Senior/Staff Engineering Director

College Board is a mission-driven organization focused on education technology. The Senior/Staff Engineering Director will provide leadership within the Core Assessment Platforms group, ensuring alignment across multiple teams and guiding technical decisions to support high-quality assessment-related systems.

Responsibilities:

• Provide senior technical leadership for a defined area of the Core Assessment Platforms, ensuring alignment across multiple highly interconnected systems
• Guide Engineering Managers, Principal and Staff Engineers in evaluating solution options, making architectural tradeoffs, and managing technical risk and debt across teams
• Identify and prioritize near-term technical improvements that unlock momentum or reduce risk, while reinforcing longer-term platform strategy and architectural coherence
• Establish and uphold shared engineering standards for system design, reliability, security, and operational excellence within your platform area
• Serve as an escalation point for complex, cross-team technical decisions and platform-level risks, applying strong technical judgment
• Stay informed on relevant technologies and platform practices, using that insight to guide platform evolution
• Lead multiple engineering teams through experienced Engineering Managers, building consistent leadership practices and strong collaboration across teams
• Partner with Engineering Managers to ensure teams are appropriately staffed, aligned, and able to deliver sustainably
• Foster a culture of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement across interdependent teams
• Actively support diversity, equity, and inclusion through hiring, talent development, and inclusive leadership practices
• Mentor Engineering Managers and senior technical leaders, helping build a durable leadership bench and clear growth paths
• Partner closely with Product, Design, Data, Security, and peer Technology leaders to shape and align multi-team roadmaps
• Develop a strong understanding of assessment business needs and platform consumers to inform technical priorities and sequencing
• Balance competing demands across teams and stakeholders, clearly communicating tradeoffs while maintaining platform cohesion
• Communicate complex technical concepts, risks, and recommendations effectively to cross-functional partners and senior stakeholders
• Ensure delivery progress across teams is coordinated, visible, and aligned with both near-term outcomes and long-term platform health
• Collaborate with peer Engineering Directors to ensure consistency and alignment across the broader Core Assessment Platforms group

Requirements:

• 10+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, including significant experience leading leaders (Engineering Managers, Senior Engineers, or equivalent)
• Proven experience setting technical direction and overseeing the delivery of large-scale, cloud-based applications and platforms, preferably using AWS and modern web technologies
• A strong background in software architecture and system design, with the ability to guide teams toward scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions without being prescriptive
• Demonstrated success building, mentoring, and retaining diverse, high-performing engineering teams at scale
• Experience operating at the intersection of technology and business, with the ability to align engineering investments to organizational goals and customer impact
• Exceptional communication skills, with a track record of influencing senior executives, product leaders, and cross-functional partners
• Strong operational mindset, including experience managing budgets, vendor relationships, delivery risk, and long-term technical health
• A leadership style grounded in trust, inclusion, and accountability, with a commitment to developing future engineering leaders
• Ability to travel 3–5 times per year to NYC or Reston, VA
• Authorization to work in the United States
• A passion for expanding educational and career opportunities and mission-driven work
• Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technologies, with a willingness to experiment with and adopt new AI-driven solutions and a comfort learning and applying new digital tools independently and proactively
• Clear and concise communication skills, written and verbal
• A learner's mindset and a commitment to growth: welcoming diverse perspectives, giving and receiving timely, respectful feedback, and continuously improving through iterative learning and user input
• A drive for impact and excellence: solving complex problems, making data-informed decisions, prioritizing what matters most, and continuously improving through learning, user input, and external benchmarking
• A collaborative and empathetic approach: working across differences, fostering trust, and contributing to a culture of shared success