Senior Director, Software Engineering - Customer Platforms

Primary Duties/Key Responsibilities

• Owns the technical health, architecture, and AI readiness of the Customer Platforms portfolio — ensuring each platform is built on a strong, scalable foundation that can evolve with the business.
• Serves as the technical authority for Customer Platforms — the person who can say with conviction what is technically possible, what the risks are, and what it will take to get there across all platforms in the portfolio.
• Does not serve on a value stream. Maintains a dedicated focus on platform health, technical excellence, and engineering innovation — partnering with Value Stream Leaders who report into this organization to ensure delivery accountability flows through the platform org to E2E business outcomes.
• Directly leads Value Stream Leaders who are responsible for driving cross-platform business outcomes across Lead to Cash— setting clear expectations for E2E delivery focus and holding them accountable for business results that go beyond any single platform's boundaries.
• Owns the AI Transformation strategy for Customer Platforms — driving adoption of spec-driven development
• Leads with a forward-looking perspective on how AI is reshaping the customer engagement SaaS landscape — actively evaluating what Cox needs to build vs. what the platforms will provide natively.
• Establishes and enforces AI-ready engineering standards across the portfolio — spec-driven development, automated testing, and AI tooling adoption are non-negotiable engineering expectations, not optional practices.
• Establishes technology and architecture standards across Customer Platforms — defining patterns for CRM customization, contact center integration, AI agent deployment, and marketing automation that scale consistently across Cox Automotive's business units.
• Maintains strategic vendor relationships, staying ahead of vendor AI roadmaps, influencing product direction where possible, and making deliberate build vs. buy decisions as the SaaS AI landscape evolves.
• Evaluates and incorporates emerging technologies and AI capabilities within the Customer Platforms space — ensuring Cox Automotive is positioned to leverage new platform capabilities rapidly rather than reactively.
• Develops and retains deep engineering talent across Customer Platforms — building teams with the technical depth to drive platform excellence and the AI fluency to accelerate transformation.
• Develops and retains Value Stream Leaders within the organization — coaching them to maintain cross-platform outcome focus and building a strong leadership pipeline.
• Establishes the engineering operating model for Customer Platforms delivery — release cadence, quality gates, automated validation standards, and AI-generated code review practices.
• Develops long-range platform requirements and technology roadmaps grounded in business strategy, AI transformation priorities, and the evolving vendor landscape.
• Other duties as needed or required.

Required Experience & Specialized Knowledge and skills

• Bachelor's degree in a related discipline and 12 years' experience in a related field with at least 7 years' experience in a management or lead role; or a master's degree and 10 years' experience; or PhD and 7 years' experience; or 20 years' experience in a related field with no degree.
• Deep technical expertise in Salesforce (Apex, Lightning Web Components, Salesforce platform architecture) — able to set architectural direction, evaluate technical tradeoffs, and earn the respect of platform engineers.
• Broad platform knowledge across customer engagement technology — familiarity with contact center platforms, Salesforce, AI customer engagement tools, and marketing automation strongly preferred.
• Strong technology thought leadership on the future of customer engagement SaaS — actively thinking about how AI is changing what platforms provide natively, and what that means for how Cox builds these platforms.
• Experience leading or driving AI transformation within a CRM or customer engagement platform environment — familiarity with Salesforce, AI-assisted development tools, and spec-driven development practices strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to lead platform engineering organizations — building high-performing teams, developing technical leaders, and maintaining engineering rigor while driving transformation.
• Advanced skills in analytical thinking, business acumen, requirements analysis, software installation and support, and technology strategy.
• Advanced skills in building partnerships, engaging others, guiding team success, leading change, and leading with vision.

What makes this role different?

• This is a Platform Leader role — not a value stream delivery role. The job is to build and maintain world-class customer engagement platforms that others can deliver value through. Platform health, technical depth, and AI readiness are the primary measures of success.
• The ideal candidate is a deep technologist in the customer engagement SaaS space who also has the strategic imagination to see where that space is heading. Salesforce, Genesys, and Sierra are all investing heavily in native AI capabilities — this leader needs to be ahead of that curve, not reacting to it.
• This leader must be willing to challenge conventional platform thinking. With AI, what the vendor now provides vs. what Cox builds changes constantly. The person in this seat needs to be asking that question proactively, not after contracts are signed.
• Value Stream Leaders report into this organization but are accountable for cross-platform business outcomes — this Platform Leader must be mature enough to support and develop those leaders without pulling them back into platform-centric thinking.

Drug Testing

To be employed in this role, you’ll need to clear a pre-employment drug test. Cox Automotive does not currently administer a pre-employment drug test for marijuana for this position. However, we are a drug-free workplace, so the possession, use or being under the influence of drugs illegal under federal or state law during work hours, on company property and/or in company vehicles is prohibited.