What does a senior technical director do?
Senior technical directors are professionals who are responsible for providing technical direction within a software company, engineering firm, film studio, theatre company, or television studio. These directors are required to manage staff members and are responsible for developing, testing, and validating new products for manufacturing engineering projects. They must develop strategic direction for engineering projects to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction and exceed aggressive financial targets. In theatre management, these senior technicians must also provide technical services that include advanced audio and visual production.
Senior technical director responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real senior technical director resumes:
- Manage 7x24x365 NOC with a staff of 36.
- Manage ASG's IP portfolio.
- Manage FDA submissions for medical devices.
- Lead data center consolidation efforts, improving SLAs and reducing outages.
- Plan and manage Citrix farm implementation, including all staff training.
- Lead effort to develop/release Medicaid enrollment and plan shopping product on Java platform.
- Deliver SaaS base learning to employees.
- Create custom reports and queries using SQL.
- Re-Design all systems and networks for PCI compliancy.
- Enhance hardware and software installation processes with new internal SLAs.
- Develop, scaled-up and receive FDA approvals for CAMPRAL and COMBUNOX.
- Experience in ITIL concepts of change, incident and problem management.
- Educate technical staff on OS, troubleshooting, and networking skills.
- Design, draft, set-up and run all automation for shows.
- Implement new development standards for J2EE, PHP, Ajax, JavaScript.
Senior technical director skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Senior Technical Directors are proficient in Cloud, Project Management, and Product Development. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Time-management skills, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Senior Technical Directors that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Cloud, 10%
Developed crisis management processes, Escalation paths and procedures to manage Hosting and Cloud Data Center providers during system/network emergencies/crisis.
- Project Management, 7%
Exhibited robust project management skills, constantly over-delivering on results; executed each activity in accordance with the highest quality standards.
- Product Development, 6%
Redesigned product implementation approach to accelerate product development by greater than 50%.
- Technology Solutions, 5%
Provide technology solutions ranging from day to day solutions to tactical and strategic initiatives.
- Customer Satisfaction, 5%
Directed work team activities in order to achieve defined customer satisfaction goals by implementing a lab environment for troubleshooting and training.
- Service Delivery, 5%
Restructure service delivery processes, technical systems and processes to optimize overall functionality on an ongoing basis.
Most senior technical directors use their skills in "cloud," "project management," and "product development" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential senior technical director responsibilities here:
Creativity. The most essential soft skill for a senior technical director to carry out their responsibilities is creativity. This skill is important for the role because "because a script may be interpreted in different ways, directors must decide on their approach and on how to represent the script’s ideas for the production." Additionally, a senior technical director resume shows how their duties depend on creativity: "engage customers in creative, results-oriented collaborative product development. "
Leadership skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of senior technical directors is leadership skills. This skill is critical to many everyday senior technical director duties, as "directors instruct actors and help them portray their characters in a believable manner." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "leveraged superior leadership skills to manage initiatives supporting call center products and applications, including siebel crm software and proprietary applications. "
Communication skills. senior technical director responsibilities often require "communication skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "producers and directors must convey information and ideas clearly in order to coordinate many people to finish a production on time and within budget." This resume example shows what senior technical directors do with communication skills on a typical day: "strategized the development of new computer applications programs, infrastructure upgrades, and telecommunications upgrades to achieve business goals. "
The three companies that hire the most senior technical directors are:
- Capital One181 senior technical directors jobs
- Analysts
11 senior technical directors jobs
- Splunk9 senior technical directors jobs
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Compare different senior technical directors
Senior technical director vs. Vice president of engineering
A Vice President Of Engineering manages all aspects of the company's engineering product development activities. They are responsible for strategic planning, production designing, quality assurance, and problem resolution.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between senior technical directors and vice president of engineering. For instance, senior technical director responsibilities require skills such as "technology solutions," "customer satisfaction," "service delivery," and "technical support." Whereas a vice president of engineering is skilled in "architecture," "python," "ul," and "customer service." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Vice presidents of engineering tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $141,200. In contrast, senior technical directors make the biggest average salary, $152,577, in the technology industry.vice presidents of engineering tend to reach similar levels of education than senior technical directors. In fact, vice presidents of engineering are 1.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Senior technical director vs. Director of technology and services
A director of technology and services is responsible for monitoring the operations in the technical side of an organization and managing the efficiency of network systems to ensure the stability and efficiency of business functions. Directors of technology and services oversee the safety and security of networks across the organization to prevent unauthorized access and leakage of data statistics. They also perform regular quality checks on the systems, improving users' interface, and upgrading network infrastructure to achieve the highest customer satisfaction.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that senior technical director responsibilities requires skills like "business operations," "product management," "provisioning," and "infrastructure." But a director of technology and services might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "technical service," "healthcare," "continuous improvement," and "network infrastructure."
Directors of technology and services may earn a lower salary than senior technical directors, but directors of technology and services earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $124,051. On the other hand, senior technical directors receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $152,577.directors of technology and services earn similar levels of education than senior technical directors in general. They're 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 1.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior technical director vs. Director, video production
Video Production Directors are responsible for translating screenplays on to screen and directing operations of video production. Their duties include selecting crew members and cast, scouting locations, developing the script, adjusting lighting and framing, directing actors, musicians other artists, and undertaking editing work with post-production staff. Besides that, they are involved in working with animators or graphics designers in creating visual aspects. Video production directors must be quick thinkers and possess good communication skills to articulate various creative professionals' direction.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from senior technical director resumes include skills like "cloud," "project management," "product development," and "technology solutions," whereas a director, video production is more likely to list skills in "video content," "photography," "motion graphics," and "production process. "
Directors, video production earn the highest salary when working in the start-up industry, where they receive an average salary of $67,188. Comparatively, senior technical directors have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $152,577.Most directors, video production achieve a lower degree level compared to senior technical directors. For example, they're 10.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 4.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Senior technical director vs. Vice president, technology
A vice president of technology is in charge of overseeing all technological operations in a company while managing the workforce involved, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Typically, it is their responsibility to establish goals and objectives, devising strategies to enforce them. They also spearhead the development of new systems and tools that boost workforce productivity, coordinate with analysts and specialists, and resolve any issues and concerns. Furthermore, as a vice president, it is essential to implement the company's policies and regulations, creating new ones as needed.
Types of senior technical director
Updated January 8, 2025
