Senior Director, Platform Engineering

Role Overview:

The Senior Director, Platform Engineering, is responsible for providing executive leadership and strategic direction for Brother’s Americas IT platform engineering function and teams. The incumbent will drive continuous improvement initiatives, oversee platform engineering operations, and lead transformation strategies to ensure the optimal performance and scalability of our technology platforms while fostering innovation and growth.

 

This critical leadership role is responsible for overseeing our application build and operations, including capacity planning, forecasting, demand planning, resource and skill development, and software/resource procurement. The role will also partner closely with business stakeholders, the IT Business Transformation Program, Architecture, Business Engagement, and IT Services/Cyber Security teams to ensure the timely and cost-effective delivery, management, and continuous improvement of applications for our customers.

Duties & Responsibilities:

Platform Engineering

• • Define and execute platform engineering strategies that meet business needs, drive innovation, and promote operational excellence
  • Own and manage core enterprise platforms, including SAP S/4, Salesforce Sales/Marketing/Commerce/Data Clouds, WMS, Dayforce, Microsoft Data Fabric, Databricks, and their supporting application ecosystems
  • Manage and deploy AI models and leverage agent-based solutions to enhance productivity and operational efficiency
  • Provide technical direction, mentorship, and guidance to platform engineering teams, fostering collaboration, professional development, and adherence to best practices
  • Monitor and evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends to determine relevance and potential impact on organizational goals
  • Ensure platforms' compliance with company policies and regulatory requirements, including application security and access management, in collaboration with IT strategy and security teams.
  • Manage IT resources, vendor relationships, and contractual agreements to ensure performance, accountability, and value delivery
  • Maintain strong relationships with suppliers and software providers to secure timely, cost-effective solutions and services
  • Utilize modern DevOps frameworks and squad/pod delivery models to accelerate delivery, enhance agility, and improve development efficiency

Executive Leadership

• • Define the vision and direction for Platform Engineering, ensuring strategies and initiatives deliver measurable business value and strengthen competitive advantage
  • Partner with executives, business stakeholders, IT leaders, and technical experts to align platform roadmaps, development plans, and system integrations with enterprise architecture and infrastructure
  • Establish and monitor key business metrics, including financial performance to budget/forecast, capital allocation, resource and vendor utilization, and platform-specific KPIs
  • Serve as a trusted advisor to executive leadership by providing insights on technology trends, infrastructure strategies, emerging platforms, and industry best practices. Recommend and implement new capabilities and tools that enhance business outcomes
  • Oversee the performance, results, and strategic direction of application teams within Platform Engineering, ensuring alignment to organizational priorities and service excellence
  • Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement. Strengthen IT capabilities by developing team skills, enhancing technical depth, and fostering creative problem-solving
  • Lead initiatives to reduce costs, enhance service quality, and maximize value delivered by IT platforms, vendors, and internal resources
  • Develop, manage, and track annual budgets for platforms, teams, and resources, ensuring fiscal discipline and alignment with organizational priorities

Transformation & Strategy

• • Develop and execute a multi-year transformation roadmap focused on modernization, scalability, and digital enablement across all core technology platforms
  • Foster a planning-based, performance-oriented culture by defining measurable KPIs, establishing transparent tracking mechanisms, and linking outcomes to business objectives
  • Collaborate with executive and business stakeholders to define, prioritize, and sequence transformation initiatives that align with organizational strategy and drive measurable value
  • Lead end-to-end execution of transformation projects, driving organizational adoption, managing change, and ensuring delivery of expected results within scope, time, and budget

Support & Continuous Improvement

• • Foster a culture of continuous improvement within Platform Engineering, enhancing the efficiency, reliability, and scalability of all enterprise technology platforms
  • Define, monitor, and report on IT application KPIs to assess the effectiveness, maturity, and business impact of platform engineering initiatives
  • Develop and maintain a consistent support and engagement model aligned with ITIL/ITSM best practices, ensuring high-quality service delivery and operational excellence
  • Partner with cross-functional teams to identify and implement opportunities for process optimization, automation, and tooling enhancements that streamline development, support, and operational workflows
  • Deeply understand internal and external customer needs, translating them into platform capabilities and services that deliver distinctive value and build trusted relationships
  • Implement best practices and drive platform capabilities that enable effective integrated business planning and informed cross-functional decision-making
  • Continuously evaluate the current and future IT application landscape with stakeholders, leveraging business requirements and platform functionality to identify opportunities for modernization, rationalization, and investment.
  • Monitor technology and market trends, anticipate future organizational needs, and set strategic priorities that enable long-term success and competitive advantage

Experience & Qualifications:

Education

• • Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent experience) in Business, Engineering, Computer Science
  • Master's Degree (or equivalent experience) in Business, Engineering, Computer Science/Engineering Preferred

Experience

• • 15+ years of a combination of experience spanning the following areas:
    • Experience in managing large (150+), global application teams responsible for building and managing operations and vendors
    • Experience in developing and implementing global IT Application build/manage processes and managing deployment/operations with global teams
    • Experience implementing best practices to support target operating models
    • Experience running a front-line 24x7 support operations team and developing the staff, tools, SOPs, and processes required
    • Experience developing information technology policies and procedures

Software/Technical Skills

• • Managing application teams supporting applications on Cloud hyperscalers
  • Managing teams that manage diverse application portfolio with applications and integrated technology
  • Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)

Other Skills/Knowledge/Abilities

• • Experience with evaluating tools/technology to update tech-stack
  • Proven track record of developing and implementing applications, leading large matrixed global teams and managed services that drive business results and strengthen organizational capabilities.
  • Demonstrated ability to work under pressure
  • Ability to manage through complexity to identify solutions and deliver results
  • Ability to interface with several internal departments including Internal Controls, Legal, Finance, Order management, Supply Chain, Operations, and various sales divisions
  • Ability to build and maintain vendor and service provider relationships and to negotiate service contracts with them
  • Excellent communication, negotiation, and problem-solving skills
  • Strong technical, diagnostic, and analytical skills with track record of managing based facts and data
  • Proven ability to engage senior business stakeholders in high-pressure situations, providing clear guidance while keeping teams focused on quality delivery
  • Ability to de-risk support operations during large transformation programs

Additional Details for This Role:

This role will be a hybrid role. Subject to business needs, employees may work remotely up to two days per week. Assigned office days will be determined by managers. #LI-Hybrid
Base Salary

• • The targeted base salary range for this position is $ 220,000.00- $250,000.00per year.
  • Base salary is determined by the education, experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities of the successful candidate, as well as factors such as internal equity, cost of labor in the hiring location, and alignment with market data.

 

Additional Compensation

• • This position is eligible for a 50% bonus at 100% of target, with the opportunity to achieve above 100% dependent on company performance and in alignment with company bonus plans.
  • Bonus awards are discretionary and contingent upon individual performance as well as Brother achieving its corporate objectives, in accordance with the applicable bonus plan in effect.