Director, Software Engineering - Order Management
Crate & Barrel · Northbrook, IL · 2 days ago
OTHRFull-time
About the role
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.
Responsibilities
- 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 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
Requirements
- 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
Qualifications
- 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)
- Extensive experience setting and executing technical strategy for a significant engineering function
- Demonstrable experience in agile/lean development practices and scaling them across multiple teams