Conrad Lotz

About Conrad Lotz

I build engineering organizations that deliver at scale. Over 15+ years in fintech, capital markets, retail, and enterprise SaaS, I\'ve led teams through cloud migrations, platform modernizations, AI transformations, and organizational change — always focused on aligning technology strategy with business outcomes.As Director of Software Engineering at S&P Global, I lead 110+ engineers across four divisions, owning the full SDLC for multiple SaaS platforms. Highlights:Set the vision for a unified data platform (Kafka, AWS EMR, Debezium, dbt) that transformed siloed systems into a consolidated data lake, unlocking new product capabilities and real-time analyticsLeading an enterprise Intelligent Search initiative using LLMs with RAG and embeddings in OpenSearch (OpenAI + AWS Bedrock)Migrated 200+ servers to AWS, reducing costs 20% and improving performance 50%Led a monolith-to-microservices transformation, increasing deployment frequency 3xDrove a large-scale workforce transition from 80+ contractors to a dedicated FTE engineering teamI stay deeply technical. Outside work, I build with agentic AI, create automated PR review tools using LLMs, and experiment with autonomous systems. I believe engineering leaders who continue to build are better positioned to set technical direction and earn the trust of their teams.My leadership style is rooted in curiosity, candor, and forward momentum. I\'ve mentored engineers into roles at top tech companies, coached managers into senior leadership, and built cultures of ownership and continuous improvement.I write about engineering leadership and AI at conradlotz.com.Always open to connecting with engineering leaders, founders, and anyone building something meaningful.

Experience

1. Director of Software Engineering

   S&P Global

   Jan 2023 — Present · Raleigh, NC, US

   Led a global technology organization of 100+ engineers, including managing managers and senior individual contributors across multiple product lines and platforms.Oversaw the full software development lifecycle across several SaaS platforms, ensuring delivery quality, scalability, and maintainability.Drove technical vision and execution, working closely with Product and Business stakeholders to align engineering roadmaps with strategic business goals.Responsible for capacity planning, team structuring, and resource allocation, ensuring the right teams were staffed on the right projects to maximize impact.Championed the adoption of modern software engineering practices, including CI/CD, cloud-native architecture, and scalable system design.Fostered a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement, while mentoring engineering leaders and investing in team growth.Key Strengths:Proven experience managing large, globally distributed engineering teams.Strong knowledge of Agile/Scrum methodologies and iterative delivery models.Deep expertise in cloud infrastructure, software architecture, and technology strategy.Experienced in budget ownership, long-term planning, and project prioritization.Core Responsibilities:Lead and develop high-performing software engineering teams.Define and implement software strategies aligned with product and business direction.Oversee system architecture and technical decision-making across the organization.Collaborate cross-functionally to ensure smooth delivery and operational excellence.Establish best practices in code quality, testing, deployment, and monitoring.Manage organizational structure, hiring, and budget forecasting.Technologies: AWS EC2, AWS Fargate, AWS Athena, AWS SQS, Monorepo(nx), AZDO, GitHub, TeamCity, Data Mesh, SQL Server, PostgreSQL.Net, C#, Python, JavaScript, AWS DMS, dbt, NetFX OnTap, Angular, SonarQube, Mend, Cursor ai, VS code, Github Copilot

Education

• High School Volkskool

  Matric, Math,Science,Biology,Afrikaans, English, Accounting

  1995 — 1999

• Nelson Mandela University

  National Diploma, Information Technology

  2000 — 2002

• Coursera.org - Georgia Institute of Technology

  Certificate of Accomplishment, Computational Investing I

  2013 — 2013

• Full Value Financial Services

  National Certification, Financial Markets and Instruments (NQF 6)

  2014 — 2014

Skills

• C#
• T-Sql
• Ionic Framework
• Angular 5
• Investment Management
• Ajax
• Visual Basic
• Systems Analysis
• Integration
• Nodejs
• Software Development Life Cycle (Sdlc)
• Release Management
• Entity Framework
• Software Development
• Python
• Scrum
• Asp.net Mvc
• Database Design
• Programming
• Ssrs
• Sdlc
• Angularjs
• Bloomberg Integration
• Transact-Sql (T-Sql)
• Postgresql
• Biztalk
• Mysql
• Visual Studio
• Agile Methodologies
• Javascript
• Jquery
• Soa
• Wcf
• Bloomberg Terminal
• Expressjs
• Microsoft Sql Server
• Linq
• Sql
• Asp.net
• Tfs