Associate Director - Technical Delivery Lead (Software Engineering)

We are seeking a seasoned Associate Director with 13-18 years of experience to lead enterprise application delivery, platform operations, and AI-driven developments initiatives. This role requires a strong technology leader who can architect greenfield solutions, manage large-scale application portfolios, lead teams of 20-30+ engineers, and drive both project delivery and business-as-usual (BAU) operations.

The ideal candidate should possess deep expertise in Java and enterprise architecture, hands-on experience with AI-native development and Agentic AI frameworks, and the ability to design solutions across multiple technology stacks including Java, PL/SQL,  website platform (AEM), cloud platforms, and modern integration architectures.

This is a highly visible leadership role requiring strong stakeholder management, operational excellence, technical governance, and the ability to present technology strategies and execution plans to senior leadership.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Architecture & Solution Design

• Engage with business and technology stakeholders to understand requirements and architect scalable enterprise solutions.
• Lead architecture and design discussions across Java, AI, cloud, data, and digital experience platforms.
• Design and deliver greenfield applications, platform modernization initiatives, and transformation programs.
• Evaluate technology options and create scalable, secure, and maintainable solution architectures.
• Drive migration initiatives, including migration of existing websites and applications to Adobe Cloud and cloud-native platforms.

Application Delivery & Operations Leadership

• Own end-to-end delivery and operational excellence for multiple enterprise applications and platforms.

• Manage BAU operations, production support, enhancements, and strategic transformation initiatives.

• Ensure platform availability, resilience, performance, and SLA compliance.

• Act as the senior escalation point for critical production incidents and business-impacting issues.

• Drive root cause analysis, preventive actions, and continuous service improvements. 

  AI-Native Engineering Leadership

• Drive adoption of AI-native software development practices across delivery teams.

• Architect RAG-based applications and enterprise AI solutions.

• Establish engineering practices leveraging tools such as Claude, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and emerging AI platforms.

• Define governance, security, and operational standards for AI-powered applications.

Team Leadership & Stakeholder Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop teams comprising architects, developers, application managers, and support engineers.
• Manage teams of approximately 20-30+ members across multiple projects and operational streams.
• Drive collaboration across business, development, QA, cloud, infrastructure, security, and vendor teams.
• Present architecture, delivery updates, risks, and strategic roadmaps to senior stakeholders and leadership teams.
• Align technology initiatives with business objectives and organizational priorities.
• Security, Governance & Compliance
• Ensure timely closure of VA/PT, VAPT, and security compliance findings.
• Drive secure architecture practices across platforms and applications.
• Establish governance processes around releases, deployment controls, operational reporting, and risk management.
• Maintain operational dashboards covering incidents, SLAs, system health, and delivery metrics.

Mandatory Skills

• Enterprise Architecture
• Leadership & People Management
• Java
• Spring Boot
• Solution Architecture
• AI-Native Development
• RAG Architecture
• AWS
• DevOps & CI/CD
• Application Operations
• Production Support
• Stakeholder Management
• Delivery Management

Required Skills & Experience

Leadership & Delivery

• 13-18 years of IT experience with significant experience in enterprise application delivery and operations.
• Proven experience managing teams of 20-30+ members.
• Strong project, program, and delivery management capabilities.
• Experience managing multiple workstreams simultaneously.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and executive presentation skills.

Architecture & Engineering

• Strong enterprise architecture and solution design experience.
• Deep expertise in Java, Spring Boot, Hibernate, Microservices, and API-driven architectures.
• Strong understanding of application integration patterns and enterprise systems.
• Experience with PL/SQL and enterprise database solutions.
• Ability to understand and govern AEM-based digital platforms and Adobe ecosystem solutions.

AI & Emerging Technologies

• Hands-on experience in AI-Native Development.
• Experience with Claude, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or equivalent AI development platforms.
• Experience designing Agentic AI solutions using LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, or similar frameworks.
• Experience designing and delivering RAG applications and enterprise AI solutions.

Cloud & DevOps

• AWS experience is mandatory.
• Experience with Jenkins, Git, Maven, SonarQube, Docker, Kubernetes, and CI/CD practices.
• Experience with Cloud Manager and cloud-hosted enterprise applications.
• Good understanding of Linux, deployment automation, monitoring, and observability.

Additional Experience

• Exposure to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Adobe Campaign, and related Adobe technologies.
• Understanding of React, Angular, JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3 is preferred.
• Experience working in large enterprise environments.
• BFSI experience preferred.