Vice President, Software Development - Build
Job Location (Short): Madison, Alabama-USA
Workplace Type: Remote
Req Id: 3502
ResponsibilitiesOctave is seeking a Vice President, Software Development to lead engineering for the Build portfolio, software that helps owners and EPC contractors plan and execute large industrial capital projects across project controls, supply chain and materials, procurement, construction and completions. This is an execution-focused role. You will deliver a demanding roadmap on time and at quality, including our next-generation solution development effort, which carries strict scope and delivery commitments to strategic customers, and the migration of existing web-based and desktop products to multi-tenant, cloud-agnostic SaaS.
You will partner hand in hand with the portfolio's Product Management leader, bring an AI-first approach to building software, and ensure the portfolio both contributes to and builds on the new Octave platform.
- Deliver predictably. Own roadmap delivery and customer commitments across the portfolio, including the next-generation solution effort. Surface risks early, escalate with options, and recover quickly when plans change.
- Partner with Product. Work with the Product Management leader on priorities, roadmaps, and scope and capacity trade-offs, with shared accountability for outcomes and a single, aligned plan for Product and Engineering.
- Manage by metrics. Set the operating rhythm and KPIs (say-do delivery predictability, cycle time, release frequency, quality escapes, reliability, technical debt, AI-assisted productivity, cost) and use them to drive decisions and continuous improvement.
- Build AI-first. Make AI-assisted development the default across the SDLC (requirements, coding, review, testing, release), with training, guardrails for security and IP, and measured productivity impact. Deliver AI-enabled product capabilities, such as agentic workflows for procurement, materials, construction and handover.
- Integrate across Octave. Work across Platform, the other product portfolios, Services, Customer Success and Sales to build integrated end-to-end workflows (for example, design-to-build and build-to-operate) and reusable shared capabilities.
- Build on the Octave platform. Ensure every product squad adopts shared platform, data, AI and UX services and contributes reusable capabilities back, and that new solutions are built on the platform.
- Execute the move to multi-tenant SaaS. Own delivery of the migration of existing web-based and desktop products to multi-tenant, cloud-agnostic SaaS environments, with clear product-by-product plans, milestones and customer migration paths. Work with the central engineering excellence team, which supports all pillars, while remaining accountable for execution within the portfolio.
- Uphold architecture. Enforce sound architectural principles and standards, including cloud-agnostic design; drive technical debt reduction, security, accessibility and reliability.
- Lead the organization. Build, develop and retain engineering leaders with clear accountability and succession plans. Run onshore and offshore teams as one cohesive organization with consistent standards and practices.
- Engage customers. Serve as executive engineering sponsor for strategic customers, including on escalations and critical commitments.
Education / Qualifications- 15+ years in software engineering, including 5+ years as a Director-level or more senior leader of an organization of comparable scale (hundreds of engineers, multiple management layers).
- Proven record delivering complex enterprise software to committed dates and quality, including high-stakes commitments to strategic customers.
- Working knowledge of supply chain, procurement, construction and completions work processes for large industrial assets, and of the needs of EPC contractors and asset owners.
- Demonstrated AI-first approach, with measurable results from AI adoption in engineering teams and AI-enabled product capabilities.
- Proven ability to work across organizations to build integrated workflows and AI capabilities; experience building on and contributing to a shared platform.
- Strong experience leading remote and offshore teams; metrics-driven decision making; strong enterprise architecture and cloud/SaaS background.
- Hands-on experience executing the transition of existing web-based and desktop products to multi-tenant SaaS, ideally cloud-agnostic, and partnering with a central engineering excellence or platform team.
- Experience modernizing mature software portfolios while protecting customer commitments and product quality.
- Excellent executive communication across Product, Sales, Services and senior leadership.
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field; advanced degree preferred.
Preferred Experience in capital projects, project controls, materials management or completions software; agentic AI and MCP-based integrations; converting on-premises customers to SaaS at portfolio scale.
What Success Looks Like First 90 days: Assess delivery health, organization and architecture; baseline engineering metrics; agree a joint delivery plan with Product.
First 12 months: Commitments met on the next-generation solution effort, multi-tenant SaaS migration milestones on plan, improved delivery predictability, AI-assisted practices embedded with measured impact, and every squad contributing to the Octave platform.
About OctaveOctave provides mission-critical software that empowers organizations to make informed decisions across every stage of the asset lifecycle - Design, Build, Operate and Protect - where performance, safety, and reliability are non-negotiable and failure is not an option.
Turning complex operational data into actionable intelligence, Octave connects expertise, real-world conditions and enterprise-scale insight to improve performance, resilience and incident response where it matters most.
Octave has more than 7,000 employees in 45 countries. Learn more at octave.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Why work for Octave?All in. Always forward. That's the way we do things around here. We put trust in our people because we believe it's the best way to unleash potential, bring ideas to life, and keep moving ahead. And it's why we're committed to creating an environment that's truly supportive, providing you with the resources you need to support your ambitions, no matter who you are or where you are in the world.
Everyone is welcomeAt Octave, we believe that diverse and inclusive teams are critical to the success of our people and our business. Here, everyone is welcome. As an inclusive workplace, we don't discriminate. In fact, we embrace differences and are fully committed to creating equal opportunities, an inclusive environment, and fairness for all.
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