Director of Platform Engineering (hybrid)

About Johnson Controls

At Johnson Controls, we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. From optimizing building performance to improving safety and enhancing comfort, we drive the outcomes that matter most. Dedicated to protecting the environment, we deliver our promise in industries such as healthcare, education, data centers and manufacturing. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries and over 130 years of innovation, we are the power behind our customers' mission.

About Security Access Control Business

When Fortune 500 corporations, government customers, or any other enterprise applications concerned with critical security issues need a reliable solution in their day to day operations, more often than not, they turn to Johnson Controls and its security and event management technologies currently installed in thousands of facilities worldwide. Johnson Controls has built a solid reputation in the security industry as an innovator of security and event management technologies. With its continuous investment in R&D, and the ability to leverage new technologies, Johnson Controls has reached technological excellence.

What you will do

Johnson Controls is seeking a Director of Platform Engineering to lead the strategy, design, and delivery of the core One Security Platform (OSP) architecture, enabling scalable, secure, and interoperable solutions across Access Control, Video Management Systems (VMS), Alarms, AI analytics, and other physical security domains. In this role, you will have the opportunity to build a robust, extensible platform foundation that supports internal product teams, partner integrations, and customer-facing applications. The role combines technical leadership, strategic vision, and team management to ensure the platform is enterprise-grade and future-ready. This is a hybrid position. Candidates must be commuting distance to Westford, MA, or able to relocate.

How you will do it

Strategic Leadership

• Define and own the technical vision and roadmap for the One Security Platform, ensuring alignment with the overall product and business strategy.
• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Solution Engineering, and Application Development teams to define platform priorities.
• Establish platform governance to ensure consistency, scalability, and maintainability across multiple product lines.
• Advocate for platform adoption across the company and partner ecosystem.

Architecture & Design

• Architect and oversee enterprise-scale, multi-tenant platforms with high availability, security, and performance requirements.
• Lead the design of core platform services:
• Identity & Access Management (SSO, RBAC)
• Event Processing & Messaging Framework
• API Gateway & Developer SDKs
• Workflow & Automation Engine (e.g., n8n, Node-RED)
• Integration frameworks for devices, third-party apps, and cloud services
• AI & Analytics pipelines for security events and video
• Ensure the platform supports cloud-native, on-prem, and hybrid deployments.
• Implement vendor-agnostic hardware abstraction for cameras, controllers, and sensors.

Delivery & Execution

• Drive end-to-end platform delivery, from concept through Gate reviews to deployment.
• Manage and optimize development processes, including Agile ceremonies, CI/CD pipelines, and quality assurance practices.
• Partner with the DevOps team to ensure reliability, scalability, and observability.
• Oversee platform security practices, including compliance with SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR, and other regulations.

Team Leadership & Development

• Build, lead, and mentor a cross-functional Platform Engineering team, including:
• Core Services Engineers
• Integration Engineers
• Workflow & Automation Specialists
• AI & Analytics Engineers
• DevOps & Infrastructure staff
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and ownership.
• Define career development paths and conduct regular performance reviews.

Stakeholder Management

• Serve as the primary technical contact for platform-related discussions with:
• Internal product teams
• Strategic partners and integrators
• Key enterprise customers
• Communicate platform strategy, status, and performance to executive leadership.

What you will need
Required

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5 years in a senior technical leadership role.
• Experience designing and delivering enterprise-grade platforms used by multiple product teams or external partners.
• Deep expertise in cloud-native architectures (Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform), microservices, and API-first design.
• Strong knowledge of identity management, RBAC, and event-driven architectures.
• Experience in integrating with hardware devices (preferred in physical security: Access Control, VMS, Alarms).
• Proficiency with workflow automation/orchestration tools (e.g., n8n, Zapier, Node-RED, or similar).
• Strong understanding of security and compliance standards (SOC2, ISO27001, GDPR).
• Hands-on experience with DevOps practices: CI/CD, container orchestration (Kubernetes), observability (Prometheus, ELK, Grafana).
• Strong people management skills, with experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
• Able to travel anywhere from 10-20%

Preferred

• Experience in physical security product domains: Video Surveillance, Access Control, Intrusion Detection.
• Knowledge of video streaming protocols (RTSP, WebRTC), video analytics, or AI/ML model deployment.
• Experience building developer ecosystems, SDKs, or partner integration programs.
• Familiarity with multi-tenant SaaS and hybrid deployment models.

Johnson Controls International plc. is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, protected veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a qualified individual with a disability or any other characteristic protected by law. To view more information about your equal opportunity and non-discrimination rights as a candidate, visit EEO is the Law. If you are an individual with a disability and you require an accommodation during the application process, please visit here.