Description:
The Senior Director, R&D will lead a dynamic and progressive, UK-based engineering organization within Diligent’s Integrity business unit overseeing multiple teams and managers to deliver industry-leading products at scale. This role is accountable for scaling a recently acquired product and building a market - leading platform, as well as translating Diligent’s strategic goals into actionable engineering objectives and ensuring successful execution across a complex, multi-disciplinary portfolio.
In addition to providing visionary software leadership, the Senior Director will be a key partner to Product and Business leadership in setting the long-term vision, strategy, and roadmap for the organization. They will also serve as a senior technical authority — collaborating with Principal Engineers / Architects and other senior technical experts to define technology strategy, shape engineering culture, and drive development excellence across the company.
As part of Diligent’s transformation to an AI-first organization, this leader will embed AI fluency, experimentation, and strategic foresight into the way teams design, build, and deliver technology — as well as identifying opportunities to accelerate innovation, enhance customer experience, and unlock new business value.
Key Responsibilities
- Provide visionary leadership and strategic direction for a newly acquired business within a large, global engineering organization, ensuring alignment with company goals, portfolio strategy, and customer needs.
- Partner closely with Product and business leaders to define the long-term vision, strategy, and roadmap for the organization.
- Translate company objectives into clear, actionable plans for multiple engineering areas and drive their successful delivery.
- Collaborate with Principal Engineers, Distinguished Engineers, and other senior technical leaders to define and execute the technology strategy and ensure technical excellence.
- Track emerging AI trends, tools, and breakthroughs, evaluating their potential impact and integrating them into products, processes, and culture where appropriate.
- Champion AI-first thinking — challenging conventional approaches and introducing novel, AI-based solutions that deliver measurable value.
- Communicate AI concepts clearly and persuasively to technical and non-technical audiences, creating compelling narratives about AI’s role in driving business transformation.
- Foster an AI experimentation mindset — encouraging rapid prototyping, iteration, and continuous learning.
- Overseeing the development of AI products and AI agents.
- Maintain AI risk awareness — identifying potential risks, managing ethical considerations, and ensuring resilience in AI initiatives.
Required Experience / Skills
- 10+ years of experience leading large, multi-disciplinary software engineering organizations, including managing managers and geographically distributed teams.
- Proven track record of delivering complex, high-scale software products, ideally in SaaS and B2B environments.
- Proven track record of delivering technology integrations between different technology stacks and products.
- Demonstrated ability to define and execute long-term technology strategies in partnership with senior technical leaders, including for AI products.
- Strong understanding of emerging technologies, with proven experience applying AI capabilities to solve business and customer challenges.
- Exceptional communication skills, capable of engaging diverse audiences and building consensus around strategic initiatives.
- Financial and operational acumen, including planning and delivering against complex budgets.
- Commitment to customer outcomes, innovation, and creating a culture of excellence in delivery.
- Agile, adaptable, and resilient in a fast-moving, evolving environment.