The Opportunity
Banyan Software acquires, builds, and grows great software companies for the long term. Across our portfolio of 100+ operating companies, many run on proven but aging codebases—15 to 25 years old—increasingly at odds with what modern customers expect: cloud-native, mobile-first, always-on SaaS.
The AI Factory is Banyan’s centralized application modernization engine—using AI-powered discovery, verification-first engineering, and an integrated delivery model to rewrite legacy applications into modern platforms in 15–25 weeks (vs. the traditional 2–5 years). This is a Banyan-funded program purpose-built for our operating companies, and it is already live.
The Director of AI will lead this program across its full scope—sitting at the intersection of product strategy, field engineering, and platform operations—with an outsized influence on how Banyan’s portfolio evolves over the next decade. The boundaries of this role are yours to define.
Three Pillars of Leadership
Pillar 1 AI Factory Product Team
- Own the strategic direction and delivery cadence of the core product team—developers, team lead, and AI-powered tooling.
- Drive the product roadmap and continuously evolve factory capabilities based on field learnings.
Pillar 2 Forward Deployed Engineering
- Build, lead, and scale the FDE team from the ground up. FDEs embed directly with OpCo engineering teams to drive modernization, upskill developers on AI-assisted workflows, and ensure clean knowledge transfer.
- You will recruit the first FDEs, author the engagement playbook, and run initial transformations as a player-coach.
Pillar 3 Cloud Operations & Platform Automation
- Oversee the operational infrastructure underpinning every modernized application—multi-cloud architecture, CI/CD automation, observability, security, and resiliency engineering—ensuring the operational backbone scales across an expanding portfolio.
What You Will Do
Program Strategy & Execution
- Own the AI Factory’s end-to-end program lifecycle across its 9-phase modernization process—from harvesting through production launch and customer migration.
- Define and track program-level KPIs, velocity metrics, and business-value outcomes; translate technical progress into executive-ready language for OpCo CEOs and Banyan leadership.
- Continuously refine the factory’s operating model based on field learnings, feeding insights back into tooling, process, and architecture.
Forward Deployed Engineering
- Recruit, hire, and develop the FDE team; define the FDE role, career path, and engagement model.
- Author the FDE playbook: engagement kickoff, stakeholder alignment, technical assessment, embedded delivery, knowledge transfer, and OpCo handoff.
- Personally lead early FDE engagements—embedding with operating company teams, earning trust through technical credibility, and driving adoption of AI-assisted workflows.
People & Operations
- Manage and mentor direct reports across the FDE team and the supporting Project Manager / Scrum Master.
- Build a culture of ownership, velocity, and craftsmanship. Drive the MACROSS framework (Maintainability, Adaptability, Cost Accountability, Reliability, Observability, Scalability, Security) as the decision-making lens for every engagement.
Stakeholder & Executive Engagement
- Present to and align with OpCo CEOs, CTOs, and product leaders during kickoffs, weekly syncs, and milestone reviews.
- Partner with Banyan’s VP of Engineering and executive leadership to shape the AI Factory’s strategic roadmap, investment priorities, and portfolio expansion plan.
Who You Are
Non-Negotiable Attributes
- Entrepreneurial Ownership: You treat this program as your own business—identifying problems, proposing solutions, and executing without waiting for direction. You’ve built something from scratch or turned around a failing initiative and can articulate P&L-level thinking.
- Influence Without Authority: You walk into established teams with no formal power and redirect technical direction through credibility, trust, and persuasion. You earn followership by rolling up your sleeves and shipping alongside the team.
- Hands-On Technical Depth: You write production code, architect cloud-native solutions, set up CI/CD pipelines, and debug complex integration issues. You currently code—not “used to code.”
- Ambiguity Tolerance: You thrive without a playbook, then codify your learnings into one. You’ve entered undefined roles and created clarity.
- Resilience & Pivot Ability: You’ve had projects fail, changed course rapidly, and talk about failure without defensiveness.
Critical Competencies
- Cloud-Native & Modernization: Deep practical experience with re-platforming, microservices, cloud-native patterns (AWS/Azure), IaC, and DevSecOps. You can describe a specific migration—before, after, and what broke.
- AI-Assisted SDLC Fluency: You use AI-assisted dev tools (Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot) daily and can train others. You know where AI accelerates and where it creates risk.
- Structured Problem Decomposition: You approach complex, ambiguous problems with frameworks—breaking modernization challenges into workable components, thinking in hypotheses.
- Technical-to-Business Translation: You translate AI and engineering concepts into business value and ROI. You’ve presented to executives on technical topics.
- Change Management Execution: You drive change through to adoption—understanding resistance, skill gaps, and the politics of technical transformation.
- Metrics & ROI Orientation: You define success in measurable terms: velocity, value delivered, and business impact—not just story points.
Qualifications
Required
- 10+ years of progressive software engineering experience, with at least 3 years spanning both technical delivery and program management.
- Demonstrated experience leading application modernization, re-platforming, or digital transformation—ideally in a multi-product or multi-company environment.
- Proven ability to embed with or lead cross-functional engineering teams without formal authority.
- Hands-on proficiency with cloud-native architectures (AWS, Azure, or GCP), CI/CD tooling, infrastructure as code, and DevSecOps practices.
- Experience building teams, processes, and playbooks from scratch in a high-growth or startup-like setting.
- Strong executive communication skills with a track record of presenting to C-level stakeholders.
Preferred
- Experience in forward-deployed engineering, professional services, or embedded consulting.
- Background in private equity portfolio operations, multi-entity software, or vertical-market software.
- Familiarity with AI-assisted software development practices.