Director, Product Engineering

StarRez is a global leader in student housing software, serving over 1,400 clients across more than 25 countries. Supporting more than 4 million beds annually, StarRez offers an all-in-one platform that enhances housing management, resident wellness, and revenue generation for both on and off-campus environments. With offices in the United States, Australia, the UK, and India, the company combines global reach with personalized service to deliver seamless experiences for students and administrators alike.

We are looking for a strategic, people-focused Director of Product & Engineering to lead and expand our product and engineering teams based in India. Reporting to the VP of Engineering and India Site Lead, you will oversee Engineering Managers, senior technical leaders, and Product Owners across multiple teams. Your role will involve setting strategy, ensuring delivery excellence, designing organizational structures, and driving team performance. Collaborating closely with Product Managers in the US and UK, as well as global Engineering, Design, Quality, and business leaders, you will translate customer and business needs into clear strategic direction and predictable outcomes. A key focus will be building a high-performing, AI-first product and engineering organization that consistently delivers meaningful value to customers.

Key Responsibilities

- Engineering Leadership and Team Development: Lead, coach, and grow Engineering Managers and senior technical leaders. Foster a culture of accountability, inclusivity, and high performance while building strong succession and career development practices.

- Technical Direction and Architecture: Define and guide the technical vision in partnership with global Engineering and Architecture teams. Make informed decisions regarding architecture, scalability, security, and platform investments, balancing feature delivery with technical debt and system health.

- Delivery Excellence: Collaborate with Product Managers and the Director of Product to convert the product roadmap into achievable engineering plans, capacity forecasts, and milestones. Ensure predictable, high-quality delivery while proactively managing risks, dependencies, and trade-offs.

- AI-First Engineering: Champion the practical adoption of AI throughout the software development lifecycle, including coding, testing, code review, and delivery. Measure AI’s impact on productivity and quality and share best practices across the global organization.

- Quality, Reliability, and Operational Excellence: Own engineering standards, CI/CD pipelines, test automation, observability, and incident management. Use metrics such as DORA, defect rates, and uptime to drive continuous improvement and effectively manage production issues and customer escalations.

- Security and Compliance: Ensure software development and operations comply with StarRez’s security and data privacy standards, including SOC 2, GDPR, and FERPA requirements for student data.

- Organization Design and Scaling: Define team structures, ownership boundaries, and operating rhythms as the India Product & Technology organization grows. Manage headcount planning, vendor relationships, and partner with Talent Acquisition and global leadership to hire and retain top talent.

- Global Partnership and Stakeholder Communication: Build trusted relationships with Product, Engineering, Design, and Quality leaders across the US, UK, and Australia. Maintain alignment with customer needs and business priorities while providing stakeholders with clear visibility into plans, progress, risks, and outcomes.

Required Qualifications

- 15+ years in software engineering, including at least 5 years leading Engineering Managers or multiple engineering teams.

- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

- Proven experience leading product engineering teams in a SaaS environment managing multiple teams.

- Demonstrated success improving delivery, quality, and reliability using agile methodologies, DevOps practices, and engineering metrics.

- Hands-on experience driving practical AI tool adoption within engineering teams.

- Strong people leadership skills, including coaching leaders, building high-performing teams, and shaping organizational design.

- Experience collaborating with globally distributed Product, Engineering, and business stakeholders across multiple time zones.

- Customer-focused mindset with the ability to connect strategy to measurable business outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications and Benefits

- Experience building or scaling product and engineering teams in India for a global product company.

- Experience leading AI-enabled transformation in product development or engineering operations.

- Background in property management technology, student housing, or higher education is a plus.

StarRez offers a culture where employees belong, build, and grow. Many team members have been with the company for over 20 years, reflecting a strong people-first philosophy. Join a global team spanning Australia, the USA, the UK, and Canada, while helping to build the India center for Product & Technology.

We invest in long-term growth, combining the agility of a scaling SaaS company with the stability of industry leadership backed by Vista Equity Partners. Our culture—known as the Z-Factor—emphasizes passion, care, and high performance, fostering an environment where every team member can thrive.

StarRez is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes candidates who are excited about shaping product strategy, growing exceptional leaders, and building innovative products in a collaborative, high-impact environment.