Director of Software Engineering
Toyota North America · Plano, TX
- On site
- Full-time
- $200,000 / year
- Plano, TX
Job highlights
- Lead software engineering for critical digital platforms.
- Define and evolve platform architecture and quality.
- Partner with leaders on business and technical alignment.
- Build and scale high-performing engineering teams.
- Drive adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices.
About the role
Overview
Collaborative. Respectful. A place to dream and do. These are just a few words that describe what life is like at Toyota. As one of the world’s most admired brands, Toyota is growing and leading the future of mobility through innovative, high-quality solutions designed to enhance lives and delight those we serve. We’re looking for talented team members who want to Dream. Do. Grow. with us.
An important part of the Toyota family is Toyota Financial Services (TFS), the finance and insurance brand for Toyota and Lexus in North America. While TFS is a separate business entity, it is an essential part of this world-changing company- delivering on Toyota's vision to move people beyond what's possible. At TFS, you will help create best-in-class customer experience in an innovative, collaborative environment.
To save time applying, Toyota does not offer sponsorship of job applicants for employment-based visas or any other work authorization for this position at this time.
This position is based in Plano, TX.
Who We’re Looking For
Toyota Financial Services is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to provide strategic and execution leadership across critical digital platforms, including Dealer, Origination, Pricing, and Incentives. This role partners closely with Product, Architecture, and Business leaders to define technical direction, scale engineering capabilities, and deliver resilient, high‑impact solutions that directly support Toyotaʼs digital and financial services growth.
The ideal candidate is a strong engineering leader with deep technical credibility, a systems mindset, and a proven ability to build high‑performing teams while driving enterprise‑scale outcomes.
What You’ll Be Doing
- Own engineering strategy, delivery outcomes, and technical excellence across multiple teams and domains.
- Define and evolve platform architecture, quality standards, and operational maturity for dealer‑ and consumer‑critical systems.
- Lead the design and evolution of scalable, secure, resilient, and fault‑tolerant architectures, leveraging modern cloud‑native patterns.
- Partner with Product, UX, Data, Security, and Infrastructure leaders to ensure tight alignment between business priorities and technical execution.
- Drive adoption of event‑driven and API‑first architectures to support pricing, credit, incentives, and lifecycle workflows.
- Oversee AWS platform strategy including multi‑account architecture, networking, security, compliance, and cost optimization.
- Establish governance for API standards, system contracts, integration patterns, and domain boundaries across Toyota platforms.
- Champion operational excellence, including observability, resiliency, disaster recovery, and production readiness.
- Build, mentor, and scale high‑performing engineering teams and leadership bench, fostering a strong engineering culture.
- Lead and influence the adoption of AI‑assisted engineering practices (e.g., Copilot, automation) to improve productivity and quality.
- Ensure systems support automotive digital journeys, including VDP, PreQual, Credit, Funding, and Incentives.
What You Bring
- Bachelorʼs degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (Masterʼs preferred).
- 12+ years of software engineering experience, with significant experience leading large, complex engineering organizations.
- Proven success delivering enterprise‑scale, cloud‑native platforms in highly available, regulated environments.
- Strong background in Java‑based microservices and distributed systems.
- Deep experience with AWS (multi‑account strategy, VPC, IAM, security, compliance, SOX considerations).
- Hands‑on understanding of event‑driven architectures (Kafka, SNS, SQS) and high‑volume data flows.
- Expertise in observability and production health, leveraging tools such as Splunk and Dynatrace.
- Strong communication and leadership skills, with the ability to align technical strategy to business outcomes.
- Experience building and scaling engineering teams, developing leaders, and driving cross‑functional collaboration.
- UI / Experience Awareness: Provides strategic oversight of consumer and dealer digital experiences, ensuring backend platforms effectively support UI needs (VDP, PreQual, Credit, Funding).
- Partners with UX and Frontend leaders to align API design, performance, and data contracts with user‑experience requirements.
- Ensures platform decisions support frontend scalability, responsiveness, and reliability.
- Data Awareness Guides architectural decisions around data flow, ownership, and lifecycle across services.
- Ensures alignment with enterprise data platforms, analytics, and reporting needs.
- Understands how operational and product data supports decision‑making, observability, and business insights.
Added Bonus If You Have
- Experience supporting automotive, financial services, or dealer‑centric digital ecosystems.
