Director, Platform Engineering

About the role

The Director, Platform Engineering & Reliability leads engineering, delivery, reliability, and quality functions supporting Dave & Buster’s enterprise technology platforms. This role provides strategic and operational leadership for Platform Engineering, Integration Engineering, DevSecOps, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), and Quality Engineering, establishing standards, modern delivery practices, reliability frameworks, and platform modernization strategies to improve engineering velocity, system reliability, and business agility.

Responsibilities

• Engineering Leadership: Lead enterprise software engineering teams responsible for backend platforms, integrations, APIs, and enterprise applications; establish engineering strategy aligned with business and technology objectives; develop roadmaps for platform modernization; drive adoption of modern engineering practices and cloud‑native design patterns; foster a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Platform Engineering: Establish scalable platform engineering capabilities supporting enterprise systems; lead modernization of integration and backend technology platforms; define standards for APIs, integration frameworks, microservices, and shared services; promote reuse and platform‑based delivery models.
• DevSecOps & Delivery Excellence: Drive enterprise CI/CD strategy and implementation; establish Infrastructure as Code standards and automation practices; integrate security controls into delivery pipelines; improve deployment frequency, reliability, and developer productivity; partner with Security and Architecture teams to ensure secure‑by‑design delivery practices.
• Site Reliability Engineering (SRE): Establish reliability engineering practices across enterprise platforms; define and manage service level objectives (SLOs) and service level indicators (SLIs); lead observability, monitoring, and operational excellence programs; improve incident response, recovery, and operational resiliency; drive platform performance, scalability, and availability improvements.
• Quality Engineering: Establish a modern quality engineering strategy; drive automated testing, release validation, and quality metrics; implement shift‑left testing practices across engineering teams; ensure quality processes scale with increased engineering velocity and AI‑assisted development.
• AI‑Enabled Engineering: Identify opportunities to utilize AI and automation to improve engineering productivity; establish standards and governance for AI‑assisted software development; evaluate emerging developer tools and engineering acceleration technologies; partner with Architecture and AI Enablement to modernize engineering practices.
• Leadership & Organizational Development: Recruit, develop, and retain high‑performing engineering talent; provide mentoring and career development for engineering leaders and individual contributors; build succession plans for key technical roles; drive organizational alignment across engineering, architecture, infrastructure, and operations teams.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or related field.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, platform engineering, or technology leadership.
• 5+ years of experience leading engineering organizations.
• Experience managing engineering managers and technical leads.
• Strong experience with cloud platforms, preferably Azure.
• Strong background in software architecture and enterprise integrations.
• Experience implementing DevSecOps practices and CI/CD automation.
• Experience with reliability engineering, production operations, and observability platforms.
• Experience leading large technology modernization programs.
• Proven ability to influence executive stakeholders and drive organizational change.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working in a distributed restaurant, retail, or entertainment environment.
• Experience with Azure DevOps, GitHub Enterprise, GitHub Actions, or similar CI/CD platforms.
• Experience with API management and integration platforms.
• Experience leading Platform Engineering organizations.
• Experience implementing SRE practices and reliability frameworks.
• Experience supporting enterprise‑scale distributed applications.
• Experience leveraging AI and automation to improve engineering productivity.
• Background in hospitality, entertainment, retail, or consumer‑facing digital organizations.
• Previous experience leading cloud modernization initiatives.

Benefits

• Exclusive discounts on food and games at Dave & Buster’s & Main Event.
• Paid Time Off (PTO) that increases with tenure.
• 11 company holidays (including your birthday) & 2 floating holidays per year.
• Medical, dental, vision, and voluntary benefits.
• Part‑time/full‑time benefits available.
• Sub‑benefits: Livongo, SurgeryPlus, and Telehealth.
• 401(k) with company match after 6 months of employment.
• Buster’s Legacy Fund (support for team members during difficult times).
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) offerings.
• On‑site workout facility.
• Employee Power Card & free video games.
• Culture that emphasizes “work hard, play hard” and fun.

Pay

Salary range: $143,100 – $200,000