Director of Software Engineering

Imagine Learning is expanding its global engineering footprint with a new center in India, and we are seeking a Director of Software Engineering to build, lead, and scale this organization. This leader will be one of the earliest foundational hires responsible for establishing the engineering culture, hiring top talent, driving technical excellence, and delivering highly scalable and reliable B2C products used by millions of learners. You must be a hands-on technical leader who has personally architected, developed, and shipped complex, high-scale systems. You will play a dual role as an organizational builder and a senior technologist who can guide engineering direction, ensure quality, and set strong engineering standards.

The core responsibilities for the job include the following:

Leadership and Team Building:

• Build and scale the India-based software engineering organization from the ground up.
• Hire, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering teams, including engineering managers and senior ICs.
• Oversee performance management, promotions, rewards, and organizational structure.
• Create a culture of accountability, innovation, ownership, and continuous improvement.
• Oversee a blended team of FTEs and contractors, managing budgets effectively while ensuring strong delivery metrics.

Technical Execution:

• Provide architectural leadership for building modern, scalable, secure, and resilient B2C products.
• Stay hands-on with code reviews, design reviews, and technical deep dives as needed.
• Drive technical decision-making, including tooling, frameworks, design patterns, and modernization.
• Ensure best practices in coding, testing, CI/CD, observability, reliability, and operational excellence.

Product and Delivery:

• Partner closely with Product, UX, Data, and Operations teams to deliver high-quality product experiences.
• Translate business needs into clear technical requirements and execution plans.
• Ensure customer feedback and metrics directly influence prioritization and solution design.
• Guide the evaluation and improvement of both new and existing systems.

Operational Excellence:

• Establish engineering processes based on Agile and lean delivery methodologies.
• Ensure smooth delivery of features, releases, and ongoing platform enhancements.
• Maintain high standards for uptime, reliability, scalability, and platform health.
• Promote best practices throughout the SDLC and champion engineering quality.

Requirements:

• 14+ years of relevant software engineering experience.
• 8+ years as a Senior Software Engineer building production systems.
• 6+ years of engineering management experience leading teams and managers.
• Hands-on experience architecting and developing high-scale, high-availability B2C applications.
• Proficiency in modern web development technologies, including: HTML5 CSS3 JavaScript, REST, Microservices, React, Java, C#, ASP. NET, and. NET Core.
• Strong experience developing and deploying on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• Strong Experience in LLM, MLOps, Data and AI platforms and operations.

Deep experience with databases:

• SQL: SQL Server, PostgreSQL.
• NoSQL: MongoDB.
• In-memory: Redis.

Leadership and Collaboration:

• Proven experience hiring and developing engineering teams in high-growth environments.
• Ability to think strategically, communicate crisply, and influence at all levels.
• Strong decision-making skills with the ability to balance technical and business priorities.
• Experience establishing standards, engineering processes, and long-term technical vision.

Process and Methodology:

• Strong command of Agile methodologies and modern Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) practices.
• Demonstrated experience improving engineering processes, reliability, and delivery quality.

Preferred Attributes:

• Experience building or scaling offshore engineering centers.
• Background in EdTech or consumer-focused digital platforms.
• Passion for education, learning platforms, or mission-driven technology.