SVP Director Application Development (Information Technology)

Wintrust is a financial holding company with approximately $62 billion in assets whose common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market. Guided by its “Different Approach, Better Results” philosophy, Wintrust offers the sophisticated resources of a large bank while providing a community banking experience to each customer. Wintrust operates more than 200 retail banking locations through 16 community bank subsidiaries in the greater Chicago, southern Wisconsin, west Michigan, northwest Indiana, and southwest Florida market areas. In addition, Wintrust operates various non-bank business units, providing residential mortgage origination, wealth management, commercial and life insurance premium financing, short-term accounts receivable financing/outsourced administrative services to the temporary staffing services industry, and qualified intermediary services for tax-deferred exchanges. Our unique business model is a competitive strength and value driver, powered by our talented colleagues who put our customers first and achieve better results for our clients.

Why join us?

• An award-winning culture! We are rated a Top Workplace by the Chicago Tribune (past 8 years) and Employee Recommended award by the Globe & Mail (past 6 years)
• Competitive pay and discretionary or incentive bonus eligible
• Comprehensive benefit package including medical, dental, vision, life, a 401k plan with a generous company match and tuition reimbursement to name a few
• Promote from within culture

Why join this team?

• Exposure to domestic and international business challenges
• Opportunity to work with a wide variety of businesses partners
• Opportunity to have an impact at all levels of Wintrust's business lines
• We hold ourselves accountable to high standards, share wins, operate ethically, and have fun

Position Summary:

The Director of Application Development is responsible for leading the App\Dev software engineering team including managers, engineers, and architects to deliver high-quality software products. Including, managing the App\Dev strategy while collaborating closely with senior leadership on prioritization and the future App\Dev roadmap. Drive technical direction and delivery execution, ensuring engineering excellence across teams in coding practices, continuous integration, automated testing, etc. Optimize the use of on-prem & cloud services and other resources to maximize ROI and efficiencies.  Create and maintain an environment that drives innovation and challenges the team to explore and experiment with new ideas and technologies to provide the organization with competitive advantages. Foster an environment of acceptance and respect that strengthens relationships and builds trust.

What you'll do:

• Technology Leadership: Lead and inspire a high-performing App\Dev engineering team responsible for building and maintaining the digital technology suite using modern and cloud native technologies.
• Agile Product Delivery: Champion an agile product operating model, working with product management and scrum teams to continuously deliver customer-centric features and enhancements.
• Platform Management: Ensure the digital platforms operate with high availability, scalability, and security, leveraging modern and cloud-native solutions and infrastructure.
• Innovation & Optimization: Stay ahead of industry trends and emerging technologies to continuously improve the customer experience, increase App\Dev performance, and optimize for local and mobile experiences.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Ability to influence and collaborate with Blis Officers and other stakeholders across business to ensure alignment on goals, timelines, and delivery expectations. Can communicate complex messages and highly technical information to all levels.
• Technical Governance: Uphold best practices for software development, quality assurance, and operational excellence to ensure technology investments are maximized and deliver business value.
• Team Leadership: Attract and retain talent; drive performance through people engagement; cultivating an environment which supports growth, continual feedback, and inclusion.
• Influence and lead the App\Dev strategy, organization and value delivery, in alignment with product roadmap and technology direction.
• Lead a highly performant App\Dev technology organization, growing and developing competencies and skills of team members, with focus on developing future leaders and fostering innovation.
• Partner with senior leadership to establish and communicate a strategic vision for App\Dev.
• Plan and manage the App\Dev budget and vendor relationships, including contract usage, renewal, and other governance activities.
• Manage the successful resolution of customer issues, including those involving competing demands, and conflicts within the organization.
• Deeply understand business and technology stakeholders' requirements to influence product roadmaps, drive agile delivery and manage clear and consistent stakeholder communication.
• Work with product leaders to define the strategy, roadmap and destination architecture, helping establish a product mindset within the organization and business partners.
• Manage a portfolio of diverse technology platforms and projects to build scalable applications that meet our customer needs, including to continuously improve software engineering practices.
• Work within and across Agile teams to design, develop, test, implement, and support technical solutions across a full stack of development tools and technologies.
• Bring a passion to stay on top of tech trends, experiment with and learn new technologies, participate in internal & external technology communities, and mentor other members of the engineering community.
• Encourage innovation, implementation of cutting-edge technologies, inclusion, outside-of-the-box thinking, teamwork, self-organization, and diversity.
• Fosters a positive and engaging environment by building strong relationships, influencing others effectively, and creating meaningful connections with team members and stakeholders.

Qualifications:

• 5 plus years in a Banking or financial services environment.
• Experience running and maintaining a 24x7 production computing environment.
• Strong App\Dev experience with the ability to solve for current and future business needs and technological developments.
• Managing Offshore 24x7 resources
• Cloud hosting – transitioning applications
• Security Operations
• Release Management
• Management of IT budgets
• Works well in a fast growing environment with the ability to deliver on time. Exhibit a strong ability to handle multiple demands with a sense of urgency, drive, and energy. Flexibility and adaptability to changing needs and demands dictated by business and IT requirements.
• Proven record of accomplishment in project and change management.
• Exhibit a technical expertise balanced by strategic acumen and vision.
• Act as a change agent with a capacity to successfully manage and measure progress.
• Have a capacity to translate highly technical issues into business parlance and outline their business implications.
• Demonstrate influencing skills and ability for the data strategy throughout all of Wintrust
• People recruitment, development and management
• Must be self-directed, have excellent initiative and organization skills
• Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Experience in presenting material to senior and executive management
• Proven track record of meeting commitments with the highest standards of ethics and integrity

Benefits:

Medical Insurance • Dental • Vision • Life insurance • Accidental death and dismemberment • Short-term and long-term Disability Insurance • Parental Leave • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) • Traditional and Roth 401(k) with company match • Flexible Spending Account (FSA) • Employee Stock Purchase Plan at 5% discount • Critical Illness Insurance • Accident Insurance • Transportation and Commuting Benefits • Banking Benefits • Pet Insurance

Compensation:

The estimated salary range for this role is $203,000.00 - $274,000.00, along with eligibility to earn an annual bonus. Actual salaries may vary based on several factors, such as a candidate's qualifications, skills and experience.

#LI-Hybrid

From our first day in business, Wintrust has been proud to serve a variety of unique communities and people from all walks of life. To be Chicago's Bank® and Wisconsin's Bank®, we need to reflect that diversity both in all the communities we serve, the people we employ, the organizations we work with, and our banking and lending practices. Wintrust Financial Corporation, including community banking and financial services subsidiaries, is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and expressions, genetic information, marital status, age, disability, or status as a covered veteran or any other characteristic protected by law.