Software Engineering Director, Distributed Development

We improve grower profitability, environmental sustainability, and consumer health through the use of natural microbiology and digital technologies. Utilizing beneficial plant microbes and agronomic insights, we work with growers to sustainably produce high quality harvests. The company then connects growers and buyers directly to bring these harvests to market.The company is headquartered in Boston, MA, with additional offices in Memphis, TN, Research Triangle Park, NC, Sydney, Australia, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and São Paulo, Brazil.

Responsibilities:

• Take responsibility for and drive the roadmap for all existing and future fully-outsourced projects

• Understand the requirements, roadmap, and current capabilities for all existing outsourced projects

• Drive and take responsibility for all fully outsourced projects

• Create a software lifecycle process for transitioning external projects to internal ownership (for future transitions, as needed)

• Evaluate and build relationships with existing vendors

• Evaluate effectiveness of each vendor we currently use

• Assess the qualifications of contractors within existing vendors

• Build relationships with all vendor account managers and establish processes for adding and removing vendor resources

• Bridge all communication and ensure consistency between our Engineering and vendors

• Become liaison for all 3rd-party firms

• Establish procedures for vendor communication and affecting up-and-out procedures for contractors

• Ensure that all vendors follow our code guidelines

• Proactively evaluate, anticipate, and hire to satisfy engineering outsourcing needs

• Constantly evaluate outsourcing needs with Engineering leadership in order to stay ahead and avoid resourcing constraints on projects (for fully outsourced projects and to augment internal projects)

• Align our engineering outsourcing needs with vendor skillsets, developing a group of vendors to satisfy permanent and flex resourcing capacity

Competencies:

• Skilled engineering mentor

• Strong liaison skills – bridges the gap between Engineering and Product Management

• Excellent communication skills (both written and verbal)

• Driven to execute to make decisions in ambiguous environments

• Understands how to optimize and facilitate communication and collaboration for remote teams

• Proven negotiation and budget management skills

• Able to delegate work as needed; strong prioritization skills

• Proactive, even with shifting requirements and priorities

• Thrives in a fast-paced environment

Qualifications:

• 5+ years management experience required (including hiring, promoting, and firing employees)

• Proven record of successfully leading distributed teams

• Experience managing multiple teams and products simultaneously

• Experience hiring consultants strongly preferred

• Experience working with and processing contracts

• Experience managing budgets and communicating trade-off decisions

• Previous experience working as a remote or contract developer preferred