Senior Director, Platform DevOps

About the role

Medidata is seeking a Senior Director of Software Engineering for Platform DevOps to join our team. This role reports to the Vice President of Software Engineering and is responsible for defining and executing the technical vision and strategy for Medidata's core engineering platforms and infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Expertise in cloud-native infrastructure and architecture (e.g., AWS, Kubernetes), with an emphasis on scalability, reliability (SRE), and performance.
• Proven experience developing and communicating a clear technical vision for core engineering platforms and infrastructure.
• Deep understanding of modern DevOps and Systems Reliability Engineering (SRE) principles, and demonstrated experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code (IaC).
• Hands-on experience with configuration management and observability tools (e.g., Terraform, Prometheus, Grafana) to drive automation and operational excellence.
• Extensive experience in driving continuous delivery (CD), automated testing, and release management across large-scale systems.
• A strong understanding of the software product development lifecycle, particularly for infrastructure and platform services.
• Ability to translate complex business requirements into technical strategies and robust platform solutions that deliver clear business outcomes.
• Experience leading digital transformation initiatives centered on engineering productivity and system reliability.
• A proven track record of building, leading, and mentoring high-performing, globally distributed engineering teams.
• Ability to develop and implement organizational change, keeping teams unified, motivated, and connected to strategic goals.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage with senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
• A demonstrated ability to use engineering and platform metrics (e.g., DORA metrics, SLOs, KPIs) to inform strategy and execution.
• Experience in fostering a culture of innovation and experimentation, encouraging new approaches to platform and reliability challenges.
• Ability to influence technical direction across the organization without direct authority by driving DevOps and SRE best practices.

Qualifications

• Typically requires 12+ years of related technical experience with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of progressive leadership experience in software engineering, with at least 4 years managing data engineering, analytics, or machine learning teams.
• Extensive experience designing and operating highly scalable, reliable cloud infrastructure (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure) and implementing modern DevOps practices, including deep knowledge of container orchestration (Kubernetes) and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).

Pay

The salary range for this role is $216,000 - $288,000 for positions physically based in the NY/NJ area. For remote positions, the range is $193,500 - $258,000. For positions in the California Bay Area, the range is $227,250 - $303,000. For positions in the Boston Metro Area, the range is $212,250 - $283,000. For positions in Texas or Ohio, the range is $189,750 - $253,000. For positions in all other locations within the United States, the range is $193,500 - $258,000. Base pay is one part of the Total Rewards that Medidata provides to compensate and recognize employees for their work. Most sales positions are eligible for a commission on the terms of applicable plan documents, and many of Medidata's non-sales positions are eligible for annual bonuses. Medidata believes that benefits should connect you to the support you need when it matters most and provides benefits, including medical, dental, life and disability insurance, 401(k) matching, family leave, flexible paid time off; and 10 paid holidays per year.