We are seeking a highly accomplished and results-oriented Associate Director, Software Engineering to lead the strategy, development, delivery, and operations of a critical application portfolio.
The role will oversee both customer-facing applications, including Cast.sg, Insurance Application and Regional Rewards, as well as foundational backend systems through the Open Platform.
The successful candidate will be a strong technical leader and strategic thinker with proven experience in building and scaling engineering organisations, modernising application architecture, managing technology partners, and delivering reliable software products at scale.
- Define and execute the technical roadmap and architectural vision across the application portfolio.
- Drive the design of scalable, highly available, secure and high-performance applications on AWS Cloud.
- Lead application modernisation, platform evolution and technology transformation initiatives.
- Establish and promote best practices across CI/CD, observability, automated testing, DevOps and software engineering quality.
- Provide technical direction and hands-on guidance across Java, React, Next.js, AWS, PostgreSQL and SQLtechnologies.
- Ensure technical architecture and engineering practices support long-term business and product objectives.
- Lead multiple software engineering teams and Senior Engineering Managers.
- Mentor, coach and develop engineering leaders and technical talent.
- Establish a culture of technical excellence, accountability, collaboration and continuous improvement.
- Oversee the complete Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) from planning and design through development, testing, deployment and production operations.
- Ensure timely, predictable and high-quality delivery of software products and projects.
- Drive talent acquisition, succession planning, employee development, retention and performance management.
- Own strategic relationships with key technology vendors, outsourcing partners and external service providers.
- Manage vendor performance, contractual deliverables, Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and service quality.
- Lead vendor due diligence, technology risk assessments and compliance reviews.
- Negotiate and manage technology contracts to optimise cost, quality and business value.
- Drive cost optimisation across key technology services, including AWS infrastructure and proprietary platform licences.
- Act as the primary technical interface with executive leadership, Product Management, Finance and regional business stakeholders.
- Balance and prioritise competing technology and business requirements across the application portfolio.
- Communicate technical risks, delivery status, architectural decisions and strategic initiatives clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Translate complex technical matters into business impact, risks, opportunities and actionable recommendations.
- Build strong relationships across product, technology and regional business teams.
Open Platform
- Drive the strategic evolution of core services, APIs and backend capabilities supporting consumer applications.
- Ensure platform services are robust, scalable, secure and easy to integrate.
Customer-Facing Applications
- Provide leadership oversight for Cast.sg, Insurance Application and Regional Rewards.
- Ensure high-quality user experiences, feature delivery and integration with regional partner systems.
- Align application development with product strategy, customer needs and business objectives.
- Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in an engineering leadership or senior management role.
- Proven experience managing and scaling multiple software engineering teams.
- Strong track record in software architecture, application modernisation and technology transformation.
- Demonstrated experience managing technology vendors and external partners, including contract negotiation, SLA management and performance monitoring.
- Strong hands-on technical understanding of:JavaReact / Next.jsMicroservices architecturePostgreSQL / SQL AWS Cloud, including services such as ECS, Lambda, RDS and S3.
- Extensive experience across the full Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and Agile/Scrum methodologies.
- Experience operating high-availability, customer-facing applications in cloud environments.
- Strong understanding of software engineering practices including CI/CD, automated testing, observability, security and performance optimisation.
- Excellent leadership, communication, stakeholder management and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to present complex technical strategies and recommendations to executive and non-technical audiences.
Note: Singaporean/SPRs welcome to apply. Only shortlisted candidate will be notified.