Engineering Executive  ·  Houston, Texas

Louis R. Jackson, Jr.

Senior Director of Engineering  ·  HP Inc.

Leading global, business-critical software portfolios, modernizing strategic platforms, transforming SDLC economics with AI, and building high-performing engineering teams.

Open to select executive, advisory, and board conversations
Portrait of Lou Jackson
350+
Software professionals led across six regions
$130M
Software development spend under leadership
$16–20M
Annual savings from AI-driven SDLC transformation
$7B
Annual revenue through eCommerce systems I modernized
99.6%
Order accuracy on Lead-to-Order platforms
9
United States patents
What I bring

Executive differentiators

Trusted by senior executives for strategic clarity, operational discipline, stakeholder influence, talent development, and measurable business impact across revenue enablement, digital commerce, customer and partner experience, security, quality, and cost optimization.

01

Operational Excellence

Sustained greater than 99.5% job success while cutting production tickets 35% and cloud cost 30% year over year.

02

Business-Linked Delivery

Lead-to-Order modernization delivering 35% faster quote cycles and 99.6% order accuracy.

03

Global Engineering at Scale

Teams across the U.S., China, Colombia, India, Europe, and Mexico, plus Brazil in prior roles.

04

AI-Native Transformation

Agentic AI SDLC accelerators and GitHub Copilot for every software development engineer.

05

Supplier & Cost Leadership

Consolidated 11 suppliers to 5 and led the RFP assessment behind roughly $51M in three-year savings.

06

Talent Development & Culture

ITSMF Mentor of the Year, 2025. Converted critical contingent roles to full-time engineers.

07

Executive Influence & Stakeholder Trust

Clear strategy, disciplined operations, and results that senior leaders can plan around.

Career

Professional experience

More than three decades building and leading software organizations at HP, Compaq, Fourth Wave Technologies, and the Internal Revenue Service.

March 2025 – Present
HP Inc. · Houston, Texas
Digital Technology Software

Sr. Director, Lead To Order Software Development

Lead a global organization (U.S., China, Colombia, India, Europe, and Mexico) of 350+ software professionals, including 9 managers and 75 full-time engineers. Responsible for advancing HP’s digital transformation and Lead-to-Order strategy by modernizing strategic platforms and enhancing customer, partner, and employee experiences.

Key achievements

  • AI-driven SDLC transformation. Consolidated 11 suppliers to 5 and deployed agentic AI SDLC accelerators, delivering a 12–15% cost reduction on $130M spend ($16M–$20M annually) while improving velocity, rework, and cycle time.
  • Lead-to-Order modernization. Across CPQ, eCommerce, and subscription streams: 35% faster quote cycle times, 99.6% order accuracy, and $2.1M annualized savings, with eCommerce systems processing $7B in annual revenue.
  • Workforce optimization. Converted critical contingent roles to FTE and rationalized resource allocation for $1.1M in annual savings while preserving continuity for priority programs.
  • DevSecOps. Directed remediation of high-severity Azure Pipelines agent vulnerabilities, eliminating the identified exposure and aligning to enterprise security standards.
  • Strategic sourcing. Led the Software Development RFP technical assessment and cross-functional execution approach, establishing the foundation for approximately $51M in savings over three years.
  • Sales Compensation reliability. Reduced cloud infrastructure cost 30% and production tickets 35% year over year while sustaining greater than 99.5% job success.
June 2022 – March 2025
HP Inc. · Houston, Texas
Enterprise Digital Services

Director, Software Engineering

Led a global organization (U.S., Brazil, India, Europe) of 206 personnel, including 8 software managers, 64 full-time engineers, and 134 contractors, transforming HP into a digital-first company through connected, personalized, and simplified digital solutions.

Key achievements

  • Data modernization. Directed migration of 432M+ profiles to myIdentity, enabling $400K a year in projected savings, and retired outdated Reltio profiles to cut licensing costs by about 20%.
  • AI adoption. Reduced the contract worker budget by $656K annually by adopting GitHub Copilot for all software development engineers.
  • Vendor enablement. Enabled Wipro and Capgemini operations in Brazil for $600K in annual savings, and negotiated $201K in Quest software discounts.
  • Platform efficiency. Moved EDS Runtime Logging to RaaS in production, saving $360K annually, plus $65K from infrastructure right-sizing and retired legacy automation services.
  • Fraud prevention. Stopped ongoing SMS fraud through Arkose Data Exchange, halting more than $212K in losses.

Earlier career

  1. 2020 – 2022Sr. Manager, Commercial Software Technical Program Management
    HP Inc. · Houston, Texas
  2. 2018 – 2020Sr. Manager, Displays & Accessories Hardware & Software Engineering
    HP Inc. · Houston, Texas
  3. 2012 – 2018Sr. Manager, Cloud Client Windows Development & Program Management
    HP Inc. · Houston, Texas
  4. 2000 – 2012Manager, Commercial Software Development
    Compaq Computer Corporation (through the HP merger) · Houston, Texas
  5. 1997 – 2000Software Development Engineer / Manager
    Fourth Wave Technologies · Troy, Michigan
  6. 1989 – 1997Software Development Engineer
    Internal Revenue Service, Information Systems Division · Detroit, Michigan
How I lead

The first 90 days

The playbook I use when I take on a new engineering organization: listen first, build momentum with the team, then deliver results leadership can measure.

30days

Build foundations

  • Meet each manager one to one, and hold team roundtables without managers in the room.
  • Assess skills, gaps, applications, tools, and workflows.
  • Meet key stakeholders and open channels for continuous feedback.
  • Run a gap analysis of architecture, code, and risk.
  • Set team norms for communication, accountability, and cadence.
60days

Establish momentum

  • Build the roadmap with the team and stakeholders, prioritizing critical-path work.
  • Tailor agile practices and define success measures such as OKRs.
  • Finalize architecture decisions, tackle technical debt, and set CI/CD and review standards.
  • Close skill gaps with training, and invest in team cohesion.
  • Deliver an early, tangible win to build confidence.
90days

Deliver results

  • Ship the first major roadmap milestone and track it against measurable goals.
  • Refine processes through retrospectives and feedback.
  • Deepen stakeholder relationships by showing progress.
  • Report achievements, challenges, and next steps to leadership.
  • Set long-term goals and an innovation agenda.
Establish an empowering cultureBuild a foundation of trust and psychological safety.
Set clear expectationsDefine roles and responsibilities so people can own outcomes.
Position for long-term successPut strategies in place that sustain team performance.
Recognition

Awards, patents & education

Recognized by the Information Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF) and named inventor on nine United States patents.

Awards & honors

  • 2025Mentor of the YearInformation Technology Senior Management Forum
  • 2021Co-author, Conversational Insights: From Great Minds, Volume 6ISBN 978-1-7365068-1-3
  • 2019Management Academy Scholar of the YearInformation Technology Senior Management Forum

Education

  • Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, with High DistinctionUniversity of Michigan–Dearborn
  • 2021Executive Academy graduateInformation Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF)
  • 2019Management Academy graduateInformation Technology Senior Management Forum (ITSMF)

United States patents

  • Establishing communication connectionsUS 12,457,648
  • Computing device expansion systemUS 10,234,910 · US 9,612,628
  • Dual-mode tablet input system with primary computerUS 9,053,250
  • Flat panel computer with displayUS 7,295,429 · US 7,149,080 · D528,111 · D529,490 · D546,824
Contact

Let’s talk

I welcome conversations about executive engineering leadership, advisory roles, and board service.