Director, Software Engineering - Order Management

Location: Northbrook, IL, US

Employment Type: Full Time

We are looking for a visionary and results-oriented Director, Software Engineering, with 12-15+ years of extensive experience, including senior leadership roles. This individual will lead the Order Management engineering organization, setting the technical and operational strategy for multiple product lines or a large department. You will be responsible for driving innovation, building high-performing teams, and ensuring the delivery of world-class software solutions that meet critical business objectives and market demands.

• This position is fully remote

• This role is an People Leader position 

A day in the life as a Director, Software Engineering...

• Drive the modernization of the Enterprise Order Management platform in partnership with the architecture leadership, ensuring high availability, sub-second latency for inventory calls, and fault-tolerant order routing during peak peak-retail traffic (e.g., Black Friday/Cyber Monday)

• Oversee the end-to-end engineering of Distributed Order Management (DOM) capabilities, including complex fulfillment logic, split-shipment optimization, and pre-sourcing strategies

• Provide strategic leadership and direction for a large software engineering department, encompassing multiple teams and managers

• Develop and execute the long-term technical vision, strategy, and roadmap for your areas of responsibility in alignment with overall company strategy, leveraging your comprehensive understanding of systems, tools, and applications in your area.

• Drive engineering excellence, innovation, and operational efficiency across the department as well as champion agile practices

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of engineering managers and senior technical leaders, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement

• Oversee the end-to-end delivery of major software programs and product initiatives, ensuring quality, scalability, and timeliness

• Collaborate closely with executive leadership, product management, and business partners (Digital/eComm, Retail Stores, and Supply Chain Logistics) to define product strategy and ensure engineering efforts support business goals

• Manage resource allocation and long-range capacity planning and ensure fiscal responsibility within your organization

• Champion the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, modern architectural patterns, and agile best practices

• Establish and maintain high standards for software quality, system reliability, and security

• Manage and optimize strategic relationships with core enterprise software vendors (Blue Yonder) and system integrators

What you'll bring to the table...

• Deep domain expertise in Omni-Channel fulfillment workflows, including Buy Online Pick Up In Store (BOPIS), Ship from Store (SFS), curbside pickup, and reverse logistics/returns processing.

• Strong technical comprehension of real-time inventory segmentation, ATP (Available-to-Promise) logic, and event-driven architectures utilizing message brokers (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ)

• Proven ability to lead and scale large, distributed engineering organizations

• Deep understanding of modern software development methodologies, cloud-native architectures, and emerging technologies

• Excellent communication, negotiation, and influencing skills, with the ability to engage effectively at all levels, including executive leadership

• Demonstrated experience in managing budgets, resource planning, and vendor relationships

• Expertise in driving innovation and managing complex technical projects from conception to delivery in an agile environment

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a data-driven approach to decision-making

• Experience in talent management, including recruiting, developing, and retaining senior engineering leaders

• Strong understanding of financial implications in decision-making, ensuring responsible use of company resources

We'd love to hear from you if you have...

• 12+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, with at least 5+ years in senior leadership roles (e.g., Senior Manager, Director) managing large teams and complex projects

• Extensive experience working with, implementing, or modernizing enterprise-grade Order Management Systems (OMS) such as IBM Sterling OMS, Blue Yonder (BY) Order Management, Manhattan Active Omni, or Salesforce Order Management

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (MBA or advanced technical degree is a plus)

• Demonstrable experience in setting and executing technical strategy for a significant engineering function

• Extensive experience with agile/lean development practices and scaling them across multiple teams