Director, Research & Development

Job Summary

As a key member of the executive leadership team, the Director of R&D partners with the General Manager and Head of Product to drive technical innovation, support product strategy, and deliver customer-centric solutions.

The Director will lead core functions including software engineering, DevOps, architecture, QA, and data science. Responsibilities include building and mentoring high-performing teams, establishing best practices in agile software development, managing project execution, setting KPIs, and ensuring technical alignment with business goals.

This role requires strong business acumen, deep engineering leadership experience (10 years), and a track record of delivering scalable web and mobile products. The ideal candidate brings hands-on technical expertise, fluency in modern development practices, and a passion for team development and innovation.

Job Description

The Director, Research and Development (R&D) role is the technical solution leader at Elovate, an integral member of our executive leadership team. In this role you will partner and collaborate with the General Manager and head of Product to deliver solutions that drive customer satisfaction and growth. The Director, R&D is responsible for managing our onshore and offshore teams and aims to align goals and performance with product in an agile framework.

Business Acumen

• Champion the engineering and support of our products. You are involved heavily in business and product strategy, and directly responsible for defining and driving the multi-year technical strategy for the company’s software that goes far beyond today’s technology portfolio
• Work hand in hand with the senior leadership team to develop the technology roadmap for the company and integrate effective technology usage into the development process
  
  

Core Responsibilities

• Responsible for overseeing Development, Quality Assurance, and Development Operations, including but not limited to: managing development priorities, improving development throughput, managing efficiencies & productivity, leading data and architecture decision making, mentoring developers and ensuring development best practices
• Championing the engineering and support of our products - foresees roadblocks and prevents them, enabling engineering teams to focus on their sprint work
• Direct, coach, mentor, and develop the technology team. The direct reports on the team include members responsible for: ○ Software Engineering ○ DevOps ○ Architecture ○ Data Science ○ Knowledge Management
• Grow the Technology and Development team in such a way that “the bar” is raised with every hire and cultural fit is assured
• Establish routines to collaborate with product design, engineering, QA, and DevOps to ensure solutions meet customer needs, are deployable, and supported
• Ensure software development best practices are established to provide predictable and stable product delivery
• Monitors reliability and performance within all engineering projects, initiatives, and processes to meet the organization's established standards
• Manages and leads an Engineering organization of both internal and contracted teams within our agile framework – balancing long-term internal sustainability with speed of execution and budgetary constraints
• Consistently maintains a hiring plan to ensure proper mix of experience and skill sets necessary to execute on engineering strategy
• Manages engineering budget and costs along with establishing a broad set of KPI’s for reporting on overall team / development performance reliability
• Develops and maintains a culture that empowers Engineering Managers to lead Individual Contributors to do their best work
  
  

What You Bring To The Role

Education

• BA or equivalent in Engineering, Computer Science, or relevant field
• MS degree preferred
  
  

Knowledge

• 12 years' experience developing software with past experience as a hands-on software engineer
• 10 years of experience directly managing Engineering Managers and leading a team
• 8 years of experience in an engineering leadership position at a technology company with a focus on delivering high-scale, consumer-facing, web and mobile products
• 8 years’ experience working within agile scrum software development methodologies
• Fluency in development Object-Oriented software development principles
• Hands-on experience in Java or similar programming language, web development, mobile development and Relational databases
• Experience utilizing agile development and lean techniques to incorporate speed and quality into the delivery process
• Experience driving adoption of software development best practices (continuous deployment, dev-ops, full-stack engineering, micro-service architecture, etc.)
  
  

Skills And Abilities

• Ability to develop, and execute, against a multi-year strategic plan
• Ability to collaborate with internal and external teams to resolve issues
• Ability to lead people with a passion for fostering a space of growth and development within their team
• Demonstrated self-motivation and initiative
  
  

Preferred Qualifications

• Certified Scrum Product Owner CSPO or similar
• PMP or similar certification
• Prior experience in the transportation technology industry
  
  

Work Environment

• Elovate is a hybrid-remote workplace combining in-office and remote work to varying degrees based on the role requirements
• This role requires up to 25% travel
  
  

What We Have To Offer

Small company feel with big company benefits! Elovate, a business under Modaxo, provides medical, dental, paid PTO and vision coverage options for you and your

family in addition to life insurance and short-term and long-term disability coverage.

Financial perks include a 401(k) with discretionary match program, a bonus program, and more.

Worker Type

Regular

Number Of Openings Available

1