How to hire a software director

How to hire a software director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step software director hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the software director you need to hire. Certain software director 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

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a software director to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a software director that fits the bill.

   This list presents software director salaries for various positions.

   Type of Software Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Software Director	Software developers are the creative minds behind computer programs. Some develop the applications that allow people to do specific tasks on a computer or another device... Show more	$49-104
   Software Development Manager	A software development manager is a professional who manages teams of software developers that design and create software applications and web services for clients. Software development managers should delegate duties and establish development standards for the development team as well as create a budget and timeline for the project... Show more	$48-86
   Director Of Software Development	A director of software development is primarily in charge of overseeing the workflow and the workforce involved in the entire software development process. Their responsibilities also include creating strategies for optimal performance, coordinating with different teams and departments to identify strengths and weaknesses, implementing training and workshop programs, and liaising with external agencies, including key clients... Show more	$52-109

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Software Development
   • CRM
   • Java
   • Cloud
   • Product Management
   • Lifecycle Management
   • Software Products
   • Business Development
   • OEM
   • QA
   • AWS
   • Linux
   • Cloud Computing
   • JavaScript

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage staff of architects, analysts and UI design personnel.
   • Lead configuration, and optimization of open source embed Linux distribution on the OMAP-L processor to achieve optimal boot performance.
   • Hire and manage blended team, design and implement test lab leveraging existing infrastructure and execute application test plans.
   • Extend department s bandwidth into new technologies, including cloud computing, compute continuum and data sharing and application software.
   • Establish and maintain SQA testing laboratory, prepare acceptance, certification, regression, and Y2K test plans and product specifications.
   • Perform browser compatibility testing and user acceptance testing (UAT )

   More software director duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, software directors' average salary in florida is 47% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level software directors earn 53% less than senior-level software directors.
   • Certifications. A software director 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 software director's salary.

   Average software director salary

   $150,380yearly

   $72.30 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level software director salary

   $103,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

   Average software director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$199,458	$96
   2	New Jersey	$150,289	$72
   3	Massachusetts	$140,588	$68
   4	Oregon	$139,899	$67
   5	New York	$135,410	$65
   6	Arizona	$134,452	$65
   7	Texas	$130,109	$63
   8	Maryland	$128,697	$62
   9	District of Columbia	$126,059	$61
   10	North Carolina	$121,365	$58
   11	Pennsylvania	$119,591	$58
   12	Michigan	$115,916	$56
   13	Illinois	$112,572	$54
   14	Minnesota	$111,700	$54
   15	Ohio	$111,527	$54
   16	Georgia	$109,074	$52
   17	Colorado	$108,752	$52

   Average software director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	NVIDIA	$228,648	$109.93	232
   2	Rivian	$198,589	$95.48	17
   3	Electronic Arts	$188,979	$90.86	19
   4	Micron Technology	$184,708	$88.80	9
   5	Gracenote	$178,740	$85.93
   6	Intel	$175,096	$84.18	33
   7	Amazon	$174,105	$83.70	611
   8	General Electric	$173,214	$83.28	36
   9	Workday	$169,217	$81.35	14
   10	Solectron Corp	$167,490	$80.52
   11	IntegriChain	$164,772	$79.22	2
   12	ARM	$163,043	$78.39	5
   13	The Oregon Clinic	$162,694	$78.22
   14	Millennium Trust	$161,133	$77.47
   15	Recruit	$158,884	$76.39	9
   16	Honeywell	$157,782	$75.86	62
   17	Randstad North America, Inc.	$154,701	$74.38	11
   18	SiTime	$152,216	$73.18	4
   19	Robert Half	$151,093	$72.64	113
   20	Cooper Lighting LLC	$146,772	$70.56

4. Writing a software director job description

   A software director job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a software director job description:

