Technology Executive & Engineering Leader

Paul
Devitt

PhD — University of Leeds

Senior Director, Software Engineering · Richmond, VA

Paul is a technology executive with 25+ years of experience scaling engineering organizations at GEICO, CoStar, Capital One, and beyond — bringing a rigorous, analytical approach to leadership, strategy, and delivery.

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25+
Years in tech
PhD
Doctoral Degree
8+
Companies led
VP
Engineering Exec
01 —

Areas of Expertise

⬡
Engineering Leadership
Building and scaling high-performance software engineering teams from the ground up. Establishing culture, process, and technical direction that endures.
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Digital Transformation
Leading organizations through cloud migration, technology modernization, and enterprise-wide platform evolution with measurable business outcomes.
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Strategic Planning
Translating organizational goals into technology roadmaps. Bridging the gap between executive vision and engineering execution at scale.
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Agile & DevOps
Championing Agile methodologies and DevOps culture to accelerate delivery cycles, improve quality, and create engineering organizations that ship with confidence.
⬟
Program Delivery
End-to-end accountability for complex, cross-functional technology programs — from inception through delivery, with a bias toward outcomes over outputs.
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People & Culture
Coaching, mentoring, and developing engineering talent. Building inclusive, psychologically safe teams that attract and retain the best builders.
02 —

Career History

2024 - Current GEICO
Senior Director, Software Engineering
Leading software engineering teams at one of the nation's largest insurers. Accountable for application development, cloud migration, and technology modernization across enterprise-scale systems. Driving Agile adoption and strategic direction across engineering disciplines.
2020 - 2023 CoStar Group
Vice President, Software Engineering
VP-level engineering leadership at the leading commercial real estate information and analytics platform. Directed software engineering teams supporting Sales, Operations, Finance, ERP, CRM, and Case Management technology stacks.
2016 - 2019 Snagajob
SVP, Engineering & Information Technology
Head of engineering and IT at the nation's largest platform for hourly workers. Led technology strategy, infrastructure, and product engineering for a high-growth consumer platform serving millions of job seekers and employers.
2010 – 2016 Capital One
Senior Director, Software Engineering
Led Agile engineering teams supporting Marketing, Fraud, and Deposit Technologies for the Retail Bank. Built and scaled engineering organizations accountable for application development, program delivery, and strategic direction within one of the country's largest financial institutions.
2009 – 2010 Borders Group
Director, Software Engineering
Reinvigorated a struggling engineering team during a critical turnaround, reducing site errors, improving customer messaging, and dramatically enhancing search capabilities for the national retailer's digital channel.
2006 – 2009 Circuit City
Senior Manager, Technology
Technology leadership role at the consumer electronics retailer, building web applications and managing enterprise systems at scale.
2001 – 2006 Capital One
Senior Manager, Software Engineering
Led Agile engineering teams supporting Marketing, Fraud, and Deposit Technologies for the Retail Bank. Built and scaled engineering organizations accountable for application development, program delivery, and strategic direction within one of the country's largest financial institutions.
03 —

Skills & Capabilities

Leadership
Executive Leadership Team Building Coaching & Mentoring Culture Change IT Governance Vendor Management
Engineering
Software Development Product Engineering Quality Assurance Cloud Migration E-commerce Platforms Business Intelligence
Process & Strategy
Agile Methodologies Program Management Project Management IT Strategy Strategic Initiatives Digital Transformation
Business
Business Knowledge Technology Evaluation Emerging Trends Vendor Relations Stakeholder Management P&L Awareness
04 —

Thought Leadership

Leadership · May 2018
Five Laws of Success
Applying a rigorous, analytical framework to leadership and business success — distilling hard-won lessons into laws and observations for navigating the chaos of organizations.
Technology · Cloud
Is Mainframe the Original Cloud?
A retrospective on how mainframe computing blazed the trail for today's cloud platforms — and what history teaches us about getting it right the second time.
Engineering · DevOps
DevOps in Three Easy Steps
A practitioner's guide to implementing DevOps culture and tooling within large engineering organizations — without losing momentum or burning out your teams.
05 —

Education

Doctor of Philosophy
University of Leeds
1992 – 1995
Bachelor of Science
University of Leeds
1989 – 1992
06 —

Let's Connect

Interested in discussing technology leadership, engineering strategy, or exploring opportunities? Paul is always open to meaningful conversations with peers and future collaborators.

LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/pauldevitt Email email@pauldevitt.com Writing LinkedIn Articles
Based in
Richmond, Virginia
United States
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