Senior Director - Engineering Operations & Platform

Alma's Engineering and Product teams are on a transformative journey, adopting and perfecting industry-proven practices such as Lean, Dual-Track Agile, DevOps, Generative Culture, and Transformational Leadership, alongside scalable cloud methodologies like microservices and event streaming. Central to this evolution is our commitment to being AI-first, strategically integrating artificial intelligence across our workflows to dramatically enhance speed, quality, and consistency. We need a leader to be the primary driver and orchestrator of this transformation, while building a platform that accelerates our ability to deliver value to our customers. Outcomes: How We'll Define Success in the First 12 Months This role is an engine of value, accountable for tangible outcomes that will accelerate our technology organization's performance. The Senior Director, Engineering Operations & Platform will own the following key results:

• Increased Developer Productivity & Satisfaction: You will lead the charge in evolving our platform to be a force multiplier for engineering and product teams. This will be measured by at least a 20% increase in developer productivity (as shown by a significant improvement in metrics: Lead Time, Deployment Frequency, Velocity, Change Failure Rate, and MTTR) and a rise in our internal developer satisfaction scores. This includes driving the pervasive adoption of practices, like shift-left on quality and tools, with a strong emphasis on leveraging AI-powered solutions to dramatically increase productivity, consistency, and quality.
• Optimized Infrastructure & Operational Excellence: You will lead strategic cost optimization projects related to our software and infrastructure, leveraging data and AI-driven insights to achieve a more balanced expense base. This will be measured by a reduction in infrastructure and software costs as a percentage of our engineering budget. This outcome requires you to oversee the operational aspects of our new architectural rollout, ensuring a smooth and successful adoption that demonstrably improves speed, quality, and scalability.
• Widespread Adoption of an AI-First & Data-Driven Culture: You will be a champion for a generative culture, helping embed high expectations and accountability across the department. Success is the pervasive, department-wide adoption of our AI-first approach and a data-driven mindset. You will accomplish this by running specific, high-impact projects, leading change management for key transformations, and ensuring accountability through transparent communication and a unified departmental scorecard. Your success here will be measured by the rate of AI tool adoption, and the widespread use of DORA metrics and other KPIs to inform decisions.
• Strategic & Operational Orchestration: You will act as a 'force multiplier' for the CTO, orchestrating internal engineering and product excellence. This means owning and driving the strategic roadmap for platform and internal initiatives, ensuring they are aligned with overall company objectives and that all critical workflows and processes are documented and scalable. You will effectively manage and influence stakeholders at all levels, from individual contributors to executive leadership, to ensure alignment and buy-in for our strategic goals. What you'll do:
• Direct Leadership: Directly manage the Infra and DevX platform teams, ensuring they are well-resourced, high-performing, and delivering foundational capabilities that accelerate product development. You will also guide the potential future build-out of a software platform group.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with Engineering, InfoSec, IT, and Product peers to ensure cohesive and integrated strategies. You will draft and present compelling platform strategies, roadmaps, and progress to various stakeholders, from individual contributors to executive leadership.
• Culture & Skill Development: Organize and drive departmental activities that contribute to skill development and team cohesion, such as training and knowledge-sharing sessions, specifically on AI tools and best practices.
• Financial & Resource Analysis: Analyze software budgets and project costs to identify opportunities for efficiency and cost reduction, proposing AI-driven solutions where appropriate. Who you are: Your ability to achieve these outcomes will depend on a specific set of capabilities, not just a list of skills.
• Strategic & Transformational Leadership: You have a track record of defining a clear vision and leading scaled organizational and technical transformations. You are a practitioner of Transformational Leadership and Generative Culture, with demonstrated success in implementing 'Shift Left' principles across quality, architecture, and security.
• Deep Technical and Operational Expertise: You possess a deep understanding and practical experience with modern software development lifecycle practices, including Lean, Dual-Track Agile,

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