Director of Software Engineering

Job Type: Full time

Pet Safe Brands, formerly known as Radio Systems Corporation, is headquartered in Knoxville, TN. We are a world leader in pet products, offering a range of brands including Pet Safe, Sport

DOG, Invisible Fence, Kurgo, and Premier Pet. Our mission is to keep pets happy, healthy, and safe.

The Director of Software Engineering will lead software, firmware, and quality engineering across Pet Safe’s connected product ecosystem and digital experiences, including cloud backend services, mobile applications, DTC web/e-commerce, and embedded firmware. This leader will drive engineering excellence, delivery predictability, and product quality through disciplined practices, scalable architecture, and a modern quality strategy.

• Engineering Execution & Velocity
  • Lead and manage engineering managers and teams across cloud backend, mobile, web/e-commerce, firmware/embedded, and QA.
  • Drive consistent execution through modern software development lifecycle practices, including Agile delivery, CI/CD, automation, and telemetry‑driven insights.
  • Deliver product increments and releases that meet functional, schedule, reliability, and customer experience targets across digital and device domains.
• Firmware, IoT, and Full‑Stack Systems Leadership
  • Ensure scalable, secure, and modular architecture across device‑to‑cloud‑to‑app experiences.
  • Establish engineering standards and practices for embedded/firmware development, release discipline, and maintainability across connected and non‑connected product lines.
  • Partner with Hardware Engineering, Product, and Operations to ensure integrated system performance across electronics, firmware, apps, and cloud services.
• Quality Engineering Strategy & QA Leadership
  • Lead the QA/Quality Engineering function across software and firmware; establish robust validation frameworks and release readiness expectations.
  • Revamp quality strategy, including test architecture, automation tooling, environments, and quality gates aligned to consumer products and IoT ecosystems.
  • Improve quality outcomes through prevention‑oriented practices such as clear acceptance criteria, shift‑left testing, telemetry/observability, and defect escape reduction.
• Organization Design, Capacity Planning, and Hybrid Workforce Model
  • Build and scale a high‑performing engineering organization with clear roles, accountability, and leadership mechanisms across software, firmware, and QA.
  • Define and implement a capacity model to support roadmap planning, allocation decisions, forecasting, and transparent tradeoffs across run/support and new development.
  • Design and manage a hybrid delivery model that balances internal capability with nearshore teams while maintaining engineering ownership, code quality, and knowledge retention.
• Technology Standards, Reliability, and Security
  • Define and enforce technical standards for cloud and mobile infrastructure, embedded systems, quality practices, and secure SDLC controls.
  • Establish operational excellence practices, including observability, incident response, postmortems, and reliability targets appropriate for customer‑facing services and connected devices.
  • Ensure compliance with relevant cybersecurity, privacy, and regulatory expectations through engineering discipline and partner governance.
• Cross‑Functional Leadership & Stakeholder Management
  • Partner closely with Product Management, Hardware Engineering, PMO/Program Leadership, Finance, and Customer Care to translate roadmap priorities into executable plans.
  • Communicate progress, risks, and tradeoffs clearly to executive stakeholders; drive alignment across dependencies and shared outcomes.
  • Strengthen vendor/partner governance through measurable outcomes, delivery transparency, and performance management.

• 10+ years in software engineering, with 5+ years leading multi‑team organizations.
• Proven ability to lead full‑stack engineering across multiple domains: cloud/backend services, mobile applications, web/e‑commerce, embedded/firmware, and quality engineering.
• Demonstrated success building and scaling hybrid teams, including nearshore/rightshored models and vendor‑managed delivery.
• Strong track…