Director, Software Engineering

Kestra Holdings offers industry-leading wealth management platforms for independent wealth management professionals nationwide. Kestra is dedicated to empowering independent financial professionals—including traditional and hybrid RIAs—to grow their businesses and deliver exceptional client service. We combine advanced business management technology with personalized consulting to provide unmatched scale, efficiency, and support. Our advisor-focused culture is built on innovation and advocacy, enabling advisors to offer comprehensive securities and investment advisory solutions to their clients.

Lead with Purpose. Partner with Impact.

As Director, Software Engineering in Kestra’s Advisor Platform Architecture & Engineering, you’ll lead a manager‑of‑managers organization to deliver the Advisor Platform. You’ll set the technical roadmap and engineering standards, remove obstacles to team performance, and partner across Product, Design, and Operations. Anchored in Kestra’s core values of Make it Happen, Serve, and One Team, you’ll make data‑driven decisions that elevate speed, quality, reliability, and cost of ownership—while fostering innovation, inclusion, and continuous learning.

What you’ll Do:

• Set and execute the engineering strategy for the Advisor Platform; translate business goals into a technical roadmap, operating mechanisms, and measurable outcomes (OKRs/KPIs).
• Lead and develop a manager of managers organization, hire, coach, and retain diverse teams; build succession plans; cultivate an inclusive, high-performance culture.
• Own delivery excellence across the SDLC; standardize Agile/DevOps practices (CI/CD, testing, observability, incident/postmortems) to improve reliability, security, and maintainability.
• Make accountable, data driven decisions on resourcing, budget, portfolio priorities, and sequencing; optimize total cost of ownership for platform components.
• Establish and enforce engineering standards and controls (secure coding, data protection, change management, access governance) and carry governance accountability for quality, security, and maintainability.
• Influence peer leaders and senior stakeholders across Product, Design, Data, Operations, Security, and Compliance; provide clear narratives and metrics to guide tradeoffs and decisions.
• Maintain deep domain awareness of wealth management regulations and client sensitivities (e.g., data privacy, suitability, fiduciary obligations); partner with Compliance to keep standards current.
• Proactively identify and mitigate risk; lead incident response and root cause remediation; ensure all solutions adhere to internal standards and applicable regulatory guidelines.
• Drive architecture and modernization initiatives (cloud/platform evolution, build vs buy, legacy remediation) that increase scalability, resilience, and speed of delivery.
• Engineering leadership at scale: Proven track record leading manager of managers organizations and developing high performing teams (hiring, coaching, succession, inclusion).
• Modern SDLC & delivery excellence: Deep familiarity with Agile, DevOps, CI/CD, testing/automation, observability, incident response/postmortems, and reliability practices.
• Architecture & cloud: Proven experience designing and delivering large‑scale, cloud‑native platforms (AWS/Azure/GCP) with strong governance (security, reliability, observability) and cost‑of‑ownership optimization.
• Security & risk: Strong knowledge of secure coding, compliance, and risk management within technology organizations; able to embed controls throughout the SDLC.
• Stakeholder influence: Demonstrated ability to collaborate across matrixed environments and influence senior stakeholders using clear narratives and data.
• Operational judgment: Strong analytical/problem solving skills with hands on experience in incident management and issue resolution; comfort making data driven trade offs across scope, schedule, and quality.
  
  

What You Bring:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 12 years of significant, progressively responsible experience in software engineering including 5 years leading managers/technologists to anticipate and solve complex technical and operational challenges. (Equivalent experience considered.)
• Demonstrated delivery of large scale, cloud native solutions and ownership of SDLC excellence (Agile/DevOps/CI/CD, reliability).
• Financial services/regulatory literacy—deep understanding of regulatory requirements and client sensitivities (e.g., data privacy, suitability, auditability) in regulated environments.
• Master’s degree in CS/Engineering (or related) or an MBA with strong technical depth.
• Direct Wealth Management platform experience.
• Prior track record modernizing legacy platforms and accelerating cloud migrations.
• Experience with multi region architectures, SOCs/SOX audit readiness, or PCI/SOC 2 implementations.
  
  

Internal Application Policy:

Internal applicants must be in good standing and have a minimum of 1 year of service with Kestra. Internal applicants must also have a minimum of 1 year service in current role unless approved by EVP.

Benefits to support you:

• Competitive pay and benefits with a large employer (over 1600 employees nationwide)
• 401(k), health insurance, and a competitive benefits package
• Work in a supportive, collaborative environment committed to professional excellence
• Help clients navigate meaningful financial decisions with confidence
• Opportunities for training, development, and long-term growth within the firm
• Tuition reimbursement for qualified expenses
  
  

Kestra Values:

Our Mission is Powering Financial Independence, enabling the growth and success of investing clients and the advisors who serve them. We do that by living our values: Serve, Make it Happen, and One team.

Explore Life at Kestra

Kestra Holdings Website: https://www.kestrafinancial.com/

Careers Portal: https://jobs.dayforcehcm.com/en-US/kestra/KESTRACAREERSITE

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kestra-financial

Apply Today

Lead with purpose. Apply now and help shape the future of Kestra.

Disclosure By applying to a job at Kestra Financial, Inc., you are agreeing to the following statements:

• You acknowledge that if hired, Kestra Financial, Inc. may, obtain and use background information concerning your credit, character, general reputation, personal characteristics, work habits, performance and experience for evaluation for your potential employment.
• It is the policy of Kestra Financial to ensure equal employment opportunity without discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, identity or expression, age, disability, marital status, citizenship, national origin, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law. Kestra Financial prohibits any such discrimination or harassment.