Director, Software Engineer
About the Role
At NetApp, your ideas power innovation. We lead in intelligent data infrastructure—delivering unified storage, integrated data services, and solutions that help organizations unlock the full potential of their data, from AI to multicloud. This role partners closely with Product Management, UX, Architecture, Customer Success, and executive leadership to translate business objectives into engineering strategy and execution. The Director drives organizational effectiveness, technical excellence, operational discipline, and talent development while ensuring successful delivery of business-critical initiatives.
Responsibilities
- Strategic Leadership
- Define and execute engineering strategies that align with organizational and product objectives.
- Develop and communicate long-term technology roadmaps and investment priorities.
- Drive innovation through adoption of modern engineering practices, tools, and technologies.
- Anticipate technical and organizational risks and implement mitigation strategies.
- Engineering Execution
- Lead the delivery of multiple software products, platforms, or engineering portfolios.
- Ensure predictable execution against roadmap commitments, balancing speed, quality, security, and scalability.
- Establish metrics, KPIs, and operational reviews to measure team performance and delivery outcomes.
- Drive continuous improvement across software development lifecycle (SDLC), DevOps, CI/CD, and engineering operations.
- People Leadership
- Lead, coach, and develop engineering managers and high-performing software engineering teams.
- Foster an inclusive, collaborative, and growth-oriented culture.
- Drive organizational design, workforce planning, succession planning, and talent development strategies.
- Recruit, retain, and develop top engineering talent.
- Technical Leadership
- Influence architecture and platform decisions to ensure scalability, availability, maintainability, and security.
- Champion engineering best practices, coding standards, testing strategies, and operational excellence.
- Partner with engineering and architecture leaders to drive technical direction and modernization initiatives.
- Ensure compliance with security, privacy, regulatory, and governance requirements.
- Cross-Functional Partnership
- Collaborate closely with Product Management to align engineering priorities with customer and business needs.
- Partner with Design, IT, Security, Sales, Customer Success, and Support teams to deliver exceptional customer outcomes.
- Effectively communicate technical strategy, project status, risks, and business impact to senior leadership and stakeholders.
- Influence and align cross-functional teams to achieve strategic objectives.
Requirements
- 12+ years of software engineering experience.
- 5+ years of people leadership experience managing managers and/or multiple engineering teams.
- Experience leading large-scale software development initiatives from concept through delivery.
- Strong knowledge of software architecture, cloud technologies, distributed systems, DevOps, and Agile methodologies.
- Experience driving organizational change and scaling engineering organizations.
- Proven ability to influence across technical and non-technical stakeholder groups.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or related technical field.
- Preferred:
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or MBA.
- Experience building and leading geographically distributed engineering teams.
- Experience with SaaS, cloud-native platforms, AI/ML-enabled solutions, or enterprise software products.
- Strong financial and operational management experience, including resource planning and budget accountability.
- Demonstrated success driving digital transformation and modernization initiatives.
Pay
The target salary range for this position is $227,800 - $338,800 USD. The salary offered will be determined by the candidate's location, qualifications, experience, and education and may be outside of this range.
Benefits
- Comprehensive health insurance, life insurance, retirement or pension plans, and paid time off.
- Various leave options, performance-based incentives, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSUs).
- Benefits may vary by country and region, subject to local laws, regulations, and company policies.
Schedule
NetApp embraces a hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture for all employees. Most roles will have some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations, which will be shared during the recruitment process.
Why You'll Thrive at NetApp
At NetApp, you won't wait for the perfect moment—you'll make it. The early planning, the extra thought, the bold idea that turns good into great: That's how our people operate and how we continue to push the boundaries of data infrastructure. We celebrate mold breakers, bold thinkers, and problem solvers. We reward initiative, impact, and ownership. We provide flexibility so you can balance professional ambition with your personal life. Here, differences are not just welcomed—they drive everything we do.