Director of Software Engineering - Greenvale - Apple Industries, Inc.

Description

Position Description and Overview

The Director of Software Engineering is responsible for leading, planning, and executing software development across the Face Place product ecosystem, ensuring reliable, scalable, and high-quality software delivery that powers the largest and most sophisticated photo booth network in the world. This role owns technical execution from planning through deployment and ongoing support, aligning engineering outcomes with broader business and product strategy.

This role manages the software engineering organization, overseeing frontend, backend, booth applications, and QA efforts. The Director of Engineering translates business and product requirements into clear technical plans, development schedules, and delivery commitments, while holding engineers accountable for timelines, quality, and operational readiness.

Products may include all existing and new photo booths, OOBE (mobile user experience and marketplace), the photo booth management portal for internal and external customers ("Back Office"), backend services and infrastructure, and any new products we create.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership & Execution

• Oversee all software engineering activities and processes, setting standards for code quality, system reliability, security, and maintainability
• Own engineering delivery from roadmap planning through development, testing, deployment, and post-release support
• Create, manage, and maintain short-term and long-term engineering roadmaps aligned with company objectives, timelines, and key delivery milestones (including trade shows and product launches)
• Develop, manage, and actively drive detailed development schedules to ensure predictable execution and timely delivery
• Hold engineering teams and leads accountable for deadlines, scope, and quality commitments

Team Management & Development

• Oversee the engineering organization by recruiting, orienting, training, coaching, counseling, disciplining, planning, monitoring, and appraising employees
• Directly manage engineering leads and senior engineers across multiple technical domains
• Identify leadership gaps and address them through coaching, restructuring, or hiring as needed
• Build and maintain a strong engineering culture focused on ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement

Technical Direction & Planning

• Translate business, product, and operational requirements into clear technical designs, implementation plans, and execution strategies
• Provide hands-on leadership in system architecture, technical tradeoffs, and prioritization decisions
• Guide development across diverse technology stacks, including frontend, backend, desktop, and hardware-integrated applications
• Balance feature development, technical debt reduction, and platform stability

CI/CD, Quality & Operations

• Own and orchestrate CI/CD pipelines, release processes, and deployment standards
• Establish, maintain, and evolve testing strategies (including automated QA) to ensure consistent quality across all products
• Ensure production readiness through monitoring, on-call practices, incident management, and postmortem processes
• Lead engineering response during production incidents and crises, coordinating rapid mitigation, clear communication, and post-incident analysis and follow-up
• Drive continuous improvements in development workflows, tooling, and release efficiency

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Serve as the primary engineering liaison to Product and Customer Support for software-related initiatives and issues
• Partner with Product to scope work, define milestones, and manage tradeoffs between timelines, complexity, and quality
• Collaborate closely with Customer Support to prioritize bug fixes, manage escalations, and improve customer outcomes
• Maintain a strong on-site presence to support real-time collaboration, rapid decision-making, and hands-on leadership across engineering, product, and customer support teams
• Participate in planning and execution for key trade shows, launches, and customer-facing initiatives
• Partner with Product, Marketing, and Customer Support to plan and communicate software releases, including release notes, feature rollouts, and customer-facing timelines
• Ensure clear, accurate communication during incidents, including internal updates and external messaging as appropriate
• Own standards and accountability for software-related documentation, including operator manuals, technical documentation, and both internal and external knowledge bases

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Identify opportunities to improve system scalability, reliability, and performance
• Proactively surface risks, dependencies, and resource constraints
• Contribute to long-term technical strategy and platform evolution

Minimum Work Experience / Knowledge:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline from an accredited college or university
• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience
• 4+ years in engineering leadership roles managing multiple teams or technical leads
• Proven experience owning development schedules, delivery commitments, and execution across multiple teams
• Strong hands-on understanding of CI/CD pipelines, release management, and production operations
• Experience translating business and product requirements into actionable technical plans

Technical Expertise (one or more required):

• Frontend development , or similar frameworks)
• Backend systems (Java, Spring Framework, microservices, AWS, relational databases such as PostgreSQL)
• Desktop or hardware-integrated applications (.NET, C#, WinUI, image processing, extensive hardware integration with devices such as printers, cameras, I/O control boards, speakers, microphones, lighting, payment devices, connectivity modules, etc.)

Leadership & Professional Skills:

• Demonstrated ability to hold teams accountable while maintaining morale and trust
• Clear and effective written and verbal English communication skills
• Strong planning, organization, and decision-making abilities
• Self-motivated with the ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines
• Consistently high standards for quality and attention to detail

Working Conditions:

• This is an on-site leadership role requiring daily presence in the office to enable close collaboration, real-time decision-making, and hands-on execution leadership across engineering, product, and customer support teams.
• Extended periods of sitting and working at a computer
• Regular participation in in-person meetings, technical reviews, and cross-functional planning sessions
• Occasional presentations to internal stakeholders and cross-functional teams, typically involving extended periods of standing
• Occasional travel to national/international industry events, trade shows, or site visits