Director of Software Engineering - DESG
About the Role:
We are seeking a Director of Software Engineering to for Datacor Engineering Software Group (DESG), which encompasses three respected product families: CHEMCAD, Flow Simulation (Fathom, Arrow, Impulse, xStream), and GoldSim. This role will oversee the technical direction and development operations for these teams, driving modernization, improved software delivery practices, and long-term architectural planning.
The Director will report to the General Manager of DESG and partner closely with Product Management, R&D, and Strategy to align development activities with customer value and business objectives. The right candidate will be an engineering leader with strong technical judgment, modern development process expertise, and a pragmatic approach to evolving legacy systems.
Responsibilities:
Lead and manage software development teams across CHEMCAD, Flow Simulation, and GoldSim product lines
Establish and continuously improve development practices, including version control, code reviews, automated testing, CI/CD, and agile processes
Own DESG's internal AI adoption strategy – moving the engineering to a deliberate, prioritized approach with respect to AI-assisted development tools and workflows, staying ahead of the rapidly evolving AI and engineering tooling landscape and translating what's relevant for the team, with clear criteria for what to adopt and how to measure impact.
Champion an AI-first, growth mindset - pushing the team to experiment, learn continuously, and adapt as tools and practices evolve.
Drive measurable improvements in throughput, release cadence, and quality using engineering metrics (e.g., cycle time, lead time, defect rates)
Partner with Product Management and R&D leadership to execute on roadmap priorities and customer deliverables
Define and lead a point of view on AI within the products themselves—partnering with Product Management to identify, prioritize, and deliver AI-powered capabilities that create real customer value across CHEMCAD, Flow Simulation, and GoldSim
Proactively identify technical debt and architectural risk before they become urgent, and make timely decisions on remediation, refactoring, or re-platforming
Mentor, coach, and grow a high-performing team of engineers with varied backgrounds (computer science and domain engineering disciplines), with particular focus on developing team leads into strong, independent people leaders
Set and personally uphold a high hiring bar across engineering roles, staying actively involved in key interview loops to ensure caliber
Foster a collaborative and engineering-first culture that blends scientific rigor with modern software craftsmanship
Anticipate where the platforms need to evolve and own the long-term architectural vision for both platforms, advocating for scalability, maintainability, and performance
Build the engineering standards, onboarding practices, and integration playbooks that let DESG absorb future acquisitions repeatably, rather than requiring bespoke effort each time
Collaborate cross-functionally with other Datacor units to promote shared learning, tools, and process maturity
Ensure effective technical communication and knowledge sharing across geographically distributed teams
Build succession planning, internal mobility paths, and future engineering leadership
Required Qualifications:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field
7+ years of experience in software development, including 3+ years in engineering management or technical leadership
Track record operating at a Director level of scope – building team structure, engineering strategy, and roadmap direction, with a bias toward anticipating problems and acting with urgency rather than waiting for escalation
Demonstrated experience improving legacy development environments and guiding teams through modernization
Strong understanding of modern software architecture principles (modularization, service decomposition, interface design)
Familiarity with Microsoft-based ecosystems (e.g., .NET, C++, VB.NET), with the ability to hold technical discussions regardless of stack
Experience scaling engineering teams and delivering commercial desktop or simulation software is a strong plus
Proven success introducing or evolving Agile practices in teams with limited historical process
Excellent communication, leadership, and collaboration skills—especially when aligning with product and R&D counterparts
Preferred Qualifications:
Exposure to simulation or scientific modeling in chemical or mechanical engineering domains
Experience with Git-based workflows, branching strategies, and DevOps automation
Familiarity with tools such as Jira, Notion, and Nave (or other Agile metrics platforms)
Experience building engineering practices and playbooks that scaled across multiple acquired products or teams, ideally in an active M&A or business-unit transformation setting
Experience managing teams remote, including international teams
Background in managing cross-functional or multidisciplinary engineering teams