oversight, code quality, release governance, process improvement, risk mitigation, budget management, platform performance, and overall team leadership. This team, depending on project assignment, will be responsible for full stack applications and platforms including micro-services, process daemons, and artificial intelligence, natural language processing systems and front end user experience. Responsible for leading large-scale teams of insourced and outsourced talent and interface with product management, solution architects, UX, support and other engineering teams to ensure the development of event driven microservice architecture with a clean and usable front end. This role is a Group-wide position serving technology needs in multiple affiliates, SAE International, Performance Review Institute (PRI) and SAE Industry Technologies Consortia (ITC).

Director of Engineering - Applications - Responsible for our internal and external facing applications. Includes teams such as EAN, Mobilus, StandardsWorks, Curator, WMI, etc.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Help establish software engineering standards and guidelines for software engineering organization. Present issues and risks, and their business impact to management in a timely manner with proposed mitigation. Actively seeks and removes impediments to team success regardless of where they originate.
• Assess, define, and execute team structure; constantly review and adjust team structure to maximize agility and efficiency. People leadership for engineering, quality, and other teams. Provide professional development, mentoring, performance management, recruiting, and all other aspects of people management for the staff.
• Develop, plan, monitor and execute the technology strategy for the team and providing overall technical direction to the technology and other cross-functional partners that ensure innovation in all we do. Drive quality through automated testing, release governance and high platform performance
• Collaboration across multiple business units and functional departments to develop and deploy solutions that address key business initiatives, supporting new revenue opportunities
• Monitor and manage budget for software engineering teams.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including 7+ years of hands‑on development in modern technologies.
• Metric driven - understands and leverages metrics across the scrum process, jira tickets, project plans, business metrics and application logging to ensure continuous improvement based on trends.
• 7+ years leading and developing high-performing software engineering teams, with demonstrated success managing managers and/or multi‑disciplinary technical teams.
• 3+ years of experience designing and operating Microservices architectures in a production environment.
• Broad technical leadership experience, with proven ability to evaluate, design, implement, and modernize software ecosystems, platforms, and engineering processes at scale.
• Demonstrated experience driving engineering strategy, roadmap development, and architectural direction in alignment with business priorities and budget requirements.
• Exceptional leadership and people‑management skills, including coaching, developing talent, and cultivating collaborative, high‑accountability engineering cultures.
• Highly innovative, entrepreneurial, and customer‑focused mindset, with a strong ability to introduce new ideas, challenge assumptions, and drive continuous improvement.
• Outstanding communication and relationship‑building skills, with ability to work effectively across organizational levels and cross‑functional teams.
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) and modern DevOps practices.
• Ability to provide strategic recommendations that influence the broader Information Technology and product landscape.
• Strong business acumen, with the ability to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions.
• Proven ability to diagnose and resolve complex technical issues, leveraging both analytical and creative problem‑solving.
• Ability to set clear goals, establish accountability, and drive execution within engineering teams.
• Self‑starter with a strong bias for action, ownership, and results.
• Demonstrated focus on quality, operational excellence, and delivering measurable outcomes.
• Ability to think strategically and challenge conventional approaches to drive innovation and long‑term value.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree in engineering, computer science or related fields.
• Hands‑on experience with CI/CD

WORKING CONDITIONS AND PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• This is a hybrid role with regular in‑office presence required.
• Occasional travel may be required (up to 10%).
• Requires the ability to lift up to 25 pounds (e.g., IT hardware, equipment).
• Prolonged periods of computer use and sitting at a desk are expected

ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION

SAE IndustryTechnologies Consortia (SAE ITC) enables organizations to define and pilot best practices. SAE ITC industry stakeholders are able to work together to effectively solve common problems, achieve mutual benefit for industry, and create business value.

The Performance Review Institute (PRI) is the world leader in facilitating collaborative supply chain oversight programs, quality management systems approvals, and professional development in industries where safety and quality are shared values.

SAE International (SAEI) is a global organization serving the mobility sector, predominantly in the aerospace, automotive and commercial‑vehicle industries, fostering innovation, and enabling engineering professionals. Since 1905, SAE has harnessed the collective wisdom of engineers around the world to create industry‑enabling standards. Likewise, SAE members have advanced their knowledge and understanding of mobility engineering through our information resources, professional development, and networking.

Fullsight is a shared services group working across three affiliate organizations, SAE ITC, SAE International, and Performance Review Institute (PRI), uniformly delivering HR, IT, Legal, Customer Success, Finance, and Procurement services, which enables us to distribute resources across all parts of our businesses.

EEO CLAUSE

Fullsight provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.