   Software director job description example

   NVIDIA is looking for a credible Software Director - Platforms & UI Infrastructure Services to join the NVIDIA-Cumulus Linux Team! Are you looking for an exciting role that allows you to lead feature development and verification, take full ownership of tasks from A-Z and deliver independently with minimum supervision? As a team lead, working with cross-functional engineering and product teams you will be responsible to lead teams working on Platforms and UI Infrastructure Services features that powers data centers that are accelerated, disaggregated and software-defined to meet the exploding growth in AI and high-performance computing. This role allows you to not only mentor and lead new team members, but also be part of significant growth of a new team.
   What you'll be doing:
   Lead and drive the design, architecture, and implementation of NVIDIA's Cumulus Linux Platform and System Services functionality.
   Lead experienced engineers and mentor new engineers in a dynamic technology driven environment.Lead these engineers providing technical guidance and career mentorship.Ability to provide the team members with clear goals and let them find the best way to achieve them Participate and drive market requirements and technical designs with internal and external teams crafting the Platform and System Services functionality for next generation hardware platforms powered by Cumulus Linux.Engage in deep technical discussions on enabling networking hardware integration into Linux and Cumulus Linux distribution - Switches/routers and NICsParticipate and drive market requirements and technical designs with internal and external teams crafting the programming model and User Experience for Network Business Unit products.Build positive relationship with leaders inside and outside the core product team to efficiently lead the User Experience for all NBU products.Work closely with many partners including technical specialists, customer support, marketing, product planning, field engineers, development, and test management teams.Identify, develop and apply modern software development methodologies and processes, adapting to an agile environment of your team. Make continuous process improvements.Ability to guide through the problem solving process, minimize how often problems take place, which means be brave enough to solve them right way before they going wrong.Collaborate with product, architecture, and engineering teams for E2E integration of networking hardware features into Linux and Cumulus Linux distribution Work with upstream communities Lead large system wide software project in planning, design, development, and maintenance.
   
   What we need to see:
   A Bachelors, Masters or PhD in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or related computationally focused science degree (or equivalent experience)12+ overall years in a similar or related role with 8+ years of leading a team Management experience with the software development lifecycle, specifically for networking, embedded systems, and security.Excellent interpersonal skills with customers Flexibility to work across time zones Diligent and comfortable multitasking in a dynamic environment with shifting priorities and changing requirements Excellent communication and technical presentation skills, internally and with external customers as well.Familiar with cloud native concepts and strong background with Linux kernel maintenance and development Experience driving bring up and troubleshooting of Ethernet interfaces and modules Familiarity with datacenter protocols
   
   Ways to stand out from the crowd:
   Experience leading and overseeing system bring-up and debug, support of all platform hardware elements.Familiarity with Software Upgrade methodologies and development Strong background in Linux systems and Linux kernel networking Experience with leading UI / UX design and development Background with Networking data models, Yang, RESTful APIs and web services.Background in Open Network products such as Mellanox switches, Cumulus Linux, or SoNIC Network Operating Systems.Loves to work in a collaborative environment
   
   With competitive salaries and a generous benefits package, we are widely considered to be one of the technology world's most desirable employers. We have some of the most forward-thinking and hardworking people in the world working for us and, due to unprecedented growth, our exclusive engineering teams are rapidly growing. If you're a creative and autonomous engineer with a real passion for technology, we want to hear from you.
   
   NVIDIA is committed to fostering a diverse work environment and proud to be an equal opportunity employer. As we highly value diversity in our current and future employees, we do not discriminate (including in our hiring and promotion practices) on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status or any other characteristic protected by law.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find software directors for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any software directors they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level software directors with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   To find software director candidates, you can consider the following options:

   • Post your job opening on Zippia or other job search websites.
   • Use niche websites that focus on engineering and technology jobs, such as dice, engineering.com, stack overflow, it job pro.
   • Post your job on free job posting websites.

6. Interview candidates

   During your first interview to recruit software directors, engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. During the following interview, you'll be able to go into more detail about the company, the position, and the responsibilities.

   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.

   While interviews are great, you will only sometimes learn enough from a conversation with a software director applicant. In those cases, having candidates complete a test project can go a long way in figuring out who's the most likely to succeed in the role. If you aren't a technical person and don't know how to design an appropriate test, you can ask someone else on the team to create it or take a look at these websites to get a few ideas:

   • TestDome
   • CodeSignal
   • Testlify
   • BarRaiser
   • Coderbyte

   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 software director

   Once you have selected a candidate for the software director position, it is time to create an offer letter. In addition to salary, the offer letter should include details about benefits and perks that are available to the employee. Ensuring your offer is competitive is vital, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and it is important to be open to discussion and reach a mutually beneficial agreement. After the offer has been accepted, it is a good idea to formalize the agreement with a contract.

   It's also good etiquette to follow up with applicants who don't get the job by sending them an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new software director. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

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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