How to hire a director of applications engineering

How to hire a director of applications engineering, step by step

Here's a step-by-step director of applications engineering hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a director of applications engineering job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new director of applications engineering
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the director of applications engineering you need to hire. Certain director of applications engineering roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A director of applications engineering's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, directors of applications engineering from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   Here's a comparison of director of applications engineering salaries for various roles:

   Type of Director Of Applications Engineering	Description	Hourly rate
   Director Of Applications Engineering	Architectural and engineering managers plan, direct, and coordinate activities in architectural and engineering companies.	$53-114
   Research And Development Director	A research and development director spearheads and oversees the research and development initiatives and projects in a company. It is their duty to set goals and guidelines, establish timelines and budgets, direct and manage different departments, liaise with internal and external parties, gather and analyze data to implement solutions against problem areas, and utilize expertise in developing strategies to optimize company operations... Show more	$45-96
   Research And Development Manager	A research and development manager is responsible for supervising project development procedures to support business operations and identify business opportunities that would pave the way for more revenue resources and profits. Research and development managers monitor the production plans from the conceptualization to the final outputs, inspecting inconsistencies and flaws in every phase and revising strategies as needed to achieve the required specifications and requirements... Show more	$37-83

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Application Engineering
   • Cloud
   • Software Development
   • Java
   • Infrastructure
   • Technical Support
   • SQL
   • Business Development
   • Application Development
   • R
   • Technical Documentation
   • Product Management
   • Linux
   • Pre Sales

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead and manage development teams to implement large-scale, web-base custom infrastructure.
   • Staff and manage development, QA, release engineering, and documentation.
   • Manage and coordinate all hardware/software engineering, installation, and service of HVAC temperature control system projects.
   • Increase sales of IP telephony and network infrastructure platforms while cultivating and nurturing joint business development efforts with Cisco.
   • Showcase emWare's technology with team of embed and Java web-client developers.
   • Introduce automation capabilities into QA that eliminate manual regression testing and reduce overall testing time.

   More director of applications engineering duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your director of applications engineering job description is a great way to entice the best and brightest candidates. A director of applications engineering salary can vary based on several factors:

   • Location. For example, directors of applications engineering' average salary in missouri is 40% less than in nevada.
   • Seniority. Entry-level directors of applications engineering earn 53% less than senior-level directors of applications engineering.
   • Certifications. A director of applications engineering with a few certifications under their belt will likely demand a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for a prestigious company or an exciting start-up can make a huge difference in a director of applications engineering's salary.

   Average director of applications engineering salary

   $164,007yearly

   $78.85 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level director of applications engineering salary

   $112,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 17, 2025

   Average director of applications engineering salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$201,542	$97
   2	New York	$159,675	$77
   3	Wisconsin	$157,442	$76
   4	Illinois	$148,140	$71
   5	Colorado	$141,910	$68
   6	Texas	$141,344	$68
   7	Utah	$139,394	$67
   8	North Carolina	$135,092	$65
   9	Florida	$135,084	$65
   10	Michigan	$133,670	$64

   Average director of applications engineering salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Rambus	$215,852	$103.78	2
   2	Synaptics	$210,499	$101.20	1
   3	Cadence Design Systems	$194,941	$93.72	20
   4	Infineon Technologies	$182,366	$87.68	10
   5	Synopsys	$170,080	$81.77	9
   6	ResMed	$164,625	$79.15	7
   7	Qorvo	$160,234	$77.04
   8	GlobalFoundries	$156,864	$75.42	24
   9	Luna	$156,611	$75.29
   10	Ansys	$156,117	$75.06
   11	Visa	$155,459	$74.74	17
   12	CDPHP	$150,845	$72.52
   13	Marriott International	$148,714	$71.50	70
   14	STANDARD HOLDING INC.	$144,657	$69.55
   15	Blue Cross & Blue Shield	$144,657	$69.55	6
   16	JLL	$142,022	$68.28	15
   17	HCSC	$126,901	$61.01	2

4. Writing a director of applications engineering job description

   A job description for a director of applications engineering role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a director of applications engineering job description:

