Director of Software Engineering (Frontend experience) Remote

Progressive Leasing is a leading provider of in-store and e-commerce lease-to-own solutions. As an almost 20+ year old FinTech company that has gone from start-up to industry leader, we know how to innovate, simplify, and value all people. We are a company founded on our grit and we are constantly looking to the future. As an ever-evolving group of entrepreneurs and technologists, we strive to do the right thing period in all aspects of our work. We are a subsidiary of PROG Holdings (NYSE: PRG), an exciting FinTech holding company, with three business segments including Progressive, Vive Financial, and Four, a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) platform.

We are currently hiring a Director of Software Engineering (Frontend experience) to help grow our company and ensure our mission is achieved!      

This role is a work from home position and can be performed remotely anywhere in the continental US or from our corporate office in Utah. 

Employee Value Proposition (EVP): PROG is dedicated to providing people with opportunity; opportunity for inclusive collaboration, opportunity for innovation, and opportunity for development.  

We Are: Prog Tech is the driving force behind our company’s technological evolution. We are passionate problem solvers and technical experts, working together to deliver impactful solutions. We pride ourselves on craftsmanship, continuous improvement, and collaboration. Our culture encourages experimentation, learning from failures, and delivering meaningful outcomes.  

You Are: A motivated and experienced professional ready to take the next step in your technology career. As the Director of Software Engineering you'll be at the forefront of shaping and executing our frontend and mobile engineering strategy. You will lead the charge in driving technical innovation, scalability, and delivering world-class user experiences. This role demands a hands-on technical leader with in-depth expertise in modern front-end frameworks, scalable architectures, mobile development, and high-performance UI engineering. 

What You’ll Do: 

Leadership & Strategy 

• Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing frontend and mobile engineering team. 
• Define and drive the front-end engineering strategy, ensuring alignment with company goals. 
• Establish best practices, coding standards, and architecture guidelines for front-end development. 
• Own and manage budgets for front-end tools, licensing, and third-party integrations, ensuring cost-effective and high-impact technology choices. 
• Lead vendor management and negotiations, including UI frameworks, headless CMS platforms (ContentStack, Contentful, Sanity), and third-party services. 
• Drive cross-functional collaboration with Product, UX, and Backend teams to align engineering initiatives with business objectives. 

Technical Excellence & Innovation 

• Modernize the front-end stack, leading the transition from Angular to React.js, React Native, and Next.js. 
• Define and implement innovative frontend architectures, including BFF (Backend-for-Frontend), micro-frontends, and server-driven UI approaches. 
• Champion design systems, reusable component libraries, and scalable UI patterns, ensuring consistency across web and mobile applications. 
• Stay ahead of industry trends, leveraging AI-powered personalization, WebAssembly, GraphQL, and edge computing to enhance user experience. 
• Explore and integrate emerging frontend technologies to future-proof applications, such as AR/VR, voice interfaces, and AI-driven UX. 

Data-Driven Decision Making 

• Leverage user research, A/B testing, and behavioral analytics to make data-driven frontend decisions that improve UX and conversion rates. 
• Implement performance monitoring, analytics tools (e.g., Mixpanel, Amplitude, Segment), and real-time insights to continuously optimize customer experiences. 
• Scaling, Performance & Optimization 
• Architect, mentor, and help build enterprise-level frontend and mobile solutions that scale to millions of users. 
• Optimize applications for performance, security, and usability across various devices and platforms. 
• Implement progressive enhancement strategies, lazy loading, SSR, ISR, and CDN optimizations for high-performance frontend delivery. 
• Ensure frontend and mobile applications meet accessibility (WCAG/ADA) and security (OAuth, CSP, CORS) compliance. 

Scaling, Performance & Optimization 

• Architect, mentor, and help build enterprise-level frontend and mobile solutions that scale to millions of users. 
• Optimize applications for performance, security, and usability across various devices and platforms. 
• Implement progressive enhancement strategies, lazy loading, SSR, ISR, and CDN optimizations for high-performance frontend delivery. 
• Ensure frontend and mobile applications meet accessibility (WCAG/ADA) and security (OAuth, CSP, CORS) compliance. 

