Director, Software Delivery Architecture

SMBC Group is a top-tier global financial group. Headquartered in Tokyo and with a 400-year history, SMBC Group offers a diverse range of financial services, including banking, leasing, securities, credit cards, and consumer finance. The Group has more than 130 offices and 80,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (SMFG) is the holding company of SMBC Group, which is one of the three largest banking groups in Japan. SMFG’s shares trade on the Tokyo, Nagoya, and New York (NYSE: SMFG) stock exchanges.

In the Americas, SMBC Group has a presence in the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. Backed by the capital strength of SMBC Group and the value of its relationships in Asia, the Group offers a range of commercial and investment banking services to its corporate, institutional, and municipal clients. It connects a diverse client base to local markets and the organization’s extensive global network. The Group’s operating companies in the Americas include Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC), SMBC Nikko Securities America, Inc., SMBC Capital Markets, Inc., JRI America, Inc., SMBC Leasing and Finance, Inc., Banco Sumitomo Mitsui Brasileiro S.A., and Sumitomo Mitsui Finance and Leasing Co., Ltd.

Director, Software Delivery Architecture

SMBC is seeking a Director, Software Delivery Architecture to lead the strategy, architecture, governance, and continuous evolution of enterprise software delivery capabilities.

This role is responsible for defining and governing Secure Software Development Lifecycle (SSDLC), DevSecOps practices, developer platforms, engineering tooling, and AI-enabled software delivery capabilities. The Director will assist in defining enterprise platform standards, reference architectures, implementation patterns, engineering roadmaps, and technology strategies that enable secure, scalable, resilient, and efficient software delivery capabilities across the organization. This role will drive engineering transformation initiatives that improve software quality, developer productivity, operational resilience, regulatory compliance, and business outcomes. A key focus of the role is identifying and implementing AI opportunities across the software delivery lifecycle, leveraging emerging technologies to improve software quality, reduce manual effort, accelerate delivery, and strengthen engineering governance.

The successful candidate will help shape the future of software engineering at SMBC by combining modern architecture practices, platform engineering, AI-enabled development capabilities, and enterprise governance into a cohesive software delivery strategy.

Key Responsibilities

- Define and maintain the enterprise Software Delivery Architecture strategy, roadmap, target-state architecture, operating model, standards, and reference architectures.

- Establish governance frameworks, architecture standards, and implementation patterns supporting SSDLC, DevSecOps, platform engineering, and software governance practices.

- Establish reference architectures, patterns, and best practices for software development, testing, deployment, and release management.

- Establish platform standards for source control, CI/CD, testing, software quality, security scanning, and deployment automation.

- Provide architectural oversight for development platforms and tools, including source control, CI/CD, testing, artifact management, and collaboration platforms.

- Drive modernization initiatives that improve delivery velocity, software quality, security, resiliency, and developer experience.

- Partner with Enterprise Architecture, Engineering, Cybersecurity, Data, and Risk teams to align software delivery capabilities with business and technology objectives.

- Evaluate emerging engineering technologies, industry trends, and software delivery practices, providing recommendations for enterprise adoption, standardization, optimization, or retirement.

- Assess engineering processes and development workflows to identify automation and AI-driven optimization opportunities that improve speed, quality, security, and efficiency. across all phases of the SDLC.

- Evaluate, pilot, and lead implementation of AI-powered engineering solutions that improve developer productivity and delivery outcomes.

- Lead tooling rationalization, consolidation, and optimization efforts to maximize business value and reduce platform complexity.

Required Experience, Knowledge and Skills

- 10+ years of progressive experience in Software Engineering, Enterprise Architecture, Platform Engineering, DevOps, DevSecOps, Software Delivery, or related technology leadership roles.

- Experience designing and implementing AI-enabled engineering solutions leveraging Python, GenAI frameworks, LLM technologies, vector databases, retrieval architectures, and enterprise AI platforms such as Azure AI Services, Azure AI Search, Databricks, OpenAI, or equivalent technologies.

- Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide transformation initiatives involving application modernization, platform engineering, DevSecOps, software governance, or AI adoption programs

- DevSecOps, CI/CD, platform engineering, governance, or software modernization capabilities.

- Experience developing enterprise standards, Architecture patterns, architecture roadmaps and target-state strategies.

- Strong understanding of SDLC, SSDLC, Agile delivery, DevSecOps, CI/CD, software architecture, and platform engineering practices.

- Experience identifying and implementing AI, automation, or developer productivity solutions within technology organizations.

- Experience within Banking, Financial Services, or other highly regulated industries.

- Knowledge of NIST Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF), software supply chain security practices, DevSecOps frameworks, and AI governance principles.

Preferred Qualifications

- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related discipline.

- TOGAF, AWS or Azure Architecture certifications, SAFe, CISSP, CSSLP, or comparable industry certifications.

SMBC’s employees participate in a Hybrid workforce model that provides employees with an opportunity to work from home, as well as, from an SMBC office. SMBC requires that employees live within a reasonable commuting distance of their office location. Prospective candidates will learn more about their specific hybrid work schedule during their interview process. Hybrid work may not be permitted for certain roles, including, for example, certain FINRA-registered roles for which in-office attendance for the entire workweek is required.

SMBC provides reasonable accommodations during candidacy for applicants with disabilities consistent with applicable federal, state, and local law. If you need a reasonable accommodation during the application process, please let us know at [email protected].