Technical Director - Mainframe AI Infrastructure

You'll own the technical strategy for AI-powered capabilities across Rocket Software's Mainframe product portfolio, partnering with Product and GTM teams to define what to build, quickly and safely, and measure real impact in customer outcomes. This is a hands-on, execution-first role for a product-minded engineering leader who is fluent in modern LLMs, algorithms, agent patterns, and what it takes to bring AI capabilities to production at scale for enterprise software customers., * Assist in defining the mainframe roadmap for AI-powered capabilities on Rocket's EVA platform, and translate it into clear plans, OKRs, and milestones for the Infrastructure Modernization Business Unit.

• Lead the architecture for LLM-powered and agentic systems, orchestration, tool/function calling, retrieval, database, networking, security and memory, for real-world product workflows.
• Deliver trusted, AI-native product experiences. Partner with engineering teams prioritize the highest-value use cases, break them into featured iterations, and launch experiences that are intuitive and powerful.
• Make safety, reliability, and measurability non-negotiable. Define success metrics and guardrails for AI systems and build the tooling to monitor and continuously improve them in production.
• Raise the bar on AI engineering craft. Build shared patterns, libraries, and best practices for prompts, evaluation, human-in-the-loop review, and observability that other teams can reuse; champion rigorous experimentation.
• Lead high-performing engineering teams (ICs and managers) through strong technical influence. Assist with hiring, development, and retention of high-performing, inclusive teams; set expectations, coach for impact, and create a culture of urgency, accountability, and psychological safety.
• Work closely with GTM, Support, and Customer Success to roll out new AI capabilities safely, enable the field, and close the loop between customer feedback, product decisions, and system improvements.
• Measure what matters. Own a clear scorecard for your area - adoption, activation, uplift vs. baselines, quality/satisfaction, AI system reliability, and developer velocity and use it to drive prioritization and investment decisions.
• Transform workflows by putting AI at the center, building smarter systems and ways of working from the ground up, and continuously experimenting with AI tools - testing, learning, and sharing insights.
• Provide technical leadership for complex projects involving Rocket and IBM. Ensure plans are achievable, technically sound, and provide the basis for strong ROI for Rocket.

• An experienced, product-minded engineering leader. ~15+ years in software engineering, including 15+ years leading multiple teams and managers building products in Cloud and Mainframe Environments.
• Hands-on with modern AI and agentic systems. Experience with LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, or agent frameworks; designing multi-step flows, tool calling, memory, evaluation, and safety guardrails.
• Previous experience with fast-paced environments engaging outside regular hours with remote first, global teams spanning multiple time zones.
• Experience operating in multi-product, multi-team environments where clear interfaces and ownership boundaries are critical.
• A deep systems and product thinker that can dive into architecture and data flows, but also reason from first principles about customer workflows, jobs-to-be-done, and where AI can produce step-change improvements vs. incremental shortcuts.
• Building high-performing, inclusive teams. You've hired and developed diverse engineering teams, grown new leaders, and created cultures where people do the best work of their careers while feeling respected and included.
• An exceptional collaborator and communicator with the ability to translate complex AI/ML and systems topics into clear narratives for non-technical partners; you influence peers and executives, drive alignment cross-functionally.
• Adaptable and resilient, demonstrating the ability to stay close to work, dive deep when needed, and lead other teams through ambiguity.
• Demonstrated experience of AI-first ways of working. Lead teams to use AI in day-to-day engineering development cycles and demonstrate you've experimented with or practiced fully agentic coding workflows.
• Responsible for actively exploring new AI tools and workflows, finding ways to make our teams work smarter and more efficient.
• Background combining experimentation platforms, offline evaluation, and human review loops to improve AI systems over time.

Annual salary range for this position is between $161,000.00 - $225,400.00 gross before taxes.

As part of our commitment to a safe and trustworthy workplace, we include background and reference checks in our hiring process. It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability. If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us! Companies around the world trust Rocket to solve their most complex business challenges by powering their critical infrastructure, business processes, and data. We help extend the value of these assets, enabling our customers to embrace the potential of cloud and mobile computing, advanced analytics, and the innovations of tomorrow. From the clothes we wear to the cars we drive, Rocket solutions power the back-end systems that thousands of brands rely on every day. At Rocket, software is about more than just code-it's about people. We are passionate problem-solvers, working to make a difference for others. Our foundation is built on empathy, humanity, trust, and love, and we strive to embody these core values in everything we do. Whether we're serving our customers, partners, or fellow Rocketeers, we are committed to treating everyone with the respect and care they deserve. Founded in 1990, Rocket Software is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, and has 20 offices worldwide, bringing people and technology together to build a better future.