   Director of applications engineering job description example

   Taking your career to the next level! We are looking for an enthusiastic Director of Application Engineering to work in our Chicago, IL or Evansville, IN offices, who has exceptional organizational and communication skills and thrives in a high paced environment. The successful candidate for this roll possesses an understanding of good internal and external client service and will become a part of a dynamic team.
   About MEI Since 1984 MEI has partnered with pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device companies to provide education to healthcare professionals and patients via speaker programs. MEI's solutions are designed to support the life sciences industry in the production of speaker programs that compliantly meet the business needs of the life sciences industry.
   ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTION The Director of Application Engineering is the leader of the application development and enterprise applications functions of the Technology Team. The role is responsible for the leading, managing, operating, and supporting all business and customer software, which includes Salesforce Sales, Experience, and Marketing Clouds, ERP/Finance, Mobile, IoT, Marketing, Compliance, Sales, Service, and other business functions. Reporting to the EVP of Technology, the role will lead teams of software developers at every level from entry level to experienced developers.
   The Director of Application Engineering will partner with the EVP of Technology in shaping an enterprise technology vision and will help execute on an applications strategy, establish goals, and prioritize technology initiatives. The Director will work with program and project leadership to improve business processes and technology that support business value across business and technical functions. The Director understands the underlying business processes within the organization to make recommendations on how to achieve long-term scalability, reduce operational cost, or better support the business. The Director focuses on delivering outstanding client service, advises on evolving ways to solve problems through advanced technology, leads a highly technical team, and builds trusted relationships.
   The successful candidate will be a highly intelligent and a self-confident leader with a proven track record of success in a collaborative and open structure. The ideal candidate will have a diverse mix of leadership skills, an open management style, excellent communication skills (both written and oral), and has a track record of success and consistent progression throughout their career.
   Ability to work and collaborate in a team-oriented environment, and independently. Mentor, coach, and provide support to other team members.
   Performs other related duties as assigned and/or required. Requirements: BEHAVIORAL COMPETENCIES Customer Service: Understands that all MEI's employees have external and/or internal customers that they provide services and information to; honors MEI's commitments to customers/venues by providing helpful, courteous, responsive, and knowledgeable customer service.
   Problem Solving: Identifies and resolves problems in a timely manner; gathers and analyzes information skillfully; develops alternative compliant solutions; works well in groups and individual problem-solving situations.
   Teamwork: Cooperates with others to accomplish common goals; works with employees within and across his/her department to achieve shared goals; treats others with dignity and respect and maintains friendly demeanor; values the contributions of others.
   Results Orientation: Consistently delivers required results; consistently complies with quality standards and meets deadlines; maintains focus on company service levels.
   EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND/OR CERTIFICATION Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience, preferably in computer science, software engineering, information systems or related disciplines. MS/MA in a similar discipline is a preferred, but not required. 15+ years' experience in Information Technology with experience related to application development, IT operations, project management, and solution delivery. 10+ years of experience on front and back end development, and at least 5+ years developing enterprise-wide solutions in Salesforce Sales or Service Cloud, both administrative and Apex. Experience leading teams or projects that have delivered meaningful solutions at scale. Ability to manage a team of 8-12 developers, both internal and contractor resources. Create software development and architecture standards, common methodologies, technical documentation templates, DevOps processes, metrics and tools for building and delivering on all technology platforms. Experience building, deploying, and managing scaled platforms using continuous delivery methodologies. Establish metrics/key performance indicators and SLAs for driving software delivery. For instance, regularly report on development velocity and code quality. Ensure developer solutions are consistently documented using flowcharts, layouts, diagrams, charts, code comments and highly optimized, clean code. Act as a point of review and approval for proposed solutions. Oversee the overall application development lifecycle including coding and debugging. Review code to determine quality and areas for improvement. Ensure consistent unit tests and regression tests are performed. Deliver enterprise-wide technology solutions and support the overall technology and business strategy. Remain current with trends and innovations in technology and the leadership of enterprise IT. Effectively manage third party technology vendors/suppliers. Build and nurture a best-in-class application technology team. Help remove barriers or obstacles to the team's success. Ability to estimate and distribute work to maximize the team's productivity, and manage multiple projects effectively. Drive performance management and team development to promote overall team member performance, learning, and growth opportunities. Provide effective leadership, coaching, motivation, and management to ensure the applications team aligns with technology leadership, business, and customer expectations. Promote a positive, team-oriented, results-focused team, and help create a supportive and collaborative work environment. 2-5+ years experience in HTML 5, Bootstrap, CSS, JQuery, or any other javascript language (Node, Angular, React, etc) 2-5+ years experience OR s enior-level knowledge of C# and .Net Core 2-5+ years experience in Google Analytics, Omniture, BrightTag, Optimizely, or Adobe 2-5+ years experience with database technologies, SQL and/or NoSQL Experience or knowledge of configuring, developing, and deploying to a multi-cloud environment, focusing on Salesforce and Azure. Deep understanding of RESTful API development and integration. Experience with Ruby on Rails, Typescript, Python, Django, or PHP is a plus but not required. Experience with Agile software development, working within a sprint structure, contributing to sprint planning (story grooming and pointing) and retrospectives. Experience or knowledge of Git or Github. Experience or knowledge of microservices and container architecture (Kubernetes, Docker, Kafka, etc). Perform other job related functions as assigned. JOB COMPETENCIES Current knowledge of methodologies and trends in both business and IT. Able to provide strong leadership to achieve tactical and strategic goals. Possesses a deep understanding of application development. Maintains a high degree of initiative, dependability and ability to work with little supervision. Excellent written and verbal communication skills, interpersonal and collaborative skills, and the ability to communicate application-related concepts to technical and non-technical audiences at various levels. Ability to work on-site in our Chicago, IL or Evansville, IN offices Ability to perform daily tasks with high level of accuracy Ability to manage time and set work priorities in order to meet high standards Ability to solve routine and some complex situations Ability to work successfully in a fast-paced environment WORK ENVIRONMENT This job operates in a professional office environment. The role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computer, phones and copy machines. Job Type: Full-time
   
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5. Post your job

   To find the right director of applications engineering for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with directors of applications engineering they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit directors of applications engineering who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your director of applications engineering job on Zippia to find and recruit director of applications engineering candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting directors of applications engineering requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new director of applications engineering

   Once you've decided on a perfect director of applications engineering candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new director of applications engineering first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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