Director, Builders

Mechanics Bank is currently searching for a Director, Builders to join our team. Here at Mechanics Bank, we value connection, partnership, long term relationships and working together in person. This is a fully remote opportunity.

The Director, Builders leads the Builders team — the development organization accountable for taking AI-delivered MVPs (Minimum Viable Products) into production and owning them through their full lifecycle at Mechanics Bank. This role owns the production posture for every AI-delivered system in the portfolio: architecture strategy, SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle) and change management, audit and regulatory readiness, reliability, security, and long-term evolution. The Director, Builders partners with the Director, AI Innovation on the Creator-to-Builder handoff through the MVP Tag Team model — the working model where a Creator and Builder partner side-by-side during MVP Build to translate a validated POC into enterprise-grade software — ensuring the bank's AI pipeline flows cleanly from idea to production to permanence. The role leads AI-augmented engineering practices across the team, governs tool and model adoption, and maintains the technical standards, quality gates, and handoff acceptance criteria that make AI-delivered software trustworthy at scale. Reports to the Chief AI and Innovation Officer.

 

What you will do:

• Directly manages employees while overseeing the Builders team. Carries out management responsibilities in accordance with the Bank's policies, IT control framework and applicable laws. Responsibilities include interviewing, hiring, and training employees; planning, assigning, and directing work; managing and appraising performance; compensation decisions; and career development.

• Own architectural strategy for the AI-delivered software portfolio — platform direction, integration patterns, infrastructure choices, and long-term technical roadmap.

• Partner with the Director, AI Innovation on the Creator-to-Builder handoff and the MVP Tag Team model, jointly owning the pipeline from validated POC to production-grade system.

• Own SDLC, CAB (Change Advisory Board), audit, regulatory, and governance posture for all production systems under the Builders team, ensuring AI-delivered software meets the bank's compliance and control requirements.

• Oversee production operations including incident response strategy, uptime and availability targets, observability frameworks, and on-call practices for the team's portfolio.

• Drive AI-augmented engineering practices for the team — tool evaluation, model selection, prompt and output governance, and the review standards that make AI-assisted production development trustworthy.

• Set the technical roadmap including platform investments, refactoring and modernization programs, technical-debt reduction, and tooling adoption.

• Manage team budget, capacity planning, resource allocation, and vendor relationships including AI platforms, development tools, and infrastructure.

• Represent the Builders team in executive, governance, risk, compliance, and cross-functional leadership forums; advocate for technical investments that protect long-term delivery velocity and system reliability.

• Collaborate with the Chief AI and Innovation Officer on long-term platform, data, and technology direction for the bank.

• Travel required: 0-10 %

Who you are:

• 4 Year Bachelor's Degree: Technical or Engineering Degree preferred.

• Technical field with MBA, or AI / Machine Learning concentration preferred. Additional experience may be considered in lieu of degree.

• 10 years of software development and production system ownership experience (Technical) required.

• 1 year of working proficiency with C# / .NET and Angular experience required.

• 1 year of leadership of teams using AI-assisted development tools at production scale, including establishing review and governance practices preferred.

• 1 year of python or other popular languages beyond C# / .NET and Angular, or demonstrated ability to pick up and evaluate new languages and platforms quickly preferred.

• 5 years of experience in financial services, banking, healthcare, or other regulated industries preferred.

• 1 year of experience partnering with innovation, product, or analytics teams on prototype-to-production pipelines preferred.

• Demonstrated success leading production software development teams in regulated environments, with full accountability for hiring, performance, and strategic direction.

• Required strong working proficiency in C# / .NET Framework and Angular (core stack for the Builders team), with enough depth to set architecture direction and evaluate team technical decisions.

• Demonstrated success leading production software development teams in regulated environments, with full accountability for hiring, performance, and strategic direction.

• Required strong working proficiency in C# / .NET Framework and Angular (core stack for the Builders team), with enough depth to set architecture direction and evaluate team technical decisions.

• Preferred: Python and other popular languages; strong directors are expected to evaluate and sponsor adoption of additional languages and platforms as bank systems require.

• Fluency with AI-assisted development tools and a track record of establishing responsible AI-augmented engineering practices, tool governance, and output review standards in a team setting.

• Expertise in SDLC, change management, CAB, audit, and regulatory-response practices in financial services or equivalent regulated industries.

• Strong architectural judgment for platform, integration, cloud, and data-layer decisions.

• Experience partnering with business-facing innovation, product, or analytics teams — translating validated prototypes into durable production systems.

• Experience setting and enforcing production engineering standards — observability, reliability, incident response, security, and post-mortem practices.

• Track record of managing technical debt as a portfolio — making trade-off calls on refactoring, modernization, and deprecation at scale.

• Ability to translate complex technical decisions into business outcomes for executive and board audiences.

• Budget, capacity, and vendor management skills.

• Strong ethical behavior combined with unmatched passion, commitment and drive for quality excellence.

• Strong management skills demonstrated through effective implementation and use of team approach, systems agile development methodology and processes, business strategies and planning.

• Strong leadership skills demonstrated through effective communication of direction, motivating team members and providing continuous feedback.

• Demonstrated experience building and leading teams.

• Additional Experience/Education:

• Experience owning SDLC, CAB, audit, and regulatory-response practices for a production software portfolio.

• Experience managing technical debt, modernization programs, and platform investment decisions at portfolio scale.

• Experience establishing incident response, on-call, observability, and reliability engineering practices.

• Familiarity with AI governance frameworks, model risk management, and AI-system auditability in regulated environments.

• Experience managing budget, vendor relationships, and capacity planning for a software development team.

• Relevant certifications in software architecture, AI/ML, cloud platforms, security, enterprise architecture, or ITIL / service management are a plus.

ADA Requirements:

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.

• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit and talk or hear, and use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools, or controls.

• The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; reach with hands and arms; and stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.

• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 10 pounds.

• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision.

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

#LI-ML1

Pay Range: $136,860 - $246,340 annually

AIP/Bonus: up to 25%

Our comprehensive employee benefits program is designed for you to live your best life at work, home, and everywhere in between. Employees working 25 hours or more per week are eligible for health benefits effective the first day of the month following or coinciding with their date of hire.
Benefits package includes[1]:

• Medical, prescription, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their eligible family members

• Employer paid Employee Assistance Program, Life Insurance, AD&D, and Disability benefits

• Health Savings Account with employer contribution

• Healthcare and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts and Commuter/Parking Benefit

• 401(k) and Roth 401(k) with company contribution

• 529 Education Savings plan, Tuition Reimbursement Program and Student Loan Assistance Program

• Supplemental Health plans, Voluntary Legal and Identity Theft Services

• 11 paid holidays, paid Sick days (accrual of one hour for every 30 hours worked), up to 25 paid vacation days, and 16 hours of paid volunteer time throughout the calendar year

• Free personal checking and savings account; Discounted rates on primary residence loan with $0 origination fees (restrictions apply)

Final compensation package will be determined by the work experience, education, and/or skill level of the applicant along with internal equity and alignment with geographic market data.

• Mechanics Bank is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, age, genetic information, veteran status, or on the basis of disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or other bases prohibited by applicable law.

• Please view Equal Employment Opportunity Posters provided by OFCCP here.

• To learn more about Mechanics Bank’s California privacy and security policies, including your right to a Notice At Collection as a California Resident, please visit

  California Privacy Policy for Prospective Employees | Mechanics Bank

[1] The benefits listed in this job posting reflect the Bank’s most reasonable and genuinely expected benefits offered for this position.