What are the responsibilities and job description for the Director of Software Engineering position at TALON?
This position is fully on-site, in a fast-paced environment that requires initiative, flexibility, and strong collaboration. Please note: Remote or hybrid work options are not available for this role.
About TALON
As the industry pioneer in transparent healthcare pricing, we are experts in leveraging price transparency and consumer-centric principles to produce optimal outcomes. We've built the ultimate suite of software services designed to protect healthcare consumers from overpaying for care. Our innovative tools deliver a market-driven healthcare system, empowering consumers to make smart decisions and control their financial and physical well-being.
Recognized for rapid growth and industry leadership, TALON ranked #4 on the Boston Globe’s “New England’s 50 fastest-growing companies” and earned placement on the Inc. 5000 list in 2024 and 2025.
About the Role
We are seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead and scale our software and data engineering organization. This role reports to the Executive VP of Product Delivery and is accountable for engineering execution, quality, and delivery of product priorities.
This role is a key partner to Product Management, working together to translate product strategy and priorities into clear, executable engineering plans. While Product Management owns what gets built and why, this role owns how it gets built and delivered.
The Director of Software Engineering works in close partnership with the Director, Agile PMO, who facilitates the Scrum framework. The Director of Software Engineering owns the effectiveness of the software engineering process, including how work flows from idea to production and how engineering practices support predictable delivery.
This role operates as a peer leader to the Director of Cloud & Security Operations and works in close partnership with the CTO to ensure engineering execution aligns with the company’s long-term technical vision.
The person in this role will be a member of the Product Delivery leadership team, which is collectively responsible for driving consistent and reliable delivery to support the company’s rapid growth.
Core Accountabilities
Engineering Leadership & Accountability
- Lead, manage, and develop engineers and technical leads
- Establish clear ownership, expectations, and accountability across engineering teams
- Ensure Technical Leads are effective in guiding design decisions and supporting engineers
- Build a culture of ownership, clarity, and continuous improvement
Software & Data Engineering
- Own the delivery of applications and data-intensive back ends through engineering teams
- Ensure technical design work is effectively led by Technical Leads and aligned to standards
- Hold teams accountable for building maintainable, scalable, and well-designed systems
Quality, Scalability & Velocity
- Be accountable for engineering quality, delivery velocity, and predictability
- Establish and maintain a scalable quality strategy, with a combination of manual testing and automated unit, integration, and system testing
- Ensure Technical Leads and teams apply appropriate architecture, design, and review practices
- Balance near-term delivery commitments with long-term extensibility and maintainability
Technical Standards & Architecture (in Partnership with the CTO)
- Partner with the CTO to define architectural direction, principles, and guardrails
- Ensure Technical Leads apply those standards consistently in hands-on design
- Review and course-correct when technical decisions drift from agreed direction
Delivery of Product Management Priorities
- Partner with Product Management to translate priorities into executable plans
- Ensure Technical Leads and teams understand scope, constraints, and success criteria
- Maintain transparent commitments and proactively manage delivery risk
What Success Looks Like
- Technical Leads are effective, trusted, and aligned
- Engineers receive strong day-to-day technical guidance without escalation churn
- Engineering delivers product priorities predictably and with high quality
- Architectural standards are applied consistently across teams
- Clear ownership exists from strategy → design → delivery → operations
The Ideal Candidate
- 8–12 years in software engineering, including senior people leadership
- Experience leading engineers and technical leads
- Comfortable holding accountability without being the primary hands-on designer
- Strong judgment around delegation, standards, and escalation
- Collaborative leader who partners well with Product, PMO, Operations, and executive leadership
- Experience in healthcare, big data, and scaling engineering organizations is a big plus
Company Benefits
- Incentive Stock Options in a high-growth, “scale-up” company
- Paid Time Off and Company Holidays
- Medical Insurance with a fully funded individual or family Health Savings Account (HSA)
- 401(k) retirement plan
Join us on our mission to educate, empower, and incentivize the American healthcare consumer to meaningfully reduce costs and create a healthier ecosystem.