VP, Functional Design Engineering

About the role

LPL Financial is seeking a VP, Functional Design Engineering to lead the Functional Design Engineering & Strategy pod within the Foundations team in LPL's Cloud Center of Excellence (CCOE). This role requires a strong blend of technical expertise and leadership skills, with a focus on translating enterprise architecture intent into implementable, well-architected, code-driven solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Functional Design Engineering & Strategy pod within the Foundations team in CCOE; partner with Enterprise Architecture, Information Security, the other Foundations pods (Security & Governance, FinOps, Network Engineering, Monitoring), and the Platforms, Containers, Support, and Delivery teams to translate enterprise architecture intent into implementable, well-architected, code-driven solutions
• Take high-level designs from architects and produce detailed, opinionated, build-ready engineering specifications aligned to the AWS Well-Architected Framework and LPL standards
• Define and curate the cross-CCOE reference pattern library: domain-tagged Terraform module bundles, reference architectures, anti-patterns, and architecture decision records (ADRs)
• Partner closely with the Principal Engineer, Cloud Strategy Lead so that tooling, IaC, and self-service platform strategy stay aligned with enterprise design direction
• Lead design reviews, architecture review boards, and engineering deep-dives across all five CCOE teams (Foundations, Platforms, Containers, Support, Delivery) and the four peer Foundations pods (Security & Governance, FinOps, Network Engineering, Monitoring)
• Champion the application of the AWS Well-Architected Framework across all six pillars (Operational Excellence, Security, Reliability, Performance Efficiency, Cost Optimization, Sustainability) and drive measurable improvements against each
• Hands-on contribute to reference patterns, Terraform modules, and proof-of-concept builds, especially in the highest-ambiguity areas where engineering is still discovering the right answer
• Embed agentic AI capabilities into the team's engineering practice (e.g., Cursor, Claude Code, Bedrock, MCP servers, agentic IaC and review workflows) and into the platform's self-service experience for internal customers
• Embed agentic AI capabilities into the design function: AI-assisted pattern generation, automated Well-Architected reviews, ADR drafting, cross-pattern impact analysis, and MCP-backed agents that surface existing patterns to internal customers
• Recruit, develop, mentor, and retain a globally distributed team of senior cloud engineers across LPL's US offices and India Global Capability Center (GCC)
• Own all people-management responsibilities for the pod including hiring, onboarding, weekly 1:1s, performance management, compensation planning, career development, and certification-path execution per the CCOE certification matrix
• Operate as a player-coach: spend meaningful time hands-on in Terraform code, design reviews, peer reviews, and incident response while leading people and delivery
• Lead and personally participate in 24x7 on-call rotations as senior incident commander and technical escalation point for the pod
• Partner with peer VPs across the Cloud Center of Excellence — the leaders of the five CCOE teams (Foundations, Platforms, Containers, Support, Delivery) and the leaders of the pods within Foundations (Security & Governance, FinOps, Functional Design Engineering & Strategy, Network Engineering, Monitoring) — to align roadmaps and remove cross-team and cross-pod blockers
• Champion AWS Well-Architected Framework adoption across all six pillars and drive continuous improvement against operational, security, reliability, performance, cost, and sustainability outcomes
• Contribute to and curate the private Terraform module library that powers self-service infrastructure for application teams, including module standards, versioning, deprecation, and contribution patterns
• Participate in Agile/Scrum ceremonies (sprint planning, standups, backlog grooming, retrospectives) and partner with the RTE and PMO on delivery commitments and dependencies
• Represent the pod in executive forums, architecture review boards, internal audit, and customer engagements; communicate technical risk and trade-offs to non-technical executives

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive technical experience including 5+ years in cloud infrastructure or platform engineering leadership; Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related discipline (or equivalent work experience)
• 5+ years of hands-on production AWS at scale in a multi-account landing zone, with 4+ years of authoring production Terraform in a private module ecosystem delivered through Terraform Cloud and GitHub Actions
• 5+ years experience as a direct people manager of engineering teams of 5+ engineers, including hiring, performance management, compensation, and difficult personnel decisions
• 5+ years experience leading and personally participating in 24x7 production on-call rotations in a fast-paced, security-conscious, regulated environment (financial services strongly preferred)
• 5+ years experience translating enterprise architecture intent into implementable engineering designs that downstream engineers actually build, with deep, current command of the AWS Well-Architected Framework and excellent technical writing (ADRs, design documents, reference architectures)

Core Competencies

• Operates as the credible "translator" between architects and engineers — equally at home in both rooms
• Bias for shipping reference patterns and code — not slideware
• Calm, opinionated, and evidence-driven in design conversations
• Player-coach who is comfortable in code reviews, architecture sessions, and people 1:1s in the same day
• Continuous learner, especially in cloud-native, IaC, platform engineering, and applied AI
• Bias for self-service, automation, and reducing toil for downstream internal customers
• Builds high-trust relationships across the US and India organization and across functions (Architecture, Security, FinOps, Application Engineering, Network, Audit)
• Calm, decisive incident commander; fosters a strong post-incident learning culture
• Excellent written and verbal communication, executive presence, and ability to influence without direct authority
• Thrives in matrixed, fast-paced, regulated environments with imperfect information

Preferences

• Experience as an internal architecture review board member or equivalent design-authority role
• AWS Certified Security - Specialty (preferred for security-aligned design reviews)
• AWS Certified Data Engineer - Associate or Data Analytics - Specialty (preferred for data-aligned design reviews)
• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or MBA
• Experience building, scaling, or leading globally distributed engineering teams across the US and India / GCC
• Experience integrating agentic AI / GenAI tooling (Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot, Bedrock, MCP) into platform, IaC, and engineering practice
• Strong scripting / programming proficiency in Python, Bash, or PowerShell
• AWS Solutions Architect - Professional
• HashiCorp Certified: Terraform Associate (004) or Authoring & Operations
• Certified Kubernetes Application Developer (CKAD)
• Open-source contributions, public technical writing, or conference speaking on cloud, IaC, or platform engineering topics
• Experience with Backstage or another Internal Developer Platform (IDP)
• Experience with FinOps practices and cloud cost management at scale

Pay Range

$149,350.00 - $248,848.00