Job Description
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About the Role
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board is seeking an experienced and collaborative technology leader to serve as the Director of Product Engineering. Reporting to the Senior Director of Technology, this position is a key member of the Information Technology Services leadership team and provides strategic leadership and oversight for the agency's application engineering and software development function, including enterprise application delivery and modernization initiatives.
The Director is responsible for ensuring the reliable, secure, and scalable delivery of technology solutions that enable agency business operations and advance THECB's mission, strategic priorities, and service objectives. This position establishes the strategic direction for application engineering by developing goals, objectives, policies, procedures, standards, engineering practices, and performance measures that promote reliable, highquality, and efficient delivery and modernization of technology solutions across the agency.
Responsibilities include directing the delivery of enterprise application engineering and software development services; overseeing application portfolio planning, engineering standards, architecture practices, resource alignment, and continuous delivery improvement initiatives; and providing leadership for engineering governance, operational compliance, and organizational change.
Working collaboratively with ITS leadership, Product Management, the Project Management Office (PMO), agency stakeholders, and business partners, the Director helps align application engineering priorities with business needs while promoting a productoriented operating model and ensuring consistent, efficient, and highquality delivery of technology solutions across the agency.
This position supervises management and professional staff and exercises significant initiative and independent judgment while serving as a trusted advisor on application engineering, modernization, and technology delivery.
General Description:
Performs highly advanced (seniorlevel) managerial work for the Information Technology Services (ITS) Division of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Serving as the Director of Product Engineering, this position provides strategic leadership and oversight for the agency's application engineering and software development function, including enterprise application delivery and modernization initiatives. The position is responsible for ensuring the reliable, secure, and scalable delivery of technology solutions that enable agency business operations and advance the agency's mission, strategic priorities, and service objectives.
Work involves establishing strategic plans, goals, and objectives for application engineering; developing policies, procedures, standards, and engineering practices; and establishing priorities, performance measures, and evaluation tools to assess operational effectiveness and application reliability.
Responsibilities include directing the delivery of enterprise application engineering and software development services; overseeing application portfolio planning, engineering standards, architecture practices, resource alignment, and continuous delivery improvement initiatives; and providing leadership for engineering governance, operational compliance, and organizational change. Collaborates with ITS leadership and agency stakeholders, including Product Management and the Project Management Office (PMO), to align application engineering priorities with business needs and ensure consistent, efficient, and highquality delivery of technology solutions across the agency.
Supervises the work of others, including management and professional staff. Works under minimal supervision, with extensive latitude for the use of initiative and independent judgment. This position reports to the Senior Director of Technology. Performs other duties as assigned.
General Duties and Responsibilities:
Strategic People Leadership & Talent Strategy Leads managers, senior individual contributors, or a combination of both by setting leadership expectations, supporting performance management, and guiding workforce and succession planning. Develops leadership capability and subjectmatter expertise; aligns talent to strategic needs; and fosters a culture of accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
Strategic Execution, Governance & Resource Alignment Defines and oversees execution of strategies within assigned domains by establishing goals, priorities, standards, and performance measures. Aligns budgets, staffing, and resources to objectives; ensures compliance and governance; and monitors organizational performance to achieve agency outcomes.
Application Engineering & Delivery Leadership ¿ Directs application engineering and software delivery functions that support agency systems, digital services, and business applications. Establishes delivery standards and performance expectations to ensure applications are developed, maintained, and supported in a reliable, secure, and efficient manner aligned with agency priorities and missioncritical operations, in close partnership with Product Management and the PMO to ensure alignment with product roadmaps, delivery commitments, and prioritized business outcomes.
Architecture, Standards & Engineering Practices Establishes and maintains engineering standards, architectural principles, and development practices that guide application design and implementation. Ensures consistency, scalability, maintainability, and alignment with enterprise technology standards, security requirements, and longterm sustainability of application solutions.
