Director, Software Engineering - Platform Development

As a pharmaceutical support industry leader, UBC is devoted to empowering health solutions for a better tomorrow. We take pride in improving patient outcomes and advancing healthcare. At UBC we provide services to enhance the entire drug development process and commercialization lifecycle - From clinical trial support to real-world evidence generation.

Embark on a rewarding career journey with UBC! Grow your career while making a meaningful impact on the world around you. UBC fosters a culture built on our Core Values being: Collaborative, Conscientious, Curious, Consultative, and Compassionate. We believe in an inclusive workplace that fosters creativity.

If you are seeking a career that will challenge, inspire, and reward you, join us at UBC!

UBC is in search of a dynamic and seasoned leader to spearhead our Platform Team, overseeing the development and maintenance of cutting-edge frameworks rooted in Microsoft technologies in a highly regulated environment. The ideal candidate will hold a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of our technology stack as we embark on a transformative journey to migrate our systems to advanced, state-of-the-art solutions. As the Platform Team Leader, you will provide leadership and direction to a team of adept architects and senior software engineers, fostering a culture of innovation while ensuring the robustness, scalability, and security of our technological solutions. Additionally, we are looking for someone who can:

• Build and lead a team focused on advancing in-house software development, platform engineering, and AI-enabled capabilities.
• Assess existing platform components and capabilities across the enterprise and define a phased roadmap to a modern digital platform - spanning API gateway, workflow orchestration, capability services, integration and event-driven architecture, fit-for-purpose data persistence and data warehouse integration.
• Explore and integrate AI and machine learning advancements to drive intelligent automation within our platform. 
• Stay up-to-date with industry trends and best practices in technologies, actively seeking out opportunities to apply these insights to our platform. 
• Lead by example in adopting and championing emerging technologies and development methodologies that can enhance our platform's performance, scalability, and security. 
• Demonstrated practical expertise in Microsoft technologies such as .Net, MVC, web API, and React JS, coupled with hands-on experience in cloud platforms, particularly specializing in Microsoft Azure. 

Brief Description:

The Director, Software Engineering - Platform Development (DPD) will provide leadership in the areas of systems and application delivery, software design & architecture, and software development across client application deliverables and strategic initiatives. The DPD will be highly participatory and hands-on regarding the planning and implementation of Enterprise Platform Solutions and is responsible for establishing common delivery standards and measuring development practices to lead continuous improvement. 

Specific Job Duties: 

• Leadership role in the technical design and implementation of software solutions.
• Participates in all aspects of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Collaborates with business segment software engineering teams in the design and implementation of reusable, scalable, and secure technical solutions for UBC and its clients.
• Establish standards and readiness gates for moving solutions from concept to POC, pilot and production.
• Create and improve workflows for CI/CD, unit testing, deployment, release management, documentation and operational support.
• Guide the responsible use of AI-assisted development efforts, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, maintainable and aligned to UBC standards.
• Partner with Information Security to review code quality, dependencies, library risks, data handling and secure deployment practices.
• Managing risk, escalations, and resource optimization across Agile delivery pipelines.
• Key member of the IT Enterprise Architecture Center of Excellence.
• Responsible for resource management within the IT Platform Development team.

 Desired Skills and Qualifications: 

• BS degree in Computer Science, Information Systems or related fields, or an equivalent combination of education & experience.
• Minimum of 10 years of hands-on software engineering and solutioning experience working in a technical environment & minimum of 5 years of people leadership experience.
• Must be detail orientated and able to take a job to successful conclusion.
• Must have excellent interpersonal, verbal, and written skills and able to perform multiple tasks.
• Ability to effectively communicate with both technical and non-technical individuals.
• Must be flexible on work hours.
• In-depth knowledge and hands-on experience with all phases of an SDLC.
• In-depth knowledge of the software validation process in an FDA regulated environment. Specifically, knowledge of 21 CFR Part 11, HIPAA and E2B requirements is essential.
• Excellent application documentation skills.
• Solid understanding of Agile software development principles.
• Structured Programming skills.
• Extensive working knowledge of the Microsoft .NET stack, including but not limited to Microsoft Visual Studio, TFS/Azure DevOps, C#, Web-Based Development Frameworks (such as ASP.NET, WebForms, MVC, Angular, Node.js) and Web Services/API development.
• Extensive working knowledge with Relational Database Management Systems, especially Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle.
• Working knowledge with team development software and automated testing tools.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

Software Development Managers

Software Architects

Software Development Engineers