Senior Director

# Job Title: Senior Director – Software Engineering, Quality & Innovation
NOTICE PERIOD: Immediate joiners to 30days of service notice only(not official, should be serving currently)
Experience:** 18–24 Years
Location:** Noida
CTC:** ₹70–80 LPA + Performance-Related Bonus
Reporting To:** Chief Technology Officer (CTO)(636)
Work Model:** Noida office with occasional work-from-home arrangements
Function:** Technology
Employment Type:** Full-Time, 5D WFO
Note: Candidates must have experience in an established product-based company in current and past organizations with a strong software engineering background. Purely service-based and startup-only profiles will not be considered. QA-focused profiles are not suitable for this role.
Not Suitable:** Candidates with only startup experience, primarily QA-led career backgrounds, or traditional banking/investment banking experience without the required product engineering background.
Qucik Role Overview
Ideal candidate profile:
Currently and previously worked in an established product-based company.
Has 18–24 years of software engineering experience.
Has led 50+ engineers through engineering managers for at least 5 years.
Has strong technical expertise in architecture, microservices, cloud, DevSecOps, and CI/CD.
Has experience in regulated industries such as FinTech, GovTech, or HRTech.
## Role Overview in detail:
We are looking for a seasoned Software Engineering Leader to lead large-scale engineering delivery, quality transformation, and technology innovation for a global enterprise.
The role involves leading multiple engineering teams across product, platform, and integration domains, typically comprising 80–150 engineers through subordinate managers. The individual will be responsible for ensuring predictable software delivery, improving engineering quality and production reliability, establishing modern engineering practices, and driving practical technology innovation.
This position requires a **strong software engineering and technology leadership background**, rather than a career primarily focused on Quality Assurance or testing.
## Key Responsibilities
### 1. Engineering Delivery & Execution
Own end-to-end engineering delivery, ensuring predictable releases, accurate estimations, and adherence to committed timelines.
Lead multiple engineering teams across product, platform, and integration functions through engineering managers and senior technical leaders.
Establish and enforce engineering standards covering architecture, code reviews, CI/CD, observability, security-by-design, and technical documentation.
Partner with Product, Operations, and Commercial stakeholders to translate business priorities into an actionable engineering roadmap.
Manage engineering budgets, workforce planning, third-party vendors, and delivery partners.
### 2. Engineering Quality & Reliability
Define and implement an organisation-wide engineering quality strategy, including test automation, performance testing, resilience testing, test environments, and release assurance.
Drive measurable improvements in defect escape rates, production incidents, mean time to recovery (MTTR), and change failure rates.
Build a culture of quality ownership within engineering and delivery teams, preventing defects rather than relying solely on downstream testing.
Establish effective engineering metrics, reporting mechanisms, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Ensure engineering practices comply with applicable information security, privacy, and regulatory requirements, including ISO 27001 and GDPR where relevant.
### 3. Technology Innovation & Modernisation
Lead a focused innovation agenda around applied AI, intelligent document processing, automation, and emerging technologies.
Evaluate technology initiatives through time-bound proofs of concept, measurable business outcomes, and clear production-readiness criteria.
Advise executive leadership on technology strategy, architecture modernisation, and build-versus-buy decisions.
Identify opportunities to improve engineering productivity, delivery efficiency, scalability, and operational performance.
### 4. Leadership & Stakeholder Management
Build, develop, and retain high-performing engineering leadership teams.
Mentor engineering managers, architects, and principal engineers while developing succession plans for critical roles.
Collaborate with executive stakeholders to align technology strategy with business objectives and commercial priorities.
Represent Technology in executive reviews, client discussions, audits, and regulatory engagements.
Deputise for the CTO on engineering operations and governance matters when required.
## Must-Have Skills & Experience
**18+ years of experience in Software Engineering**, with substantial experience in engineering leadership.
At least **5 years leading engineering organisations of 50+ people through subordinate managers**.
Strong background in software product engineering, with experience in established product-based enterprises.
Proven success in improving engineering delivery predictability, software quality, and production reliability, supported by measurable metrics.
Strong technical deep expertise, real world experience, understanding of:
Cloud-Native Architecture
Microservices Architecture
API Design and Integration
DevSecOps and CI/CD
Test Automation and Engineering Quality Practices
Observability, Production Reliability, and Resilience Engineering
Experience operating in regulated, data-sensitive, or compliance-driven environments.
Demonstrated ownership of engineering budgets, workforce planning, and third-party delivery partners.
Experience managing distributed engineering teams across multiple locations and time zones.
Strong business acumen, executive stakeholder management, and communication skills.
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
Critical screening requirement:** Candidates must have an engineering-led career with substantial software development and engineering delivery ownership. Candidates whose experience is primarily QA, testing, or test management are not suitable.
## Nice-to-Have Skills & Experience
Experience in FinTech, GovTech, HRTech, Digital Identity, Background Screening, or other regulated technology product businesses.
Exposure to applied AI or Machine Learning in production environments, particularly for automation, intelligent document processing, or engineering productivity.
Experience working with global clients, particularly across the Middle East and other international markets.
Experience in large-scale technology modernisation and enterprise platform transformation.
Master's degree or MBA.
## Preferred Candidate Background
Product-based technology companies with established enterprise-scale engineering organisations.
Candidates from regulated or compliance-driven technology sectors.
Leaders who have managed large teams through multiple layers of engineering management.
Professionals with demonstrated ownership of engineering delivery, technical strategy, quality outcomes, and business impact.
## Selection Process
Initial interview round
Psychometric assessment
Final discussion with the CHRO and CEO
## Success Expectations
Within the first 12 months, the leader is expected to establish measurable engineering performance baselines, improve release predictability, reduce defect escape rates and production incidents, strengthen the engineering leadership pipeline, and progress at least two innovation initiatives to a clear production decision.
Skills: cloud-native architecture,test automation,workforce planning,software engineering,engineering budgets,devsecops and ci/cd,resilience engineering,established product-based enterprises,compliance-driven environments,data-sensitive,production reliability,delivery predictability,microservices architecture,observability,api design and integration,software quality,engineering quality practices,distributed engineering teams,software product engineering

Work arrangement
No