Executive Director Platform Governance and Strategy

NO OPT

Executive Director, Platform Governance & Strategy

SALARY: $250k - $270k plus 30% bonus

LOCATION: CHICAGO, IL

HYBRID 3 DAYS ONSITE

This is a director level role. You will manage a team of SRE s in platform engineering governance & compliance. Site reliability, FinOps and SecOps domain.

This role provides executive-level leadership over Platform Engineering Governance & Compliance, Site Reliability Engineering, Strategy & Architecture, and Metrics & Reporting within the Platform Engineering organization.

Site Reliability Engineering

Platform Engineering Governance & Compliance

Site Reliability Engineering COE

Cloud Strategy & Architecture

Metrics & Reporting

Qualifications:

• [Required] Proven executive-level leadership of SRE, cloud engineering, or platform reliability organizations in a regulated industry environment.
• [Required] Demonstrated ability to build and scale SRE practices including SLO/SLA frameworks, on-call models, error budgets, and incident response programs.
• [Required] Deep expertise in cloud architecture strategy and governance, with experience defining and driving enterprise-wide architectural standards.
• [Required] Strong track record of cross-functional partnership with Program/Product Management, translating platform capabilities into sequenced, delivery-ready roadmaps.
• [Required] Demonstrated experience serving in a Product Manager capacity for technical domains such as FinOps, SecOps, or platform tooling, including ownership of roadmap, prioritization, and stakeholder alignment.
• [Required] Experience establishing and managing governance and compliance frameworks within a platform or infrastructure engineering organization, including oversight of incidents, problem management, risk items, and audit obligations.
• [Required] Ability to design and maintain metrics and reporting frameworks that provide meaningful visibility into platform health, engineering performance, and compliance posture.
• [Required] Exceptional written and verbal communication skills; ability to translate technical complexity into executive-level insights and business decisions.
• [Required] Demonstrated ability to lead high-performing, highly technical teams through accountability, coaching, and clear ownership models.
• [Required] Experience managing work in Agile/Scrum environments with strong prioritization and deadline management discipline.
• [Preferred] Experience operating in a production change control process and working directly with audit and compliance functions in a regulated environment.
• [Preferred] Experience in financial services or similarly regulated industries with exposure to CIS, NIST, and related frameworks.

Technical Skills:

• [Required] Deep knowledge of SRE tooling and observability platforms (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, PagerDuty, Datadog, or equivalents).
• [Required] Expert-level knowledge of cloud platforms: AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform; experience with multi-cloud or hybrid environments preferred.
• [Required] Strong working knowledge of cloud-native architecture patterns and Infrastructure as Code principles.
• [Required] Familiarity with container orchestration and streaming platforms (Kubernetes, Kafka) and CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or equivalents).
• [Required] Experience with metrics and reporting platforms; ability to design KPI frameworks and reporting dashboards for both technical and executive audiences.
• [Required] Working knowledge of FinOps principles and cloud cost governance, with experience driving cost transparency and optimization at an organizational level.
• [Required] Familiarity with SecOps tooling and security governance practices within a cloud or platform engineering context.
• [Preferred] Experience with GRC tooling or platforms used to manage risk, audit findings, and compliance obligations (e.g., ServiceNow, Archer, or equivalents).

Education and/or Experience:

• Bachelor's degree, preferably in a technical discipline (Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, or related field), or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• 15+ years of progressive experience in cloud engineering, platform reliability, or infrastructure roles with at least 5 years in senior engineering leadership.
• Depth and breadth of experience in a highly regulated industry such as financial services, with demonstrated understanding of applicable rules and regulatory frameworks.

Certificates or Licenses:

• AWS Solutions Architect Associate Certification or higher strongly desired.