Senior Director, Software Development

Northern Trust

Senior Director of Software Development guiding technical strategy for enterprise-level applications in a financial services firm. Leading technology initiatives and mentoring teams in alternative investment domain.

Posted 4/17/2026full-timeChicago • Illinois • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $205,700 - $360,100 per yearWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudMicroservices

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Partner with business stakeholders to design end-to-end platforms, defining components and interactions that support the target operating model
Provide strategic direction across technology teams, aligning execution with enterprise goals and influencing senior leadership on outcomes
Translate business strategy into technology outcomes by surfacing cross-functional concerns, synthesizing inputs, and building consensus on solutions
Build, develop, and organize teams to drive program-level initiatives
Manage multiple units or functions through managers and technical leads, overseeing project planning, status reporting, specifications, and implementation for major software solutions
Mentor and develop less-senior leaders through coaching and structured growth opportunities
Deliver value iteratively and with a sense of urgency
Lead capability technology delivery across multiple teams of developers, quality assurance, support and change management technology experts
Set performance standards; run performance management; identify training and development needs; and build management capability for advanced leadership roles
Manage vendor relationships to ensure outcomes (quality, performance, and scalability) meet business demands
Define and govern technical architectures (security, observability, scalability, reliability, and recovery) and ensure compliance
Ensure compliance with audit requirements, including change control procedures and data security
Improve technology team effectiveness and productivity, and identify opportunities to help business teams do the same

Requirements

What you’ll need

Demonstrate in-depth functional industry knowledge of alternative investment financial services
Demonstrate 10+ years of success designing and building enterprise-level applications, including complex data architectures, in a highly regulated environment (e.g., financial services)
Demonstrate 10+ years of progressive responsibility leading technical teams (e.g., developers, data engineers, business analysts, quality assurance, and production support)
Demonstrate understanding of data shape and context design to enable efficient and effective AI/LLM usage
Demonstrate strong understanding of modern data storage architectures and data modeling
Demonstrate knowledge of microservices architecture, cloud-native development, CI/CD, and automated builds
Demonstrate understanding of modern security architectures, including implementing secure applications and protecting PII and HSI in public cloud environments
Demonstrate understanding of financial markets and financial instrument types
Demonstrate experience with Agile project methodology and collaboration
Show strong analytical and problem-solving skills
Communicate effectively in writing and verbally, including with senior executive management
Adapt quickly and effectively to change

Benefits

Comp & perks

retirement benefits (401k and pension)
health and welfare benefits (medical, dental, vision, spending accounts and disability)
paid time off
parental and caregiver leave
life & accident insurance
other voluntary and well-being benefits
discretionary bonus program that may include an equity component

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

enterprise-level applicationsdata architecturesdata modelingmicroservices architecturecloud-native developmentCI/CDautomated buildssecurity architecturesAgile project methodologyAI/LLM usage

Soft Skills

leadershipmentoringcoachingcommunicationanalytical skillsproblem-solvingadaptabilityteam organizationconsensus buildingperformance management