Director, Development

Job Purpose

The New York Stock Exchange, a subsidiary of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE), presents a unique opportunity for a full-time hands-on Director of Engineering to lead and drive the strategic technical vision for trading systems development in a high throughput, low latency trading environment. This senior leadership role carries end-to-end ownership of the architecture, design, and delivery of core systems powering NYSE Equity and Options markets on the cutting-edge Pillar platform. The Director of Engineering will lead multiple engineering teams, set the long-term technical direction, and serve as the key decision-maker on platform architecture — ensuring world-class reliability, performance, and innovation across the trading technology portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Architecture & Design Ownership
  • Own and drive the end-to-end system architecture and technical roadmap for NYSE's high performance, high availability, high throughput trading platform.
  • Serve as the final technical authority on architectural and design decisions, ensuring alignment with long-term business strategy and scalability goals.
  • Define and enforce engineering standards, design patterns, and best practices across all teams and system components.
  • Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies and approaches to maintain a competitive, next-generation platform.
• Engineering Leadership & Team Development
  • Lead, mentor, and grow multiple engineering teams, including Principal Engineers, Senior Engineers, and individual contributors, fostering a culture of technical excellence and accountability.
  • Recruit, retain, and develop top-tier engineering talent; drive career development, succession planning, and performance management across the organization.
  • Champion a collaborative and innovative engineering culture that encourages knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
• Strategic Planning & Execution
  • Partner with senior business, product, and operations leadership to translate business objectives into technical strategy and execution plans.
  • Own program-level planning, prioritization, and delivery of complex, cross-functional initiatives with organization-wide impact.
  • Establish and track key engineering metrics (system performance, reliability, delivery velocity) and drive continuous improvement against those benchmarks.
  • Manage engineering budgets, vendor relationships, and resource allocation decisions.
• Operational Excellence
  • Ensure the highest levels of system reliability, availability, and regulatory compliance for mission-critical trading infrastructure.
  • Drive incident management, root-cause analysis, and systemic improvements to reduce operational risk.
  • Effectively represent engineering in cross-organizational forums, regulatory reviews, and executive-level discussions.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related degree.
• 15+ years of progressive hands-on software engineering experience, including significant depth in C/C++ development on Linux.
• 5+ years in a senior engineering leadership role with demonstrated experience managing and scaling multiple teams.
• Proven track record of owning and driving large-scale system architecture and design for high performance, low latency, mission-critical platforms.
• Deep expertise in data structures, algorithmic complexity, systems programming, and performance-oriented software design.
• Strong hands-on background with TCP/IP, Multicast network protocols, multithreading, and real-time systems.
• Experience with scripting languages and automation in complex engineering environments.
• Experience with AI assisted coding tools and agents for automating development workflows

Leadership and Strategic Skills

• Demonstrated ability to set technical vision, influence across organizational boundaries, and drive alignment between engineering, business, and operations leadership.
• Experience managing engineering budgets, roadmaps, and cross-functional programs at scale.
• Strong executive communication skills — ability to translate complex technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and represent engineering at the executive level.
• Track record of building, mentoring, and retaining high-performing engineering organizations.
• Experience operating within regulated financial services or exchange environments is strongly preferred.

New York Base Salary Range 

The expected base salary for this role, if located in New York, is between $215,000 - 285,000 USD.  The base salary range does not include Intercontinental Exchange’s incentive compensation.  While we provide this range as general guidance, at ICE we compensate employees based on the skillset and experience of the individual. Regular full-time ICE employees are eligible for a suite of competitive employee benefits, including healthcare coverage (medical, dental and vision), a 401(k) plan, life insurance, time off, and paid leave for qualifying circumstances.