Director of Software Engineering; Fares Technology

The Director of Software Engineering is responsible for ensuring quality custom software development by managing software engineering operations, process, standards and rituals. The Director of Software Engineering manages a team practicing adapted Agile development in a Dev Ops environment. Currently, all infrastructure is infrastructure-as-code hosted in Amazon Web Services (AWS); almost all software is written in Elixir. The Director of Software Engineering encompasses technical management, operational planning, mentorship and growth, culture development, internal stakeholder management, internal project management, and ensuring adherence to modern software development principles.

• Ensure the software engineering function for the department is reliable, secure, and responsive to the needs of internal teams.
  • Ensure the software engineering standards are documented and communicated throughout the function.
  • Work closely with the software engineering infrastructure teams to ensure compliance with process and data controls.
  • Document and share the software engineering operating model.
• Manage the financial processes for the engineering function, including reviewing financial statements for accuracy, participate in developing pro forma, inform operating budget, support development of capital improvement project budgets, and approve budgeted procurements.
• Provide leadership, guidance, and direction to Deputy Directors, Technical Leads, and senior engineering managers.
• Oversee and establish best practices for people management, including retention, hiring, and performance management for the engineering function.
• Collaborate with other projects and programs on joint recruitment efforts.
• Support the professional development of direct reports and junior staff, including individual contributors and technical leads, helping them navigate their challenges, and ensuring they have the necessary skills and resources. Foster collaboration between different functional groups ensuring that technical staff work effectively with product managers, researchers, writers, and designers.
• Inform and incorporate strategic plan goals into team processes, monitor status of action items and report status to stakeholders within the department and across the authority.
• Define and articulate standards for software engineering and technology is developed to enhance public service delivery.
• Oversee risk mitigation through quality assurance programs and compliance with MBTA policies.
• Investigate and report incidents related to safety or quality concerns to appropriate departments.
• Partner with MBTA Information Security to maintain compliance and observability standards.
• Refine internal policies in line with security best practices and cloud/software development standards.
• Be a committed, vocal, collaborative member of Engineering Leadership and push for improvemets in any/all dimensions of our work.
• Participate in on-call rotation for technology systems and services.
• Perform all other duties and projects that may be assigned.

Additional responsibilities may include focus on one or more departments or locations. See applicable addendum for department or location specific functions.

• Directly supervise one or more teams of software engineers.

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution.
• Seven (7) years of experience in agile software development environment.
• Five (5) years of supervisory, managerial, and/or leadership experience.
• Experience with 2+ programming languages from the TIOBE top 20.
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC).
• Experience with APIs / microservices / Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA).
• Ability to work in a primarily sedentary environment as significant periods of time spent at a desk and on a screen.

• A high school diploma or GED with an additional seven (7) years of directly related experience substitutes for the bachelor’s degree requirement.
• An associate’s degree from an accredited institution and an additional three (3) years of directly related experience substitutes for the bachelor’s degree requirement.
• A master’s degree in a related subject substitutes for two (2) years of general experience.
• A nationally recognized certification, or statewide/professional certification in a related field substitutes for one (1) year of experience.

• Management experience directing design-led software development teams (where the digital product is not the core service of the organization as a whole).
• Experience in public sector, transportation agency, and/or civic technology team.
• Experience developing code as part of an open-source project.
• Experience with Terraform/Open Tofu.