Engineering Planning, Prioritization & Resource Alignment Leads engineering planning, prioritization, and resource alignment activities within the ITS portfolio to support organizational objectives. Oversees workload management and the use of internal and external resources to ensure effective and efficient delivery of work. Partners with Product Management, PMO, and the rest of IT Leadership to support a unified product roadmap, ensuring alignment of priorities, capacity, and technical sequencing across the organization.
Stakeholder Collaboration & Organizational Alignment Collaborates with IT leadership, agency executives, and business stakeholders to align application engineering services with organizational priorities. Facilitates crossfunctional coordination to ensure application solutions support agency programs, operational needs, and mission outcomes, promoting a productoriented operating model with shared ownership of outcomes across business, product, and engineering functions.
Performs other duties as assigned.
Knowledge Skills or Abilities:
Knowledge of modern application architecture and engineering practices, including cloudnative, servicebased, and APIdriven design.
Knowledge of enterprise application modernization strategies, including SaaS, lowcode platforms, and commercial offtheshelf (COTS) solutions.
Knowledge of cloud platforms and enterprise integration technologies, such as AWS, Azure, or comparable solutions.
Knowledge of enterprise application ecosystems and platforms, such as Salesforce, lowcode/nocode platforms, or comparable solutions.
Knowledge of productoriented delivery models and Agile practices within enterprise environments.
Knowledge of IT governance, security, and compliance practices related to application development and delivery.
Skill in leading engineering teams delivering across custombuilt, SaaS, lowcode, and COTS platforms.
Skill in aligning architecture and engineering execution with product strategy and business priorities.
Skill in evaluating and guiding build versus buy decisions and platform selection within enterprise environments.
Skill in providing handson technical leadership, including guiding design, reviewing solutions, and supporting teams through complex challenges.
Skill in coaching and developing engineers and managers to improve technical capability and delivery practices.
Skill in managing and prioritizing work across a unified portfolio and roadmap.
Skill in collaborating effectively across engineering, product, business, and executive stakeholders.
Ability to provide strategic direction for application engineering while remaining actively engaged in technical decisionmaking and delivery.
Ability to drive modernization through adoption of cloudnative, SaaS, lowcode, and COTS solutions where appropriate.
Ability to align product strategy, business needs, and engineering execution into a single, integrated delivery model.
Ability to guide teams through transformation by reinforcing standards, demonstrating best practices, and improving engineering maturity.
Ability to balance priorities, capacity, and technical sequencing across a portfolio of work.
Ability to communicate effectively with both technical and nontechnical stakeholders, including executive leadership.
Ability to foster a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement.
Required InOffice Days:
This position requires onsite work. The employee must be physically present in the office five (5) days per week.
This position is authorized for a hybrid telework schedule. Employees are required to work in the office two (2) days per week, with the remaining three days eligible for telework. Specific inoffice days may be determined by the department to meet business needs.
Military Crosswalk: https://hr.sao.texas.gov/Compensation/MilitaryCrosswalk/MOSC_ProgramManagement.pdf
Required Minimum Education and Experience:
Bachelor's degree from an accredited fouryear college or university with major coursework in computer science, information systems, computer engineering, or a related field.
Ten (10) years of progressively responsible professional experience in information technology, business operations, or a related field.
Six (6) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in information technology, including responsibility for leading technical teams.
Additional related work experience may substitute for the required education on a yearforyear basis.
Preferred Experience and Education:
Extensive experience leading enterprise data engineering, data platform, or analytics delivery functions in complex organizational environments.
Experience operating within a productoriented delivery model, including collaboration with Product Management, Product Engineering, and portfolio or program management functions.
Demonstrated experience leading data platform modernization efforts, including transitioning legacy data warehouses and reporting environments toward cloudbased, softwareasaservice (SaaS), or cloudnative data platforms.
Experience establishing technology strategies that emphasize cloudfirst and configurable or commercial solutions, including build versus buy decisionmaking and platform evaluation.
Experience designing and delivering enterprise data pipelines, integrati
