How To Become A Software Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a software director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted Experts

Aaron Napierala,

Christian Hansen Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a software director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $72.3 an hour? That's $150,380 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Software Director?

Aaron Napierala

Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Defiance College

The most important advice I can offer, is to let them know to work toward something they are passionate about. Many people have the impression that CS is all about programming. While programming can, and does, deal with programming, an education in CS lays the foundation for students to work with technology, whatever that might be. If students are not passionate about what they are doing, I believe students would be hard-pressed to achieve their true potential. If you have a solid foundation, but nothing to build on top of that, where are you? This is why I always recommend students explore other areas, outside of CS, that they are excited to learn more about, to complement their technical knowledge. If students can't relate to people outside of their discipline, I think they will be limited on what they can do and ultimately not satisfied.

ScoreSoftware DirectorUS Average

Salary

8.9

Avg. Salary $150,380

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.0

Growth Rate 21%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 29.79%

Black or African American 4.61%

Hispanic or Latino 8.37%

Unknown 4.85%

White 52.22%

Gender

female 11.27%

male 88.73%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

4.0

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

8.1

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.6

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a software director

Explore software director education requirements

Most common software director degrees

Bachelor's

73.0 %

Master's

17.6 %

Associate

5.3 %

Start to develop specific software director skills

Skills	Percentages
Software Development	16.05%
CRM	7.71%
Java	7.70%
Cloud	7.53%
Product Management	5.20%

Complete relevant software director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New software directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a software director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real software director resumes.

Research software director duties and 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.

Get software director experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a software director. The most common roles before becoming a software director include software engineer, senior software engineer team lead and director.

Prepare your software director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your software director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a software director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Software Director Resume templates

Build a professional Software Director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Software Director resume.

Apply for software director jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a software director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do software directors rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Software Director reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2022

Pros

Able to see ideation to fruition and achieve success together as a team.

Cons

If company is not supportive of new technology advancement.

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Pros

Designing a new system or making changes to an old one.

A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2019

Pros

Reviewing

Cons

This can be a tough and demanding job but rewarding in the end since you can see the benefit of the software that you have built through the eyes of the user

What is a software director and how to become one

What general advice would you give to a Software Director?

Software Director career paths

Key steps to become a software director

Explore software director education requirements

Most common software director degrees

Start to develop specific software director skills

Complete relevant software director training and internships

Research software director duties and responsibilities

Get software director experience

Prepare your software director resume

Choose From 10+ Customizable Software Director Resume templates

Apply for software director jobs

How Did You Land Your First Software Director Job

Average software director salary

How do software directors rate their job?

Software Director reviews