Senior Director Software Engineering

Lead the Future of AIDriven, AutomationFirst Engineering!

We're searching for a bold, forwardthinking Senior Director of Software Engineering to transform how our organization designs, builds, and delivers software at scale. This is a rare opportunity for a leader who's equal parts strategist, technologist, and builder - someone who can shape enterprisewide engineering vision while remaining close to modern technical practices.

In this role, you will drive the shift to AIpowered development, build enterprisegrade CI/CD pipelines, modernize engineering culture, and lead a highperforming team through a major transformation toward speed, automation, and productcentric delivery.

What you'll lead and own as our Senior Director of Software Engineering:

• Define and execute a modern engineering strategy centered on:
  
  
  
  • AI-assisted development (e.g., code generation, testing automation, defect prediction)
  • Automation-first delivery models
  • Platform and reusable component architecture
  
  
  
  
• Evaluate and adopt emerging AI/ML tools and productivity platforms to maintain a competitive edge
• Own the end-to-end engineering roadmap, aligning delivery with product and business strategy
• Serve as a senior technical advisor, translating engineering concepts into clear business outcomes
• Identify and drive high-value initiatives by aligning requirements, investments, and execution priorities across stakeholders
• Lead adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools (e.g., code generation, automated testing, AI code review) across all teams
• Architect and scale end-to-end SDLC automation, from requirements through deployment
• Define and implement agent-driven engineering capabilities, enabling:
  
  
  
  • Automated code, testing, refactoring, and documentation
  
  
  
  

• Execution of multi-step workflows (backlog code test PR)

• Drive measurable improvements in cycle time, productivity, and reduction of manual effort
• Establish human-in-the-loop controls and governance to ensure quality, security, and responsible AI usage
• Build capabilities for agent orchestration, monitoring, and continuous optimization
• Design and optimize enterprise-scale CI/CD pipelines across products, technologies, and environments
• Establish standards for modern engineering practices (trunk-based development, feature flags, progressive delivery)
• Embed shift-left quality, with automated testing as a core component of every pipeline
• Define and leverage DORA metrics to measure and improve engineering performance
• Build platform-level observability (tracing, alerting, AI-driven incident detection)
• Champion automation and continuous delivery to drive efficiency across build, test, release, and operations
• Build platform-level observability (tracing, alerting, AI-driven incident detection)
• Champion automation and continuous delivery to drive efficiency across build, test, release, and operations
• Shift teams toward product-oriented delivery models vs. project-based execution
• Assist with the organization's agile transformation, ensuring consistent adoption of Scrum, or Kanban practices across all engineering teams.
• Foster a mindset of small, frequent, and reversible releases - minimizing batch size and maximizing feedback loops.
• Establish sprint planning, backlog refinement, retrospective, and continuous improvement ceremonies as cultural norms, not just process checkboxes.
• Collaborate tightly with Product Management, Systems Engineering, Architecture and Data teams to define Definition of Ready (DoR) and Definition of Done (DoD) standards that reinforce quality at speed.
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of Software engineers including Engineering Managers, Staff/Principal Engineers, DevOps/Platform Engineers, and QA Automation Engineers.
• Partner with HR and Talent Acquisition to define hiring profiles, conduct senior-level interviews, and scale the team with diverse, high-caliber talent.
• Create a psychologically safe, inclusive, and high-accountability engineering culture that balances innovation with operational discipline.
• Champion continuous learning - sponsoring certifications, conference participation, internal guilds, and AI/automation upskilling programs.
• Act as a primary technology partner to various teams in Digital Technologies and across the organization, ensuring engineering decisions are informed by cross-functional context.
• Own engineering budget planning, vendor management, and technology investments in collaboration with Finance and Procurement.

Experience needed for our Senior Director of Software Engineering include:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required; Master's degree preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including 5+ years in senior leadership roles managing managers and large-scale teams (30+).
• Proven track record leading engineering transformation initiatives across SDLC, DevOps, and CI/CD, with measurable improvements in DORA metrics (e.g., lead time, deployment frequency).
• Strong expertise in CI/CD and modern engineering ecosystems (e.g., GitHub, Jenkins), along with cloud-native architectures (AWS, Azure, Oracle Cloud), containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform).
• Experience implementing and scaling AI-assisted engineering practices, including code generation tools, automated testing, and intelligent code reviews.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, mentor, and scale high-performing teams, build inclusive and high-trust cultures, and develop leadership pipelines and succession strategies.
• Entrepreneurial, forward-thinking mindset with strong communication skills and the ability to influence executive stakeholders, manage budgets/vendors, and drive innovation in complex or regulated environments.

Appropriate level will be determined based upon experience and knowledge.

Transformative innovation is happening in the electric industry, from digitalizing homes and distributed resources to renewable energy and an ever-changing grid. MISO manages the electricity superhighway in the Central U.S. and through use of groundbreaking research and advanced technology, our highly skilled employees ensure power flows reliably to 45 million Americans. Operating the electricity grid, running a robust energy market, planning for a bright future - it's what our immensely hardworking and dedicated team does every day.

The base salary compensation range being offered for this role is $225,000 - $252,000 USD annually. Base salary range for this position is included in accordance with requirements of various state/local pay transparency legislation. Please note that salaries may vary for different individuals in the same role based on several factors, including but not limited to location of the role, individual competencies, education/professional certifications, and qualifications/experience.

Position is also eligible for an annual bonus if individual performance and company objectives are met. At MISO we offer a comprehensive benefits package, including 401k, vacation, sick and safe time, available on your first day of employment.

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