- Background in pricing, credit decisioning, incentives, or origination platforms.
- AWS Solutions Architect (Associate or Professional) certification.
- Experience driving enterprise modernization initiatives or large‑scale platform transformations.
- Demonstrated success implementing AI‑enabled engineering practices at scale.
What We’ll Bring
During your interview process, our team can fill you in on all the details of our industry-leading benefits and career development opportunities.
A Few Highlights Include
- A work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect.
- Professional growth and development programs to help advance your career, as well as tuition reimbursement.
- Team Member Vehicle Purchase Discount.
- Toyota Team Member Lease Vehicle Program (if applicable).
- Comprehensive health care and wellness plans for your entire family.
- Toyota 401(k) Savings Plan featuring a company match, as well as an annual retirement contribution from Toyota regardless of whether you contribute.
- Paid holidays and paid time off.
- Referral services related to prenatal services, adoption, childcare, schools, and more.
- Tax advantaged accounts (Health Savings Account, Health Care FSA, Dependent Care FSA).
Belonging at Toyota
Our success begins and ends with our people. We embrace all perspectives and value unique human experiences. Respect for all is our North Star. Toyota is proud to have 10+ different Business Partnering Groups across 100 different North American chapter locations that support team members’ efforts to dream, do and grow without questioning that they belong.
Applicants for our positions are considered without regard to race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, religion, military or veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by law.
Have a question, need assistance with your application or do you require any special accommodations? Please send an email to talent.acquisition@toyota.com.
Key skills/competency
- Director of Software Engineering
- Software Engineering Leadership
- Digital Platforms
- Cloud-Native Architectures
- AWS
- Java Microservices
- Event-Driven Architecture
- API Strategy
- Team Building
- AI-Assisted Engineering
Skills & topics
- Director of Software Engineering
- Software Engineering
- Engineering Management
- Team Leadership
- Cloud Computing
- AWS
- Microservices
- Java
- API
- DevOps
How to get hired
- Research Toyota's culture: Understand Toyota Financial Services' mission and values.
- Tailor your resume: Highlight 12+ years of experience in leading complex organizations and cloud-native platforms.
- Showcase AWS and Java expertise: Emphasize experience with AWS, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
- Prepare for behavioral questions: Be ready to discuss team leadership and cross-functional collaboration.
- Engage with the hiring team: Follow up with specific questions about the role and company.
Technical preparation
Behavioral questions
Frequently asked questions
- What are the key responsibilities for a Director of Software Engineering at Toyota Financial Services?
- The Director of Software Engineering at Toyota Financial Services is responsible for providing strategic and execution leadership across critical digital platforms like Dealer, Origination, Pricing, and Incentives. This includes owning engineering strategy, defining platform architecture, leading the design of scalable and resilient systems, partnering with other leaders, driving adoption of modern architectures like event-driven and API-first, overseeing AWS strategy, establishing governance, championing operational excellence, and building/scaling high-performing engineering teams.
- What qualifications are essential for the Director of Software Engineering role at Toyota?
- Essential qualifications include a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field (Master's preferred), 12+ years of software engineering experience with significant leadership of large, complex organizations, and proven success delivering enterprise-scale, cloud-native platforms in regulated environments. A strong background in Java-based microservices, distributed systems, and deep AWS experience (multi-account strategy, VPC, IAM, security, compliance, SOX) are also crucial.
- What kind of technical environment can I expect as Director of Software Engineering at Toyota?
- You can expect to work with modern cloud-native patterns on AWS, leveraging multi-account architectures, VPC, IAM, and focusing on security and compliance. The role involves driving event-driven and API-first architectures, using technologies like Kafka, SNS, and SQS for high-volume data flows. Observability and production health are key, with tools like Splunk and Dynatrace being important. Experience with Java-based microservices and distributed systems is foundational.
- How does Toyota Financial Services support career growth for its engineering leaders?
- Toyota Financial Services offers professional growth and development programs, including tuition reimbursement. They foster a work environment built on teamwork, flexibility, and respect, encouraging employees to 'Dream. Do. Grow.' There are opportunities to advance careers within the company and potentially lead large-scale platform transformations and modernization initiatives.
- What is the work arrangement and location for the Director of Software Engineering position?
- This position is based in Plano, TX. The job description implies an on-site or potentially hybrid work arrangement given the specific location, but it does not explicitly state the work arrangement.