Populus is an amazing company where our employees stay because they love their teams and the growth opportunities. Additionally, we offer a competitive 401K match, a generous paid time off package, and Health Benefits.
Our mission is to provide a broad range of quality financial products and services delivered with best-in-class customer service. We work and lead with integrity, and we celebrate employees who exemplify our values. Come join our team!
Job Summary
The CTO, Vice President of Technology and Delivery is a senior technology executive reporting to the Chief Information Officer and accountable for end-to-end software delivery across the enterprise. This leader owns the full software development life cycle (SDLC), including technology strategy, solution architecture, application development, DevOps, quality assurance, release management, and engineering delivery practices that enable secure, scalable, resilient, and high-quality business capabilities. This role also brings expertise in artificial intelligence (AI) and the practical application of AI-enabled tools, platforms, and engineering practices to improve developer productivity, streamline workflows, accelerate delivery, and enhance solution quality.
Secondarily, this role establishes the technology direction, operating model, governance, and talent strategy required to modernize platforms, accelerate delivery, improve engineering quality, and strengthen business alignment. The CTO partners closely with the CIO and executive leadership team to translate strategic priorities into technology roadmaps, execution plans, and measurable outcomes while building a high-performing organization focused on innovation, reliability, speed, and continuous improvement. This leader is also expected to champion the responsible adoption of AI across the software delivery lifecycle, identifying opportunities to use AI to automate routine tasks, reduce cycle times, improve decision-making, and increase the speed and effectiveness of technology delivery.
Major Responsibilities
- Serve as a senior technology executive reporting to the Chief Information Officer, leading enterprise software engineering and delivery strategy in alignment with business priorities.
- Own and govern the full software development life cycle (SDLC), including portfolio planning, requirements collaboration, solution architecture, application development, quality assurance, release management, DevOps, production readiness, and continuous improvement.
- Lead Architecture, Application Development, DevOps, and Quality Assurance functions, establishing a unified operating model that improves speed, quality, security, resiliency, and predictability of delivery.
- Define enterprise engineering standards, reference architectures, development practices, testing frameworks, and CI/CD controls that support scalable, maintainable, and compliant technology solutions.
- Partner with the CIO, product, operations, infrastructure, security, and business leaders to translate company strategy into technology roadmaps, prioritized delivery plans, investment recommendations, and measurable outcomes.
- Establish governance for software delivery, including intake, prioritization, architecture review, release approvals, quality gates, operational readiness, and post-implementation measurement.
- Drive modern engineering practices such as Agile delivery, DevOps, test automation, observability, environment management, and platform enablement to improve throughput and reduce delivery risk.
- Ensure solutions are designed and delivered with appropriate security, privacy, resiliency, business continuity, and regulatory considerations in partnership with enterprise security and risk leaders.
- Build and develop a high-performing leadership team across architecture, engineering, DevOps, and QA; establish clear accountability, succession planning, talent strategies, and performance expectations.
- Oversee vendor, partner, and platform relationships that support software delivery, including evaluation of capabilities, service quality, contractual outcomes, and cost effectiveness.
- Manage budgets, staffing models, and investment tradeoffs for delivery organizations, balancing innovation, modernization, technical debt reduction, and operational stability.
- Communicate technology strategy, delivery performance, key risks, and major initiatives to executive leadership, providing transparency into progress, dependencies, and decisions required.
Key Competencies
- Executive leadership across architecture, application development, DevOps, and quality assurance
- Strong command of end-to-end SDLC governance, engineering operations, and software delivery metrics
- Strategic planning and roadmap development aligned to enterprise and business objectives
- Ability to build high-performing technical organizations and develop senior engineering leaders
- Expertise in modern engineering practices including Agile, CI/CD, test automation, and release governance
- Executive communication and influence across business, technology, and governance stakeholders
- Operational discipline with strong focus on quality, resiliency, security, and continuous improvement
Interactions
Direct Report Title
- VP Application Development: 1
- Architect, Lead: 1
- QA, Manager: 1
Indirect Report Title
- Sr. Architect: 2
- Architect Contractors: 2
- Director, Application Development: 1
- Manager, Application Development: 2
- Software Developer: 30
- Development Contractors: 10
- QA Analyst: 6
- QA Contractors: 2
Other Internal/External Interactions
- Executive Management Team
- Other Departments
Physical Demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the major responsibilities.
While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand or walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; stoop or bend; and talk or hear. The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 lbs.
Position Type/Expected Hours of Work
This is a full-time position, days and hours of work are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This position might require long hours and weekend work.
Travel
N/A
Work Environment
The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The noise level in some work environments can be moderate.
Disclaimer
The above information on this description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted, as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.
EEO Statement
Populus Financial Group, Inc. provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.
Preferred
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15 year(s): Progressive technology leadership experience, including senior accountability for enterprise application development, software architecture, DevOps, quality assurance, and delivery governance.
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Proven experience serving as a senior technology executive reporting to a CIO or equivalent executive leader, with demonstrated success leading large-scale software delivery organizations.
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Demonstrated success owning the full SDLC and delivering complex enterprise platforms from strategy through implementation, production support, modernization, and continuous improvement.
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Deep expertise in modern software engineering practices, including Agile delivery, API and integration architecture, cloud and platform engineering, CI/CD, test automation, release management, and observability.
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Strong leadership presence with the ability to influence executive stakeholders, align cross-functional teams, and drive accountability across business and technology organizations.
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Experience leading organizational design, talent development, succession planning, and performance management for managers, architects, engineers, DevOps, and QA teams.
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Strong financial and operational acumen with experience managing budgets, vendor partnerships, delivery tradeoffs, and investment decisions.
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Excellent judgment, communication, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, highly regulated, and transformation-oriented environment.
Preferred
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Bachelor's Degree or better in Information Technology or related field
Equal Opportunity Employer
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster) notice from the Department of Labor.
