Senior Director, Platform Engineering & Cloud Architecture

About the role

ABS Group’s Digital Solutions is seeking a Senior Director, Platform Engineering & Cloud Architecture to lead the platform engineering, cloud architecture, and developer experience foundation for modernizing digital products and establishing the baseline for next‑generation web and SaaS solutions. The role partners with product, engineering, AI, and program leadership to define cloud and platform strategy that enables rapid, reliable software delivery. Preferred locations are Houston, Texas or Knoxville, Tennessee.

Responsibilities

• Lead the platform engineering strategy for ABS digital solutions, establishing the engineering and cloud foundation for modern web and SaaS product development.
• Define and own Azure‑first cloud architecture patterns aligned to ABS standards, covering hosting, networking, identity and access, scalability, resilience, containerization, deployment, and disaster recovery.
• Establish engineering platform standards for CI/CD, infrastructure as code, environment management, secrets and configuration management, observability, and operational readiness.
• Design and improve the developer experience across repositories, build pipelines, local and cloud development workflows, release processes, and engineering tooling to reduce friction and boost productivity.
• Define and operationalize an AI‑enabled software development lifecycle (SDLC), including guardrails for AI‑assisted coding, automated validation, testing, documentation, and release readiness.
• Partner with solution architecture, AI engineering, application engineering, QA, and product leadership to ensure platform capabilities support delivery speed, quality, and long‑term maintainability.
• Lead evaluation and implementation of platform tooling and engineering automation that improves consistency, traceability, repeatability, and quality across teams.
• Embed security, reliability, and release discipline into the engineering operating model by collaborating with security and enterprise stakeholders and ensuring platform patterns meet business‑critical readiness gates.
• Build and mentor a high‑performing platform engineering capability, including internal staff, contractors, and strategic technical hires as needed.
• Serve as a senior technical leader in architecture and engineering forums, driving decisions, aligning stakeholders, and raising overall engineering maturity.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field (preferred).
• 12+ years of professional experience in software engineering, platform engineering, DevOps, cloud architecture, or related technical leadership roles.
• 5+ years leading platform engineering, cloud architecture, DevOps, or engineering enablement functions in complex software environments.
• Proven track record designing and implementing cloud‑native platforms and engineering standards that support scalable product delivery.
• Experience leading technical teams and influencing cross‑functional organizations spanning architecture, engineering, security, and operations.
• Experience in enterprise software, SaaS, or modernization programs involving multiple teams, shared platforms, and complex delivery environments.
• Strong experience with at least one major cloud platform, preferably Azure, in enterprise or production settings.

Skills

• Deep understanding of platform engineering, cloud architecture, DevOps, and developer experience concepts.
• Strong command of cloud‑native architecture, including infrastructure as code, containers, Kubernetes, deployment automation, identity and access, observability, resilience, and operational readiness.
• Ability to define and implement engineering standards that improve speed, quality, consistency, and control across multiple teams.
• Hands‑on familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure automation tools, source control workflows, and engineering productivity tooling.
• Experience establishing platform guardrails for security, reliability, release governance, and compliance in enterprise environments.
• Understanding of how AI‑assisted software development, coding agents, and engineering automation can be applied safely and effectively within an enterprise SDLC.
• Capability to translate platform and architecture strategy into clear standards, reference patterns, and implementation roadmaps for engineering teams.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills for engaging with executives, architects, engineers, and cross‑functional stakeholders.
• Excellent leadership, stakeholder management, and decision‑making skills with a history of creating order and momentum in fast‑moving technical programs.
• Ability to balance standardization and governance with the need for product teams to move quickly and deliver business value.

Benefits

• Eligibility for an annual incentive bonus.
• Other benefits consistent with ABS Group Digital Solutions compensation practices.

Pay

U.S. base salary range: $225,000 – $275,000, depending on experience, qualifications, location, and overall fit for the role.