Director of Development

VanguardAI LLC is seeking a highly skilled and visionary Director of Development to lead the design, development, and delivery of the ElectHQ Platform — an AI-first, cloud-native political campaign management ecosystem empowering local and state-level candidates to plan, fund, and manage their campaigns intelligently.

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.

The ideal candidate is a full stack expert with proven experience in building scalable cloud systems, deploying CI/CD pipelines, training AI/ML models, and delivering high-performing web and mobile applications. Beyond technical mastery, this person should inspire and develop a growing engineering team and drive VanguardAI's vision of building intelligent, ethical, and efficient software platforms

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%)

• Lead development of scalable, secure, and modular full stack applications (web and mobile).
• Architect systems using modern frameworks such as for front-end and 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%)

• Oversee development of cross-platform mobile applications (React Native or Flutter).
• 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.
• Apply ethical AI and bias monitoring standards.

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.

• 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 , 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 zero-downtime deployments.

2. AI & Data Integration

• Hands-on with AI/ML model development, fine-tuning, and inference integration.
• Experience with TensorFlow, PyTorch, and Hugging Face.
• Understanding of data labeling, cleaning, and ethical AI.
• Integration of vector databases for intelligent retrieval.

3. Software Engineering Excellence

• Skilled in scalability optimization and performance tuning.
• Experience with automated testing frameworks (Cypress, Jest, Playwright).
• Proven ability to refactor and modernize complex systems.

4. Leadership & Team Development

• Track record of scaling technical teams in agile environments.
• Skilled in mentorship, career pathing, and performance management.
• Empathetic, motivational, and results-driven leadership.

5. Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Strong presenter, capable of explaining complex tech to non-technical audiences.
• Experienced in cross-functional collaboration and executive reporting.
• Excellent documentation and strategic planning skills.

6. Innovation & R&D Mindset

• Early adopter of new AI tools, frameworks, and architectures.
• Open-source contributions or publication experience preferred.

Key Attributes

• Hands-on Leader: Codes, reviews, and mentors by example.
• Strategic Thinker: Balances tactical delivery with long-term vision.
• Reliable & Detail-Oriented: Ensures high-quality deliverables.
• Collaborative Communicator: Aligns teams around shared goals.
• Innovator: Constantly explores and implements improvements.

• Competitive base salary commensurate with experience and qualifications.
• Eligible for Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) participation based on performance and tenure.
• Travel opportunities to the VanguardAI Headquarters in Dallas, Texas (U.S.) for product alignment, strategic meetings, and support activities.
• Opportunity to work with elite professionals in the AI, technology, and political operations sectors, contributing to an impactful and cutting-edge platform.
• Professional growth opportunities through leadership development, technical upskilling, and cross-functional exposure.