Director of Development

**Job description**:
This leadership role blends deep hands-on engineering with strong people leadership. The Director of Development will spend approximately **75% of their time directly coding, architecting, and reviewing development work**, and **25% managing, mentoring, and scaling the technical team**.

** Key Responsibilities**

The Director of Development will lead technical design, engineering execution, and team development for the ElectHQ Platform. The role requires a strong balance between hands-on technical work (75%) and management, training, and strategic direction (25%).

** 1. Full Stack Development & Architecture (35%)**
- Architect systems using modern frameworks such as React/Next.js for front-end and Node.js or Python/FastAPI for back-end.
- Design RESTful APIs and GraphQL endpoints ensuring version control and backward compatibility.
- Implement responsive, accessible UI/UX for all platforms.
- Manage code standards, documentation, and review processes.
- Integrate third-party APIs and SDKs (payments, communication, analytics) efficiently and securely.
- Translate business requirements into technical tasks and roadmaps.
- Own technical roadmap for scalability, modernization, and maintainability.

** 2. Mobile App Development (10%)**
- Optimize for offline use, caching, and push notifications.
- Ensure high performance, secure authentication, and seamless synchronization.
- Manage app versioning, releases, and store compliance.
- Collaborate with UI/UX teams for consistent design language.

** 3. CI/CD, DevOps, and Scalability (15%)**
- Design and maintain CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins.
- Automate builds, testing, and deployment workflows.
- Implement infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation).
- Manage containerization and orchestration with Docker and Kubernetes.
- Ensure test automation and adequate coverage.
- Optimize uptime and resource utilization with observability tools.
- Implement load/stress testing and security hardening.

** 4. AI Model Training & Integration (10%)**
- Collaborate with AI and data teams to train, fine-tune, and deploy ML and NLP models.
- Manage data pipelines and preprocessing for model accuracy.
- Integrate LLMs (GPT, Claude, Mistral) and vector databases (Pinecone, Weaviate).
- Evaluate performance, latency, and inference costs.
- Maintain version control for models and datasets using MLflow or DVC.

** 5. Code Quality, Documentation & Security (5%)**
- Enforce strict coding standards, documentation, and security reviews.
- Automate vulnerability scans and static code analysis.
- Ensure compliance with privacy and data regulations.
- Maintain up-to-date technical documentation and architecture diagrams.

** 6. Team Management, Mentoring & Culture (15%)**
- Lead a cross-functional team of 3-5 engineers, QA, BA, and PM.
- Conduct performance reviews and establish measurable goals.
- Mentor and train team members to build technical depth.
- Foster collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning.
- Implement agile/scrum practices for efficient delivery.
- Bridge technical execution with leadership communication.

** 7. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Strategic Planning (10%)**
- Collaborate with Product, Design, and Operations to align engineering with business objectives.
- Participate in roadmap planning and feature prioritization.
- Present technical strategies, risks, and opportunities to leadership.
- Forecast resource needs and technology budgets.
- Contribute to innovation and R&D initiatives.

** 8. Reliability, Performance & Continuous Improvement (5%)**
- Monitor and improve SLOs/SLAs for uptime and performance.
- Conduct root cause analyses for incidents.
- Promote iterative improvement through retrospectives and feedback loops.

** 9. Executive Communication & Reporting (5%)**
- Present technical reports, proposals, and architecture plans to executives.
- Support strategic partnerships and external presentations as needed.

**Your skills and experience**:

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related discipline.
- 8+ years of software development experience, including 3+ years in leadership.
- Proficiency in front-end frameworks (React, Angular, Vue) and back-end systems (Node.js, Python, Go).
- Experience in mobile development (React Native, Flutter, Swift/Kotlin).
- Strong understanding of microservices, REST/GraphQL APIs, and databases (SQL/NoSQL).
- Proven CI/CD implementation experience.
- Familiarity with AI/ML model integration and cloud deployment.
- Excellent communication and presentation skills.
- Detail-oriented, dependable, and committed to delivery excellence.

** Preferred Qualifications (Elaborated)**

** 1. Advanced Cloud Architecture & DevOps**
- Deep knowledge of AWS, Azure, or GCP using managed databases, queues, and autoscaling.
- Expertise in infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible).
- Experience in rolling updates and z