R&D Director

KMS Lighthouse is seeking an experienced R&D Director to lead our global engineering organization and drive the execution of our technology strategy.

This role is responsible for leading multiple engineering teams through experienced managers, scaling engineering excellence, and ensuring the successful delivery of high-quality, enterprise-grade SaaS solutions.

The ideal candidate is a strong people leader with extensive experience managing large-scale engineering organizations in a global environment.

They will play a key role in accelerating AI adoption across the engineering organization, embedding AI-driven development practices, and leveraging AI technologies to improve productivity, software quality, and innovation.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and scale the global engineering organization through engineering managers, fostering a high-performance culture.
• Define and execute the engineering strategy in alignment with business and product objectives.
• Drive AI adoption across engineering by integrating AI-powered tools and development practices that improve productivity, software quality, and delivery.
• Develop engineering leaders through coaching, mentorship, succession planning, and organizational growth.
• Partner with Product, Architecture, Customer Success, and Executive Leadership to deliver scalable enterprise SaaS solutions.
• Drive engineering excellence by improving development processes, operational efficiency, quality, and execution.
• Oversee planning, prioritization, resource allocation, and execution across multiple engineering initiatives.
• Stay ahead of emerging technologies and industry trends to ensure continuous innovation.

Requirements:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including significant leadership of large engineering organizations.
• Proven experience managing global engineering teams through engineering managers.
• Strong background in enterprise SaaS and modern cloud technologies.
• Demonstrated success driving AI adoption and modern engineering practices.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.
• Experience building and developing high-performing engineering organizations.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or a related field; advanced degree is an advantage.