Qualifications & Experience

Experience & Leadership

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 5+ years leading engineering teams across front-end and mobile development. 
• Proven track record of hiring, mentoring, and scaling high-impact engineering teams. 
• Experience owning and delivering enterprise-grade front-end and mobile applications serving millions of customers. 
• Strong ability to collaborate with business and technical stakeholders, influencing frontend technology decisions across the company. 
• Budgeting & Vendor Management: Experience managing frontend technology budgets, licensing costs, and vendor negotiations for UI frameworks, CMS platforms, and third-party integrations. 

Frontend & Mobile Expertise: 

• Frontend Architecture & Development: Deep expertise in React.js, Next.js, TypeScript, and React Native, with knowledge of Angular for transitional support. 

• State Management & API Design: Proficiency in Redux, React Query, Zustand, GraphQL (Apollo, URQL), WebSocket, and RESTful API integrations. 

• Mobile Engineering Leadership: Experience leading React Native teams and working with native development (Swift/Kotlin) as needed. 

• Performance & Optimization: Mastery of SSR, ISR, SSG, lazy loading, bundling (e.g., Webpack, Vite, ESBuild), tree-shaking, and CDN strategies. 

• Security & Compliance: Expertise in frontend security best practices (OAuth, JWT, CSP, CORS) and mobile security (OWASP Mobile Top 10, certificate pinning, Secure Enclaves). 

• CI/CD & Automation: Experience with GitHub Actions, Fastlane (mobile CI/CD), Firebase App Distribution, Jest, Cypress, and Detox for automated testing. 

Methodologies & Architecture: 

• Strong advocate for micro-frontends (Webpack Module Federation, Single-Spa), monorepos (Nx, Turborepo), and scalable frontend patterns. 

• Agile mindset with experience in Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps-driven engineering cultures. 

• Familiarity with server-side rendering, edge computing (Cloudflare Workers, Vercel), and API-driven architectures. 

Data-Driven UX & Analytics: 

• Strong understanding of user research, A/B testing methodologies, and behavioral analytics to drive UX and conversion improvements. 

• Experience working with tools like Heap Analytics, Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, Segment, and Hotjar to analyze user interactions and inform design decisions. 

Content Management & Personalization: 

• Experience integrating headless CMS platforms like ContentStack, Contentful, Sanity, or Strapi into React-based frontend architectures. 

• Strong understanding of GraphQL-based CMS APIs, real-time content updates, and multi-platform content syndication. 

Nice-to-Have: 

Industry & Product Experience: 

• Experience in E-commerce (scalable UIs, personalized experiences), Fintech (secure, high-performance apps), and SaaS (multi-tenant enterprise apps with complex UI interactions). 

• Proven track record of leading digital transformations and modernizing front-end stacks. 

Advanced Technical Knowledge: 

• Familiarity with backend technologies (Node.js, Nest.js, Next.js, microservices) to collaborate effectively with backend teams. 

• Experience working with WebAssembly (Wasm), WebGL, or AI-driven UI personalization. 

• Experience integrating AI-powered UX, AR/VR experiences, and voice interfaces into frontend applications. 

Mobile-Specific Expertise: 

• Exposure to native mobile development (Swift, Kotlin, Objective-C, Jetpack Compose, SwiftUI). 

• Experience with App Store & Play Store release processes, OTA updates (CodePush, Expo EAS, AppCenter). 

• Expertise in deep linking (AppsFlyer, Firebase Dynamic Links, Branch.io) and mobile analytics (Segment, Mixpanel, Amplitude). 

Futureproofing & Innovation: 

• Passion for exploring emerging front-end technologies that enhance scalability, performance, and user engagement. 

• Experience driving technical innovation beyond industry trends, including AI-powered UI personalization, edge computing, and immersive UI experiences. 

Accessibility & Compliance: 

• Deep understanding of WCAG, ADA compliance, ARIA roles, and mobile accessibility guidelines. 

• Experience with voice interfaces, gesture-based navigation, and inclusive UI design. 

Progressive Leasing welcomes and encourages diversity in the workplace. We do not discriminate in any aspect of employment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, age, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local employment discrimination laws where Progressive Leasing does business.