Director, Engineering

Summary

The Director, Engineering is responsible for leading the design, development, delivery, modernization, and ongoing support of enterprise technology solutions that enable the firm’s legal and business operations. This role provides strategic and operational leadership for software engineering, application development, and systems integration, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, maintainable and aligned with enterprise and value stream priorities. The Director partners closely with value stream leadership, IT services leaders, and business stakeholders to deliver high‑quality technology capabilities that improve attorney and business professional productivity, enhance client experience, and support revenue growth and operational efficiency.

This role is accountable for engineering execution discipline, technical quality, delivery reliability, and the evolution of reusable engineering and platform capabilities that accelerate the firm's transition to a build‑capable technology organization.

Location

This position can sit in any of our U.S. offices and offers a hybrid work schedule.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership for engineering and application development teams supporting firmwide legal and business capabilities across value streams.
• Set technical direction, architectural standards, and engineering practices to ensure solutions are secure, scalable, maintainable, and operationally sustainable.
• Partner closely with IT, legal operations, and business stakeholders to translate business outcomes and value stream priorities into executable technology roadmaps and engineering delivery strategies, keeping a user experience and product value mindset at the forefront.
• Lead engineering execution and continuous delivery of technology capabilities, balancing innovation, platform stability, technical debt reduction, risk management, and operational excellence.
• Collaborate across IT functions to improve delivery flow, reduce bottlenecks, and increase engineering throughput and reliability.
• Oversee engineering efforts across multiple product and platform workstreams, balancing innovation, operational stability, quality, risk, and delivery commitments.
• Establish and promote engineering best practices including automation, CI/CD, observability, resiliency, testing, reusable engineering capabilities, and operational readiness.
• Manage engineering budgets, vendor relationships, consultant resources, and third‑party development partners as applicable to the success of the service portfolio and deliverables.
• Lead, develop, and retain engineering management and senior technical talent, including performance management and succession planning.
• Establish governance, metrics, and reporting for engineering performance, platform health, technical debt, operational sustainability, and delivery outcomes.
• Ensure compliance with firm security, risk, governance, privacy, and data protection standards across all engineering activities.
• Partner with infrastructure, operations, SRE, and end‑user support teams to ensure stable production operations and smooth lifecycle support for delivered capabilities.
• Provide leadership to and manage a team of business professionals to include coaching, mentoring and professional development. Responsible for providing performance feedback on a regular basis.

Desired Skills

Enterprise application architecture and modern development practices. Strategic planning and execution in complex environments. People leadership and organizational development. Financial and vendor management. Stakeholder partnership and executive communication. Risk management, security awareness, and operational excellence.

Minimum Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent experience.

Preferred Education

• Master's Degree in Technology, business, or management‑related discipline.

Certifications

• Relevant certifications in cloud platforms, architecture, or technology leadership are preferred.

Minimum Years of Experience

• 10+ years of progressive experience in software engineering or application development, including at least five years in a senior leadership or management role overseeing multiple teams or portfolios.

Essential Job Expectations

• Effectively communicate, verbally and in writing, with clients, lawyers, business professionals, and third parties.
• Produce deliverables, answer phone calls, and reply to correspondence in an efficient and responsive manner.
• Provide timely, accurate, and quality work product.
• Successfully meet deadlines, expectations, and perform work duties as required.
• Foster positive work relationships.
• Comply with all firm policies and practices.
• Engage in both physical and sedentary activity, such as (a) working at a computer for extended periods of time, including on‑screen reading and typing; (b) participating in digital/virtual conference calls; (c) participating in meetings as needed.
• Ability to work under pressure and manage competing demands in a fast‑paced environment.
• Perform all other duties, tasks or projects as assigned.

Physical Demands

Sedentary work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or a negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects, including the human body. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.

Work Environment

The individual selected for this position may have the opportunity for a hybrid work arrangement comprised of remote and in‑office work, the requirement for which will be determined in coordination with the hiring manager or supervisor and may be modified in the firm’s discretion in the future.

Disclaimer

The purpose of this job description is to provide a concise statement of the work elements and to organize and present the information in a standardized way. It is not intended to describe all the elements of the work that may be performed by every individual in this classification, nor should it serve as the sole criteria for personnel decisions and actions. The job duties, requirements, and expectations for this position may be modified at the Firm’s discretion at any time. This job description does not change the at‑will nature of employment.

Compensation and Benefits

The firm’s expected hiring range for this position is $168,478 - $272,949 depending on the candidate’s geographic market location. The compensation offered for employment will also be dependent on other factors including the candidate’s experience, skills, educational and professional background, and overall qualifications. We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including medical/dental/vision insurance, and 401(k).

DLA Piper is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.