Sr. Director, Engineering

Who We Are

Solera is a global leader in data and software services that strives to transform every touchpoint of the vehicle lifecycle into a connected digital experience. In addition, we provide products and services to protect life’s other most important assets: our homes and digital identities. Today, Solera processes over 300 million digital transactions annually for approximately 235,000 partners and customers in more than 90 countries. Our 6,500 team members foster an uncommon, innovative culture and are dedicated to successfully bringing the future to bear today through cognitive answers, insights, algorithms and automation.  For more information, please visit solera.com.

The Role
Sr. Director Engineering | Reports To: Vice President Engineering | Location: USA

What You’ll Do

Technical Guidance:

You will provide technical leadership to a team of excellent software engineers; this requires that you have the technical depth to make complex design decisions and the hands-on ability to lead by example.

Execution and Delivery:

You will be expected to instill and follow good software development practices and ensure timely delivery of high-quality products. You should be familiar with agile practices as well as be able to adapt these to the needs of the business, with a constant focus on product quality.

Team management:

You will be responsible for hiring and mentoring your team; helping individuals grow in their careers, having constant dialogue about their aspirations and sharing prompt, clear and actionable feedback about performance.

Technical depth:

You have the strong technical competence required to gain credibility. Ability to architect, design and code yourself. Technical experience in building and operating cloud native applications and microservices. Deep understanding of all layers of the web-stack work (from the client interface to the database.) Knowledge of multiple technology stacks/languages/tools and their pros/cons.

Execution ability:

Focus on delivering products in a timely manner with high quality. Familiarity with multiple software development practices and tools, and the proven ability to adapt, champion and institute good practices and tools.

Create Plans and Systems:
Create and implement best practice engineering vision, strategy, policies, processes and procedures to aid and improve business performance. Ensure that engineering strategies and processes are in place to meet business objectives and operational needs in terms of price, quality and delivery targets and which enables the company to function and compete effectively in the market. Contribute to overall business strategy and annual budget process. Take ownership of the engineering policy, guidelines and any associated documents

General and Task Management:

Providing technical support to the business development, estimating and onsite engineering teams. Responsible for overseeing all aspects of build design, from contract award to handover. Develop planning and prioritize processes to ensure that multi-disciplinary resource is well aligned to maximize delivery of projects.

Oversee Developmental Processes

The Director of Engineering is charged with the task of evaluating schedules, quality assurance procedures and new releases in order to assess their value. Since the end goal of the Director of Engineering is to ensure that the engineering process runs smoothly, these developmental processes must be examined systematically and carefully so that the positive and negative aspects of each one can be properly weighed.

Continuous Improvement

Demonstrated thought leadership and a passion for identifying and pursuing new ideas and leveraging continuous improvement processes. Championed continuous improvement strategies to improve software bug rates and overall product quality. Work with production facilities to provide designs and processes for continuous improvement. Established and drove a clear and consistent culture of transparency, predictability, agility, continuous improvement, and accountability.

Relationship Management

Develop and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure optimal performance. Work with the rest of the leadership team to decide which engineering projects are the highest priority against the business targets and which can be executed with the available resource. Work collaboratively, negotiate and engage with key stakeholders to facilitate delivery and compliance with the engineering strategy.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and manage a global team of engineers, providing technology leadership, guidance, support, and mentorship.
• Manage and mentor multiple engineering managers across regions.
• Develop and implement engineering strategies to deliver products that customers love.
• Track and report on metrics to the executive leadership team. Identify, communicate, and manage areas of focus and improvement.
• Create strategies to attract and engage strong technology talent globally and to actively grow skills of the team.
• Ensure consistent and predictable agile delivery across product teams.
• Build and foster a culture of technology innovation and continuous learning.
• Work collaboratively with Product Management, Operations, and Support teams to foster a one-team mindset.
• Create and maintain best practices, guardrails, and standards across the Software Engineering discipline.
• Work with Software Architects and Product Managers to build out Solera’s Global Fleet microservices platform.
• Create or identify tools to help engineers deliver, design, test and monitor software systems that can be maintained without the originators continued involvement.
• Increase cross-training and collaboration between groups, breaking down silos in place.
• Lay out .NET, Java, UI (react), Data and Cloud based technology roadmaps and provide organizational visibility on progress to deliver.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in SaaS software development.
• 5+ years of leadership experience leading software development teams.
• Experience working with global and remote teams.
• Proven record of a high say/do ratio.
• Excellent communication skills with experience communicating to senior leaders and executives.
• Experience building technology teams by laying out recruiting and staffing strategies.
• Experience rolling out technology transformation and modernization of legacy software and development practices.
• Experience driving and owning the SDLC and optimizing and implementing secure, stable continuous delivery practices.
• Experience in highly regulated domains is a strong advantage.
• BS/MS in Computer Science or related field.

What You’ll Bring

• Empathy – Understands the team and stakeholders and their motivations. Works actively to make everyone they interact with successful.
• Pragmatic – Knows when to trade off short and long-term gains and can help guide stakeholders through these decisions while coaching them on the implications.
• Learning Oriented – Strives to learn more about the people he or she is working with, about the business, the business environment, technology and its application and the process being followed.
• Technical Debt Savvy – Becomes a driving force for addressing technical debt by guiding and coaching delivery teams on both avoiding new debt and removing old debt. Works with business leaders to understand the implications of technical debt and helps guide them in supporting the delivery teams to address it.
• Customer focus (internally/externally) – Capacity to anticipate customers’ needs and place customers at the center of own thinking and actions.
• Coaching skills – Knows how to provide constructive feedback, guidance and support.
• Continuous Improvement – Use of a systematic approach for evaluating current processes and identifying options to streamline them.
• Strategic Thinking & Vision – Able to see the bigger picture and have a long-term vision.
• Team Building – Understands the principles to unite a group into an effective team.
• Problem Solving – Troubleshoots quickly, but also know the right times to ask for help.

It is impossible to list every requirement for, or responsibility of, any position.  Similarly, we cannot identify all the skills a position may require since job responsibilities and the Company’s needs may change over time.  Therefore, the above job description is not comprehensive or exhaustive.   The Company reserves the right to adjust, add to or eliminate any aspect of the above description.  The Company also retains the right to require all employees to undertake additional or different job responsibilities when necessary to meet business needs.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
SOLERA HOLDINGS, INC., AND ITS US SUBSIDIARIES (TOGETHER, SOLERA) IS AN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. THE FIRM'S POLICY IS NOT TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ANY APPLICANT OR EMPLOYEE BASED ON RACE, COLOR, RELIGION, NATIONAL ORIGIN, GENDER, AGE, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, GENDER IDENTITY OR EXPRESSION, MARITAL STATUS, MENTAL OR PHYSICAL DISABILITY, AND GENETIC INFORMATION, OR ANY OTHER BASIS PROTECTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. THE FIRM ALSO PROHIBITS HARASSMENT OF APPLICANTS OR EMPLOYEES BASED ON ANY OF THESE PROTECTED CATEGORIES.