Director, Software Engineering

Overview

Software Engineering Santa Barbara,California

App Folio is more than a company. We’re a community of dreamers, big thinkers, problem solvers, active listeners, and multipliers. At every opportunity, we set the pace while delivering innovation built to carry real estate into the future. One in which every experience feels effortless, yet meaningful. Where customers are empowered to take on any opportunity. We show up as one team, connected by our values to be a force for good.

Because together, we have the power to create extraordinary outcomes for our customers, our communities, and ourselves.

The Director of Engineering will manage and continue to grow a world‑class software engineering team for our award-winning products and drive the successful delivery of platforms and products while contributing to the product strategy, platform, and roadmap.

This opportunity is ideal for an engineering leader who specializes in high-volume financial systems. You won’t just be integrating third-party APIs; you will lead the team responsible for architecting and scaling our proprietary internal payment system. You will oversee the network of services ensuring that every cent moving through our ecosystem is accounted for, secure, and compliant, and working in an environment that empowers small teams to collaboratively set the technical direction of our financial infrastructure.

We are looking for a forward-thinking leader with a blend of engineering and payments experience who can also harness the power of today’s AI advancements to revolutionize payment integrity, automating fraud detection and operational workflows at scale.

The location for the position is Santa Barbara, CA.

Payments Strategy & Technical Architecture

• Set the technical direction for internal ledgering systems, ensuring absolute data consistency, idempotency, and accuracy across distributed microservices.
• Oversee the engineering of Payables and Receivables flows, ensuring seamless integration between internal services and external banking institutions.
• Act as the primary technical counterpart for banking partners and payment processors, translating complex external requirements into internal engineering roadmaps.

Operational Excellence, Security & Compliance

• Build automated reconciliation frameworks that detect and self-heal discrepancies between internal ledgers and external networks, ensuring 100% financial accuracy.
• Partner with Info Sec and Legal to ensure all payment services adhere to PCI-DSS, NACHA operating rules, AML (Anti-Money Laundering) protocols, and KYC/KYB requirements.
• Advocate for a SMART codebase (Simple, Maintainable, Agile, Refactored, and Tested) to deliver a SAFE product (Secure, Available, Fast, and Easy).
• Oversee the delivery of software using Agile best practices, CI/CD, and test-driven development to ensure frequent, high-confidence releases.
• Drive the strategy for integrating AI/ML models directly into the transaction path to detect fraud anomalies in real-time, optimize payment routing (Smart Routing) for cost/speed, and automate complex reconciliation matches that rule-based systems miss.
• Recruit, screen, and close high-caliber engineering talent, scaling the team to meet the demands of a hyper-growth payments organization.
• Lead, coach, and support a team of passionate engineers, creating an environment of creativity, speed, and innovation while maintaining the discipline required for financial engineering.
• Instill a sense of ownership over the entire software development lifecycle, ensuring the team understands how their work directly impacts App Folio’s financial success and customer trust.

• Build trusting relationships with Product Management, Legal, and Risk teams to align engineering resources with company strategy, balancing immediate customer needs with long-term infrastructure investments.
• Implement processes and metrics to ensure the team is focused, efficient, and that products are market-ready and scalable.

Must Haves:

• BS, MS, or Ph.D. in Computer Science or related technical discipline.
• 8+ years of hands-on software development…