Jobs · Engineering · California

Vice President of Engineering, Developer Experience, AI Enablement & SecOps

Sapphire Partners · Santa Clara, CA · 1 mo ago
Engineering$347k–$386k/yrFull-time

About the Role

Software development is undergoing a fundamental shift. AI agents now generate, test, and refactor code at machine speed — and the engineering system that validates, secures, and ships that code must evolve just as fast. This is not a DevOps role. This is a transformation role. We're looking for a VP of Engineering to own the full Developer Experience, AI-enabled SDLC, and Security Operations function — redefining how software is built, validated, secured, and deployed across Cohesity.

The mission: enable developers and AI agents to ship dramatically faster, while continuously raising the bar on quality, security, and cost efficiency.

We're evolving from: Code → Review → Test → Security → Deploy To: Generate → Understand → Validate → Secure → Deploy → Observe → Remediate → Learn AI and automation handle the mechanical work. You build the system that makes that possible.

How You'll Spend Your Time Here

  • Lead and scale the organization. Manage a globally distributed team of Directors and Senior Directors spanning Developer Experience, CI/CD, test infrastructure, engineering automation, DevSecOps, and engineering intelligence. Set the multi-year strategy, own the roadmap, and build the operating model that scales with AI-driven velocity.
  • Transform Developer Experience. Build the internal developer platform that eliminates friction from idea to production — self-service environments, AI-powered dev tooling, and analytics that make underlying engineering complexity invisible.
  • Reinvent CI/CD and test infrastructure. Evolve pipelines from static pass/fail checks into intelligent delivery systems that understand what changed, what's at risk, and what validation is required. Build AI-driven, risk-adaptive test selection so high-confidence changes ship fast and high-risk changes get deep scrutiny.
  • Build AI-powered code review and automated remediation. Develop systems that perform semantic analysis, security scanning, architecture compliance, and regression prediction at machine scale — shifting engineers from reviewing every line to reviewing intent and exceptions. Automate patch generation, validation, and forward/backward propagation across releases.
  • Own Product Security Operations. Embed security directly into engineering. Own application security, supply-chain security, SAST/DAST/SCA, secrets management, vulnerability management, and automated remediation — in close partnership with the CISO. Secure by default; continuously validated; automatically remediated.
  • Drive engineering economics. Own infrastructure spend across CI/CD compute, dev environments, observability, AI inference, and cloud. Establish cost-per-developer and cost-per-deployment metrics. Maximize engineering output per dollar while keeping developer experience pristine.
  • Close the production-to-development learning loop. Connect production incidents, customer escalations, and performance signals back to the development system — so every failure improves engineering intelligence and prevents recurrence.

Qualifications

  • BS/MS/PhD in Computer Science or a related technical field
  • 15+ years of engineering leadership, including managing large, multi-layered global organizations
  • Proven track record leading Developer Experience, Platform Engineering, DevOps, SRE, or Engineering Productivity organizations at scale
  • Deep understanding of CI/CD, software delivery, and distributed systems architecture
  • Hands-on experience with DevSecOps — vulnerability management, security automation, compliance, and threat detection
  • Demonstrated experience applying AI/ML, LLMs, and agentic frameworks to engineering workflows across the SDLC
  • Strong understanding of engineering telemetry, productivity metrics, and engineering-outcome measurement
  • Track record of attracting, building, and retaining world-class engineering talent across globally distributed teams
  • You think in systems, not tools — your benchmark is not whether the pipeline passed, but whether the engineering system learned

Leadership Profile We're Looking For

  • Developer Obsessed — You understand that developer experience is a competitive advantage and that friction compounds across thousands of engineers.
  • AI Native — You don't add an AI assistant to existing workflows. You rethink the workflow assuming AI is a first-class participant.
  • Technically Deep — You engage credibly with senior engineers on distributed systems, CI/CD, security, AI/ML, and software architecture.
  • Security mindset — You believe secure software is the natural output of a well-designed engineering system, not a downstream gate.
  • Economically Disciplined — You treat infrastructure cost as an engineering metric, not a finance problem.
  • Transformation Oriented — You've moved organizations from legacy processes to fundamentally new operating models — and you have the scars to prove it.

The Challenge

If AI can generate software 10× faster — how do we build an engineering system that validates, secures, reviews, and ships that software 10× faster — without multiplying infrastructure cost or developer friction? And then build it.

Pay

Pay Range $347,400.00-$386,000.00. This position has a starting pay range as listed above. Actual salary depends upon many factors, including a candidate's skills, qualifications and experience, location, and salary expectations, and therefore a starting salary at the low end, high end, or even above the stated range may be offered. This position may also be eligible for bonus compensation, commission (if in a sales function), and/or equity grants.

Benefits

  • Health and wellness benefits
  • Vacation, paid holidays and refresh days
  • 401(k) retirement plan
  • Life and disability insurance coverages
  • Other benefits the Company may offer from time to time

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