The Director of Engineering leads software solutions development, manages staff across teams, sets goals, and ensures alignment with business objectives.
At StraighterLine we are on a mission to help students succeed!
About Us
StraighterLine is the leading provider of high-quality, affordable, online courses that help learners earn college credit and meet their professional goals. Each year, 150,000 learners take one of StraighterLine’s 215 courses to upskill into new careers or earn credit from over 2,000 colleges and universities worldwide. StraighterLine works with institutions and corporate partners to provide their students and employees with flexible education options that allow them to work and learn at their own pace. Visit www.straighterline.com for more information.
The Director of Engineering leads the development of software solutions for our subsidiaries ProSolutions Training and the Childcare Education Institute, the two premier training and certification solutions for early childhood educators. This person develops and manages staff across multiple product and engineering teams, including up to 7 in-house engineers and analysts who are embedded with outsourced teams. The Director ensures the use of modern technologies, systems, and practices to drive productivity, resource efficiency, and company growth. This role reports to the Chief Technology Officer.
This is both a strategic and technical leadership position. Responsibilities include setting team goals, hiring and developing staff, establishing priorities, and communicating expectations. The role also involves leading product development, defining requirements, owning technical architecture, offering expert guidance, and occasionally contributing hands-on in the form of prototyping, mentoring, and emergency response.
Primary Objectives
- Deliver software product roadmaps with high stakeholder satisfaction
- Mentor and grow internal staff, including engineers and product owners
- Manage outsourced development partners to ensure high-quality output
- Implement systems and processes that drive operational efficiency, cost control, and effective decision-making
- Foster an engineering culture centered on quality, security, reliability, and maintainability
- Collaborate with senior leadership to align engineering initiatives with business and learner success goals
Responsibilities
- Lead software design and architectural decisions
- Manage cloud infrastructure at AWS
- Participate in team activities, including sprint planning, code reviews, and deployments; contribute hands-on as needed for prototyping, mentoring, or critical support
- Define and implement engineering strategies, standards, processes, and performance metrics
- Recruit, train, and mentor engineers, advocating for their growth and ensuring they have the resources to succeed
- Communicate priorities clearly, align teams with company goals, and drive momentum around initiatives
- Partner with stakeholders to ensure engineering efforts meet user needs and support business objectives
- Translate technical information for non-technical audiences and maintain strong cross-functional relationships
- Ensure production systems are reliable, secure, and compliant
- Stay current with emerging technologies and recommend forward-looking strategies aligned with company needs
Qualifications
- 10+ years of relevant experience, including at least 5 years in engineering management
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field is preferred
- Hands-on expertise in software development, agile practices, and cloud technologies
- Strong experience with AWS, serverless architectures, full-stack JavaScript, and SQL
- Proven track record managing outsourced or offshore development teams
- Experience with education technologies like LMS, LXP, SCORM, LTI, etc. is preferred
- Familiarity with legacy systems like ColdFusion is preferred
- Experience delivering complex projects within defined budgets and timelines
- Excellent communication skills with both technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Strong leadership, mentoring, and problem-solving abilities
- Self-motivated, adaptable, and focused on outcomes
Working at StraighterLine
StraighterLine team members work every day knowing that they are helping learners on their path to employability and career success. We're an inclusive team that fosters collaboration, that trusts and communicates openly. Like our students, we are lifelong learners and strive for excellence in our work. We are committed to bringing innovative solutions to the field - your ideas will never go unheard. And, best of all, we love to celebrate each other's contributions and wins.
We also know how important a life outside of work is, and the support that employers can contribute.
Our Benefits:
Generous time off policies, 13 public holidays.
Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance Coverage (*one option full funded by StraighterLine)
401K Safe Harbor: StraighterLine contributes 3% of your total salary whether you contribute or not
Six weeks paid parental leave
Free StraighterLine courses for you and your family members
We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Top Skills
Agile Practices
AWS
Full-Stack Javascript
Software Development
SQL
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