Director of Research and Development
Aspire Software
full-time
Posted on:
Location: Illinois • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteJob Level
Lead
Tech Stack
AWSAzureCloud
About the role
- Take technical ownership across the entire stack: APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, CI/CD, frontend apps, and internal tools.
- Promote best practices in testing, observability, documentation, and code quality.
- Ensure platform reliability and performance across services, products, and AI components.
- Lead and grow a cross-functional engineering team; mentor developers and support performance through feedback, pairing, and code reviews.
- Design, build, and deploy AI-powered features including agent-based workflows, RAG, predictive tools, and automated decision systems.
- Drive rapid prototyping of new features into proofs-of-concept and production-ready tools.
- Apply LLMs and AI orchestration frameworks to problems like compliance automation, document analysis, and fraud prevention.
- Lead platform modernization by refactoring legacy components and building scalable cloud-native services.
- Partner with Product Management and Operations to align development with customer needs and business priorities.
- Communicate technical vision and architectural decisions across departments.
Requirements
- 5+ years of experience leading software engineering or R&D teams, ideally in SaaS or fintech environments.
- Proven success delivering production-ready, customer-facing software across the full stack.
- Strong architectural skills and comfort with modern cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) and DevOps workflows.
- Experience applying AI or automation tools to enhance product features or streamline development workflows.
- Familiarity with emerging AI/LLM frameworks (e.g., LangChain, LlamaIndex).
- Track record of rapid iteration: launching prototypes quickly, gathering feedback, and refining.
- Leadership style grounded in mentorship, collaboration, and elevating team performance.
- Strong communication and project management skills.