Director of R&D - Content & Aggregation
Aristocrat GamingWe’re looking for a passionate and experienced R&D Director to lead the technology organization behind Aristocrat Interactive’s Content & Aggregation business - a global platform connecting in-house and 3rd-party game providers with Tier 1 operators and internal business units such as iLottery and iGaming.
This is a key leadership position responsible for driving innovation, technology excellence, processes and methodologies, and operational scalability across Development, QA, DevOps, and DBA teams located in Sofia and India. Ideal candidate leads effectively, highly organized, strategic thinker, tech-passionate, thrives in Agile.
What You'll Do
Leadership & Strategy
- Lead the global R&D organization for the C&A BU, overseeing Development, Customization, QA,QA Automation, DevOps, and Database teams.
- Define and implement the R&D strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals and growth objectives.
- Develop, mentor, and expand high-performing multi-functional teams across Sofia and India.
- Partner with Product, Delivery, Operations, and Commercial teams to ensure seamless execution and high-quality delivery.
Technology & Delivery
- Support the design and evolution of a scalable, secure, and high-performance platform serving top-tier global operators, to be developed by our A-LABs Division.
- Cultivate engineering excellence by incorporating Agile methodologies, automation, CI/CD pipelines, and DevOps strategies.
- Ensure reliability, uptime, and performance across multiple regulated markets and environments (15-20 sites across on-prem and cloud infrastructure).
- Drive innovation by evaluating and adopting SOA technologies and architectural approaches.
- Ensure smooth processes during third-party API integrations and platform extensions.
- Supervise the integration of user-facing elements developed by front-end developers with server-side logic.
- Promote the creation of reusable code libraries and frameworks to support future scalability.
- Ensure implementation of security, data protection, and compliance standards.
- Manage the development and improvement of data storage and database solutions.
- Work closely with all relevant internal and external collaborators, including technology partners and service providers.
Operational Excellence
- Lead R&D budgets, resources, and capacity planning effectively.
- Maintain a solid focus on system reliability, operational efficiency, and regulatory compliance.
- Ensure smooth collaboration and communication across global engineering teams.
What We're Looking For
- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field.
- 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in a senior technology leadership role.
- Proven track record leading distributed engineering teams (Dev, QA, DevOps, DBA).
- Profound knowledge of Agile methodologies, CI/CD, and cloud technology.
- Experience in iGaming or other high-availability transactional platforms is a strong advantage.
- Solid grasp of software architecture, scalability, and performance optimization.
Technical Expertise (Preferred)
- Solid background in .NET Framework (MVC, Web API, Entity Framework) and .NET 6 for building and maintaining high-performance C# applications.
- Proficient in API programming and third-party integrations.
- Understanding of Mediator Pattern and CQRS principles to support scalable and organized application design.
- Skilled with MS SQL Server (schemas, stored procedures, triggers, indexes) and database performance tuning.
- Experience in unit testing, OOP design principles, and best coding practices.
- Familiarity with front-end technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS, and Angular.
- Solid understanding of networks, privacy measures, and secure software development principles.
Skills & Attributes
- Creative problem solver with a robust technical foundation and meticulousness.
- Outstanding leadership, communication, and collaborator coordination skills.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a focus on achieving outcomes.
- Passionate about technology, innovation, and building world-class teams.
- Excellent spoken and written English.
- Willingness to travel occasionally to other Aristocrat offices or partner sites.
Travel Expectations
NoneAdditional Information
This role is subject to mandatory background screening and regulatory approvals. As part of your employment with Aristocrat, you may be required to complete a criminal background check, submit fingerprints, and obtain licenses or registrations with applicable gaming regulatory authorities.
Aristocrat operates in a highly regulated environment and holds licenses in over 340 gaming jurisdictions worldwide. To meet our global compliance obligations, you will be required to provide the disclosure of relevant personal and background information to government agencies, sovereign nations/tribal regulators, and other applicable gaming regulatory bodies. This is a condition of Aristocrat’s gaming licenses. The specific information required may vary depending on the jurisdiction and project assignment.
At this time, we are unable to sponsor work visas for this position. Candidates must be authorized to work in the job posting location for this position on a full-time basis without the need for current or future visa sponsorship.