Associate Director Staff Engineer Software

Job Title

Key Responsibilities (Top 5)

1. Architecture Design & Domain-Aligned Solutions

• Define and evolve scalable, resilient architectures for communication platforms supporting customer engagement (voice, messaging, digital channels)
• Design solutions aligned to industry-specific requirements:
• Financial Services: security, compliance, auditability
• Communications: real-time processing, high availability
• MarTech: personalization, event-driven engagement
• Ensure alignment with enterprise target-state architecture and platform strategy

2. Hands-on Engineering (≈50%)

• Design and implement backend services, APIs, and integration layers
• Build and deploy applications using containerized environments and Kubernetes orchestration
• Develop production-grade code, prototypes, and reference implementations

3. API, Data & Integration Architecture

• Architect API-first ecosystems, including GraphQL and RESTful services
• Design event-driven and streaming architectures to support real-time communication and marketing workflows
• Integrate with enterprise platforms such as:
• CRM systems (e.g., Salesforce)
• Contact center / CPaaS platforms
• Marketing automation and customer data platforms

4. Cross-functional Leadership & Influence

• Collaborate with engineering, product, and enterprise architecture teams to ensure solution alignment and execution
• Act as a thought partner, introducing innovative approaches and improving system design quality
• Influence decisions across teams without formal authority

5. Standards, Governance & Continuous Improvement

• Establish and enforce architecture standards, reusable patterns, and engineering guardrails
• Drive simplification, scalability, and reduction of technical debt
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend pragmatic adoption aligned to business value

Required Skills & Experience

Technical Skills

• Strong expertise in backend architecture and distributed systems design
• Hands-on experience with:
• Kubernetes and containerization (Docker, orchestration patterns)
• GraphQL and modern API architectures (REST, event-driven systems)
• Microservices and cloud-native platforms
• Observability: Distributed tracing (X-Ray/OpenTelemetry), structured logging, metrics/alerting pipelines.
• Messaging & Orchestration: SQS/EventBridge or equivalents (Pub/Sub, Service Bus); DLQs; workflow engines.
• CI/CD: Automated pipelines with tools including Github Actions, Jenkins or equivalent experience
• Experience building or supporting real-time or high-throughput systems
• Proficiency in backend technologies (e.g., Java, Kotlin, Node.js, Go, or similar)
• Bachelor's Degree in Information systems, Computer Science or a related field.

Domain Experience (Preferred)

Candidates should have experience in one or more of the following:

• Financial Services
• Secure, compliant systems (PII, PCI, regulatory constraints)
• Transactional platforms (payments, lending, servicing)
• Communications / MarTech / Contact Center
• Low-latency, high-availability distributed systems
• Personalization engines, campaign orchestration
• Voice, messaging, IVR, or omnichannel engagement platforms

Architecture & Engineering Capabilities

• Ability to operate across strategic architecture and hands-on implementation
• Strong grounding in:
• scalability, resiliency, and performance engineering
• API lifecycle and governance
• system integration and orchestration patterns
• Experience aligning solutions to enterprise target-state architecture

Personal Attributes

• Self-starter: Proactively drives outcomes with minimal oversight
• Thought provocateur: Challenges existing paradigms and elevates architectural thinking
• Collaborative: Builds alignment across engineering, product, and architecture teams
• Pragmatic: Balances long-term vision with near-term delivery needs
• Influential communicator: Clearly conveys complex technical concepts to varied stakeholders