Head of Software Engineering

Title: Head of Software Engineering

Function: Technology

Reports to: Chief Growth & Strategy Officer

Level: Director

Location: Addison, TX (5 days/week in-office required)

Please note:

This position is open to candidates within commuting distance to the DFW metro area only. Applicants must reside in Texas and be authorized to work in the United States. Applications from candidates outside of Texas will not be considered at this time.

Braviant is looking for a hands‑on engineering leader to own our full‑stack application development function. You will serve as both the primary software architect and the engineering manager for a team of 6–8 full‑stack developers and QA engineers, responsible for our consumer lending platform across its full lifecycle — from front‑end Angular interfaces to back‑end Java/Spring Boot services to cloud infrastructure on AWS.

This role is Addison, TX‑based with a 4‑day in‑office requirement. The team is currently based primarily in Chicago and it might require up to 20% of travel initially. You will be the on‑the‑ground engineering leader helping establish the engineering culture.

• Serve as Braviant’s primary software architect — owning system design, technology choices, and engineering standards across all application layers.
• Assess the current architecture (30+ microservices, Java/Spring Boot back end, Angular front end, AWS) and develop a pragmatic rationalization roadmap to reduce complexity and improve deployability.
• Stay close to the codebase: lead architecture reviews, conduct meaningful code reviews, and prototype solutions to de‑risk key technical decisions.
• Own high‑availability design for loan origination, payment processing, and transaction workflows, targeting 99.9%+ uptime SLAs.
• Define and evolve CI/CD pipeline strategy, release practices, and engineering quality standards.

• Lead the transition to an AI‑native development model — embedding AI‑assisted development tools (Git Hub Copilot, Cursor, agentic coding frameworks) into how the team designs, builds, tests, and ships software every day.
• Partner with the Head of AI & Automation to identify where AI‑generated code, automated testing, and LLM‑powered tooling can meaningfully accelerate delivery and reduce QA burden.
• Champion engineering practices that make AI tooling safe and auditable in a regulated consumer lending environment.

• Own end‑to‑end software development for consumer‑facing and internal applications — from requirements through deployment and support.
• Manage the full stack:
  Angular front end, Java/Spring Boot microservices, AWS infrastructure (EC2, S3, SQS, Cloud Watch, Code Build), and database layers.
• Own the QA function within the engineering team; define the right balance of automated testing, manual QA, and release gates.
• Champion security‑by‑design and compliance standards appropriate to a consumer lending environment (PCI, state lending regulations, CFPB‑related requirements).

• Lead, develop, and retain a team of 6–8 full‑stack engineers and QA professionals; set performance standards, provide mentorship, and build a culture of craftsmanship and accountability.
• Hire and grow the Addison‑based engineering team — you will be the anchor for that office’s technical culture.
• Manage the engineering budget, including capex/opex planning, vendor relationships, and tooling decisions.
• Partner with business stakeholders and executive leadership to translate product and operational priorities into engineering plans; represent engineering at the leadership level.

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including at least 5 years in a senior engineering leadership role (Director, Head of Engineering, or equivalent).
• Deep full‑stack background: strong Java/Spring Boot on the back end, experience with Angular or equivalent modern front‑end frameworks, and solid command of relational databases and API design (REST, microservices, MVC).
• Proven software architect — you have designed production systems, made technology bets that paid off, and course‑corrected ones that didn’t.
• Experience rationalizing…