Director - R&D

**Leadership** * Develop and maintain comprehensive **internal and external product roadmaps** for each product line, aligning with overall business goals and customer needs. * Collaborate with stakeholders to **build compelling business cases** for product modernization initiatives, including cost-benefit analysis, ROI forecasting, and risk assessment. * Continuously assess market trends, customer feedback, and competitive positioning to inform roadmap prioritization and strategic investments. * **Lead the analysis, planning, and implementation of AI solutions as part of the overall R&D and business strategy,** identifying opportunities where artificial intelligence can drive innovation, improve product performance, and enhance customer experience across all product lines.Lead * **monthly and annual R&D financial forecasting**, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and budgetary expectations. * Prepare and deliver presentations for **monthly BURC (Business Unit Review Calls)** and the **annual BUSR (Business Unit Strategic Review)**. * Oversee and validate **monthly salary reconciliations** for all R&D personnel. * Collaborate with the Finance team by providing insights and context for **monthly financial executive summaries**, including explanations of **forecasting variances**. * Ensure timely and accurate **upload of monthly R&D task data** to corporate systems. * Actively participate in **weekly leadership calls**, contributing to strategic discussions and cross-functional alignment. * Collaborate with Sales/Marketing to determine ongoing pricing and packaging model for all products * Assist KPMG with compiling and vetting all qualified R&D activities annually to submit for R&D shred tax credits **People Leader** * Conduct **weekly meetings with R&D teams** across each product line to understand current challenges, provide support, and assist in issue triage and resolution. * Design and implement **regular cross-training sessions** to broaden developer expertise across multiple product lines, enabling greater flexibility and resource coverage within the business unit. * Ensure each development team is equipped with the necessary tools to maintain a **centralized, secure, and backed-up code repository** that is easily accessible by authorized developers. * Establish and enforce **robust procedures** for source code management, including branch maintenance, staged testing, and orderly deployment processes to support **defect-free releases**. * Oversee the implementation and ongoing monitoring of **security and encryption protocols** for all **web-based products**, ensuring data integrity and compliance with industry standards. * Ensure all products that handle **online payment transactions** meet **PCI compliance** standards, including successful completion of quarterly **PCI security scans and testing**.