Senior Director of Platform

Senior Director of Platform

The Opportunity

Alma's Engineering and Product teams are on a transformative journey, adopting and perfecting industry-proven practices such as Lean, Dual-Track Agile, DevOps, Generative Culture, and Transformational Leadership, alongside scalable cloud methodologies like microservices and event streaming. Central to this evolution is our commitment to being AI-first, strategically integrating artificial intelligence across our workflows to dramatically enhance speed, quality, and consistency. As the Senior Director of Platform, reporting directly to the CTO, you will be the primary driver and orchestrator of this transformation, building a platform that accelerates our ability to deliver value to our customers.

What you’ll do:

Outcomes: How We'll Define Success in the First 12 Months

This role is an engine of value, accountable for tangible outcomes that will accelerate our technology organization's performance. The Senior Director, Platform will own the following key results:

• Increased Developer Productivity & Satisfaction: You will evolve our platform into a force multiplier, measured by a significant improvement in DORA metrics and a rise in developer satisfaction scores. This includes driving the pervasive adoption of AI-powered solutions to dramatically increase productivity.

• Optimized Infrastructure & Operational Excellence: You will lead strategic cost optimization projects and oversee our new architectural rollout. This will be measured by a reduction in infrastructure and software costs as a percentage of our engineering budget and a demonstrable improvement in speed, quality, and scalability.

• Widespread Adoption of an AI-First & Data-Driven Culture: You will champion a generative, data-driven culture with high expectations and accountability. Success is measured by the widespread adoption of AI tools and the consistent use of DORA metrics and other KPIs to inform decisions.

• Strategic & Operational Orchestration: You will act as a 'force multiplier' for the CTO, orchestrating internal engineering and product excellence. This means owning the strategic roadmap for platform and internal initiatives and effectively influencing stakeholders at all levels to ensure alignment.

Other Responsibilities: What Else You Will Do

• Direct Leadership: Directly manage the Infra and DevX platform teams and guide the future build-out of a software platform group.

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with Engineering, InfoSec, IT, and Product peers to ensure cohesive strategies. You will present platform strategies, roadmaps, and progress to stakeholders at all levels.

• Culture & Skill Development: Organize departmental activities that contribute to skill development and team cohesion, such as training and knowledge-sharing sessions on AI tools and best practices.

• Financial & Resource Analysis: Analyze software budgets and project costs to identify opportunities for efficiency and cost reduction, proposing AI-driven solutions where appropriate.

Who you are:

The Capabilities: What You'll Bring to the Role

Your ability to achieve these outcomes will depend on a specific set of capabilities:

• Strategic & Transformational Leadership: You have a track record of defining and leading large-scale technical transformations. You are a practitioner of Transformational Leadership, Generative Culture, and 'Shift Left' principles.

• Deep Technical and Operational Expertise: You possess a deep understanding and practical experience with modern software development lifecycle practices, including DevOps and continuous delivery. You have proven experience leading multiple teams and driving operational excellence, with a background in platform teams or a history of adopting platforms effectively.

• Data-Driven Influence & Accountability: You are highly analytical and data-driven, with demonstrated success in defining, tracking, and acting upon key engineering metrics. You have exceptional communication skills with a track record of fostering accountability and influencing stakeholders across the organization.

• AI-First Mindset & Implementation: You have a demonstrated history of identifying, deploying, and driving the pervasive adoption of new tools, with a strong emphasis on leveraging AI to maximize utility for a large group of engineers.

Benefits:

• We’re a remote-first company

• Health insurance plans through Aetna (medical and dental) and MetLife (vision), including FSA and HSA plans

• 401K plan (ADP)

• Monthly therapy and wellness stipends

• Monthly co-working space membership stipend

• Monthly work-from-home stipend

• Financial wellness benefits through Northstar

• Pet discount program through United Pet Care

• Financial perks and rewards through BenefitHub

• EAP access through Aetna

• One-time home office stipend to set up your home office

• Comprehensive parental leave plans

• 12 paid holidays and 1 Alma Give Back Day

• Flexible PTO 

Salary Band: $260,000 - $290,000 

All Alma jobs are listed on our careers page. We do not use outside applications or automated text messaging in our recruiting process. We will not ask for any sensitive financial or identification information throughout the recruiting process. Any communication during the recruitment process, including interview requests or job offers, will come directly from a recruiting team member with a helloalma.com email address.