Job Description: Director, Platform Engineering

Location: Boston, MA (Hybrid, 3x/wk in office)
Department: Engineering
Reports To: VP Engineering / Technology Leadership

Position Summary

Grand Circle Corporation is the leader in international travel, adventure, and discovery for Americans aged 50 . Headquartered in Boston, MA, we're a global enterprise with more than 30 regional offices and over 2,000 associates worldwide. Since our founding, more than two million Americans have traveled with our award-winning travel brands: Grand Circle Travel, Overseas Adventure Travel, and Grand Circle Cruise Lines.

We are excited to continue maturing our creative and technical engineering teams to support our growing and evolving digital ecosystem. We are seeking a Director of Platform Engineering to play a critical leadership role in driving technical transformation across our platform and engineering capabilities.

This leader will own the strategy and execution behind technology evaluation, selection, implementation, and modernization initiatives supporting our Platform Engineering organization, including API/Services & Integration, DevSecOps, and Platform Database Engineering teams. This role will also help shape how we leverage emerging technologies — including AI — to enhance engineering workflows and accelerate innovation.

If you're energized by leading high-performing teams, building scalable technology ecosystems, and modernizing platforms that directly impact customer experiences, we'd love to meet you.

With trips in nearly 100 countries, you'll never run out of new places, people, and cultures to feed your wanderlust. From the Maasai warriors of Kenya to the tranquil temples of Japan, your work will touch a broad range of systems, products, and experiences — so it's fair to say "bored" is not in our lexicon.

What You'll Do

As Director of Platform Engineering, you will:

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, and develop leaders across multiple engineering teams, helping them grow and effectively support their own teams.

• Build high-performing teams through mentorship, feedback, career planning, and leadership development.

• Define development goals and create long-term growth strategies for engineering organizations.

• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.

Technical Strategy & Engineering Excellence

• Establish and execute the technology roadmap supporting Platform Engineering initiatives.

• Drive adoption of modern engineering practices and emerging technologies, including AI-enabled workflows and automation.

• Lead teams responsible for platform components and services leveraging technologies such as React, Next.js, C#, Docker, Redis, SQL Server, Web APIs, Azure, and AI platforms.

• Provide technical leadership across the full software lifecycle—from architecture and development through deployment and ongoing operations.

• Guide teams toward building scalable, secure, high-performing, and reusable solutions.

Innovation & Platform Evolution

• Lead initiatives exploring and implementing AI-driven engineering capabilities including automation, search, chatbots, and productivity enhancements.

• Continuously challenge existing approaches and encourage teams to rethink processes and technologies.

• Evaluate and partner with third-party vendors and technology providers to support strategic goals.

• Establish metrics and operational visibility to ensure systems reliability and performance.

Collaboration & Operational Leadership

• Partner with stakeholders and leaders across the organization to align engineering priorities with business goals.

• Support ongoing agile process improvements and delivery practices.

• Oversee system performance, uptime, security, and compliance requirements including PCI and GDPR standards.

• Balance speed, risk, quality, and sustainable delivery practices across initiatives.

Qualifications

Experience & Leadership

• 10 years of software engineering experience with at least 2 years managing managers and leading multiple teams.

• Experience building, scaling, and evolving engineering organizations.

• Proven experience mentoring leaders and coaching engineering talent at multiple levels.

Technical Expertise

• Experience designing scalable, secure, and maintainable cloud-native solutions.

• Strong understanding of Domain-Driven Design (DDD), SOLID principles, and software design patterns.

• Experience evaluating and implementing AI-enabled technologies and workflow improvements.

• Experience with Azure or similar cloud platforms.

• Familiarity with modern engineering technologies and environments including APIs, DevSecOps, databases, containers, and platform architectures.

Collaboration & Ways of Working

• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence without direct authority.

• Experience evaluating and partnering with external vendors and technology partners.

• Agile/Scrum experience in fast-paced environments.

• Demonstrated adaptability and curiosity with emerging technologies.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, related discipline, or equivalent experience.

We bring together human insight and digital expertise to anticipate the needs of our customers. Our team members are innovative, technologically sophisticated, and motivated to achieve.

Total Rewards

The base salary range for this role is $200,000–$240,000 annually for employees based in Boston, MA. Final compensation may vary and will be determined based on factors such as relevant experience, skills, internal equity, and geographic location. In addition to base pay, this role may be eligible for incentive compensation and first-class benefits, which include:

Health & wellness: Comprehensive and heavily subsidized medical, dental, and vision plans, plus on-site gym access, holistic wellness sessions, and group fitness classes

Time for you: Substantial Paid Time Off (PTO), and 11 paid holidays—including Juneteenth, Memorial Day, and Labor Day—and Summer Fridays. Plus extensive parental leave with up to 12–16 weeks paid leave at 100% base salary

Travel more, spend less: 50% off our trips for you and a companion, 25% for additional immediate family members, and exclusive quarterly associate travel deals

Your future, secured: 401(k) with company match, life insurance, and disability coverage

Continuous growth: Tuition assistance for both professional and personal development, opportunities for professional development through overseas travel, and direct access to Pinnacle Leadership & Team Development

Extra perks: Commuter benefits, FSA options, pet insurance, home & auto discounts, and paid volunteer time off to give back to the community

To learn more, please visit our websites at www.gct.com, www.oattravel.com and www.grandcirclefoundation.com.

Salary : $200,000 - $240,000