Technical Director

About us

Appnovation is a global, full-service digital partner that combines Strategy, Experience & Design, Engineering and Managed Services. We build digital solutions that deliver real impact today and serve as foundations for future growth.  Bold ambition. Practical action. Endless possibilities.

About the Role

Appnovation is seeking a Technical Director to lead solutions architecture, delivery excellence, and AI-driven transformation across our Americas portfolio.

This is a senior leadership role with real ownership. You will be a technology leader for the majority of our Americas delivery portfolio, responsible for client outcomes, team performance, and the operational standards that keep a global consultancy running well.

• You have a solutions architecture background - you can design systems, lead pre-sales, scope engagements, and ensure technical quality from sprint zero through to delivery.
• You see delivery discipline as a competitive advantage, not overhead. You have strong views on agile maturity, sprint cadence, quality gates, and Jira/Confluence hygiene - and you've built or reformed these systems before.
• You're genuinely excited about AI and have moved beyond experimentation. You've operationalised AI tooling (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, AI-augmented QA, or similar) across real engineering teams at scale - not just run pilots.
• You communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both engineering teams and non-technical stakeholders, building consensus and driving decisions.
• You have experience presenting solutions to client architecture review teams and are comfortable estimating engagements at multiple levels with clear rationale.
• You're comfortable navigating ambiguity - fragmented requirements, evolving scopes, distributed teams across time zones - and you bring structure without rigidity.
• You take ownership of outcomes, not just deliverables. If a project is going off track, you see it early and act.
• You balance idealism with pragmatism, knowing when to advocate for the ideal solution and when to make strategic compromises.
• You lead people as well as technology - you're comfortable managing, mentoring, and growing an engineering team, and you care about the people as much as the platform.

A strong mix of the following skills will make you an excellent candidate:

• 10-15 years of experience in enterprise digital delivery, with a track record leading complex, multi-team technology programmes
• Solutions architecture experience - you've designed systems, led technical pre-sales, written proposals, and presented to client leadership
• Demonstrable experience operationalising AI tooling across engineering teams (not just personal use or R&D)
• Strong delivery management background - you've run or reformed a delivery function, PMO, or equivalent; you understand what good agile maturity looks like and how to get there
• Experience with modern web and cloud technologies including MACH architectures, headless CMS platforms, cloud-native infrastructure (AWS, GCP, or Azure), and CI/CD pipelines
• People leadership - you've managed engineering teams of meaningful size, handled performance, hiring, and career development
• Commercial awareness - you understand utilisation, margin, and how to grow accounts; you can have a commercial conversation with a client without needing someone from sales in the room
• Strong documentation skills: architecture diagrams, ADRs, technical specifications, and estimation rationale
• Pre-sales capability - scoping, estimation governance, RFP/proposal technical input, proof of concepts

Experience in the following areas is a plus:

• Cross-pod or cross-capability coordination experience - you've been the connective tissue between multiple technical teams or disciplines
• Experience setting and enforcing delivery standards across distributed teams (onshore/offshore models)
• Health-tech, financial services, or other compliance-heavy industry experience (HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2)
• CMS platform experience (Contentful, , , Strapi, or similar)
• DevOps and infrastructure-as-code experience (Terraform, Pulumi, Kubernetes)
• Experience with AI-powered client solutions - not just internal tooling but client-facing AI features and products
• Data integration experience including data pipelines, ETL/ELT, and cloud data warehouses
• Legacy system migration and modernisation experience

To help you self-select, here's what we're not looking for:

• Not another pure architect. We have deep technical architecture covered. This person needs to lead delivery and operations, not just design systems.
• Not an AI researcher. We need someone who operationalises AI adoption across teams, not someone who builds models or runs experiments.
• Not a hands-off manager. You must be willing to get into solutions, review architectures, join client calls, and lead from the front.
• Not reactive. This role is about building repeatable standards and processes that prevent problems, not responding to them after the fact.

What Appnovation Offers 

• Challenging and rewarding work with real impact
• Direct Access to Cutting-Edge AI Platforms
• Diverse and Inclusive Culture 
• Growth opportunities for personal and professional development
• A collaborative and innovative work environment where your ideas are valued
• Exposure to exciting projects and high-profile clients
• Supportive work environment with access to company leaders
• Hybrid working model
  

What Benefits Appnovation Has to offer

• Private Medical Insurance
• Dental Plan
• Registered Retirement Savings Plan
• Wellness Allowance
• ME Days
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Fertility and Menopause Leave