Director, Software Engineering

Role Description

The Director, Software Engineering is a highly skilled, self-motivated leader responsible for driving excellence in development and delivery of existing platforms and new solutions as part of our scaled agile scrum development organization. The Director leads Avalon’s adoption and implementation of AI and stays hands-on at the proof-of-concept level to prove out approaches before teams commit to them. Success in this role requires:

• The ability to zoom out to executive and cross-departmental conversations.
• The ability to zoom in to design and code detail.
• The ability to influence without relying on authority.
• The ability to make timely, sound decisions in ambiguous situations with fewer inputs than anyone would like.

This position is eligible for remote work, but quarterly travel will be required to Avalon's corporate office located in Tampa, Florida.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities

• Technology leader and thought partner to Avalon.
• Responsibility for design, development, management, and implementation of organizational information systems, proprietary software applications, and company technological roadmap.
• Act as technology SME for internal constituents, existing customers, and prospective clients.
• Develop and mentor direct reports and raise the level of engagement within Software Engineering.
• Remain hands-on at the proof-of-concept level building prototypes, spikes, and AI-assisted proofs of concept to de-risk decisions.
• Work directly with leaders across Product, Operations, Client Success, Data, and Compliance to align priorities, drive coordination, and deliver cross-functional outcomes.

Qualifications

• 10+ years overall IT experience in applications design and development.
• 5+ years’ experience in IT management/leadership.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, MS or significant relevant and equivalent experience.

Requirements

• Environment: AWS, Java, Linux, JavaScript/TypeScript, Liferay, SQL Server.
• AWS knowledge is required: working, hands-on familiarity with core services, deployment models and security posture.
• AI adoption and implementation: demonstrated experience introducing AI into engineering workflows (AI coding assistants, agentic workflows, LLM-backed features), including evaluation, guardrails, and measurement of impact.
• Hands-on capability: able to build proofs of concept and prototypes independently; production-level coding is not expected.
• Prior healthcare experience required.
• Experience in building healthcare-based interoperability (HL7, EDI, FHIR).
• Extensive experience leading agile scrum teams.
• Extensive experience with the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe).
• Demonstrated expertise in engaging and managing 3rd party partners and vendors.
• Ability to lead geographically dispersed teams (including offshore contractors).
• Strong understanding of development processes and development metrics; experience with JIRA to manage the work item pipeline.
• Continuous improvement mindset.
• Manage development budget.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience driving an agile and SAFe transformation.
• Successful experience at an early-stage, private equity-backed company.
• Hands-on experience with AWS and building AI capabilities in a regulated environment.