Director of Engineering, Internal Platforms & Developer Experience

Collectors; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 212,000 - 300,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Fertility benefits

Commuter benefits

401(k) matching

Flexible time-off

Job summary

Collectors is seeking an engineering leader to drive platform engineering strategy and raise developer productivity. You will lead teams responsible for core infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, and internal developer platforms, while guiding AI enablement and governance.

The role requires 10+ years in software or infra with 5+ years of management, deep cloud/k8s experience, and a platform-as-a-product mindset to balance innovation with reliability.

Qualifications

• 10+ years as a software or infrastructure leader with 5+ years managing teams.
• Deep technical and strategic mindset, scaling platform/infrastructure orgs.
• Experience with cloud platforms, Kubernetes, CI/CD, and IaC.
• Advocate for developer experience and platform-as-a-product.

Responsibilities

• Define and drive platform engineering strategy across infra, DX, and AI enablement.
• Lead multiple teams handling core infra, CI/CD, containers, and internal platform.
• Own vision for developer experience with self-service tooling.
• Establish AI enablement strategies and governance with security and legal.
• Set standards for reliability, observability, IaC, and capacity planning.
• Collaborate with product, security, data, and architecture leaders.

Skills

Platform strategy

Engineering leadership

Cloud platforms

Kubernetes

CI/CD

IaC

Observability

Platform as a product

AI-enabled development

Tools

AWS

Azure

GCP

Kubernetes

GitHub Actions

ArgoCD

Terraform

Crossplane

Prometheus

Job description

Collectors is the leading creator of innovative technology that provides value-added services for collectors worldwide. We grade, authenticate, vault, and sell millions of record-setting collectibles, all while modernizing and digitalizing the process to further our mission of helping collectors pursue their passions. We’re always on the lookout for talented people to join our growing team.

Our services span collectible trading cards, autographs, comic books, coins, video games, event tickets, and memorabilia. Our subsidiaries include PSA, PCGS, Beckett, SGC, and Card Ladder.

Since our founding in 1986, we have graded and authenticated millions of items. We employ more than 3000 people across our headquarters in Santa Ana, California and offices in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Japan, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Canada, Mexico, Germany, and France.

As part of our interview process, we request that candidates have their cameras on during video interviews. This helps foster meaningful conversation and allows us to create an experience that closely resembles our standard working environment. Certain interview steps may take place by phone. For remote roles, and at our discretion, candidates may be asked to participate in an on-site interview as part of the final stages of the process.

We understand there may be occasional circumstances requiring accommodation and are happy to discuss them as needed. Your recruiter will be able to clarify expectations and answer any questions you have.

We’re transforming the collecting experience with technology that brings authentication, grading, and trading into the modern era. Our products are equalizing the playing field by providing tools that make complex research analytics — including pricing, scarcity reports, and historic sales data — accessible to every collector, old or new. Our engineering mission is to democratize technology while promoting innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning throughout the organization.

Collectors is committed to utilize cybersecurity, risk and privacy best practices on our platforms, leveraging signal intelligence and observability at scale to protect our customers, employees and our brand. We’re looking for a Director of Internal Platforms and Developer Experience to join our Platform Engineering team to partner with the broader Product and Tech org and build the foundational systems that our engineers rely on to build, deploy and run our applications.

You’ll report to the VP of Engineering, Information Security and Platforms. Remote or hybrid candidates will also be considered. We believe that there is significant value in in-person collaboration. If you live within a 1 hour commuting distance to one of our offices, you will be required to be onsite most of the time. This will be discussed further as part of the recruiting process.

What You’ll Do:

• Define and drive the platform engineering strategy across infrastructure, developer experience, and AI enablement, ensuring alignment with broader organizational goals and technology roadmaps.

• Lead and develop multiple engineering teams responsible for core infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, container orchestration, cloud services, and the internal developer platform, fostering a culture of reliability, ownership, and continuous improvement.

• Own the vision for developer experience, ensuring internal teams have access to well-documented, self-service tooling and platforms that reduce friction and accelerate the path from code to production.

• Establish and oversee AI enablement strategies, including the evaluation, integration, and governance of AI-assisted development tools and frameworks, ensuring teams can adopt AI capabilities responsibly and effectively.

• Define guardrails and governance frameworks for AI adoption, partnering with security, legal, and compliance stakeholders to create policies that balance innovation velocity with risk management, data privacy, and responsible use.

• Set standards for platform reliability, scalability, and security, driving investment in observability, incident response, infrastructure-as-code, and capacity planning to support the organization’s growth.

• Partner cross-functionally with product engineering, security, data, and architecture leaders to ensure platform capabilities meet current and emerging needs across the organization.

• Champion a platform-as-a-product mindset, using internal feedback loops, adoption metrics, and developer satisfaction data to continuously iterate on the platforms and services your teams provide.

Who You Are:

• A seasoned engineering leader with 10+ years of experience in software or infrastructure engineering, including 5+ years managing engineering teams and at least 2+ years leading managers or multiple teams simultaneously.

• Deeply technical with a strategic mindset. You’ve built or scaled platform and infrastructure organizations and can move fluidly between architectural decisions and organizational strategy without losing sight of either.

• An expert in modern infrastructure and platform tooling, with hands-on experience across cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), container orchestration (k8s), CI/CD systems (GitHub Actions, ArgoCD), infrastructure-as-code (Terrafor/Crossplane), and observability stacks.

• A champion of developer experience. You’ve operated with a platform-as-a-product philosophy, and you have a track record of building internal tooling and self-service platforms that measurably improve developer productivity and satisfaction.

• Fluent in the AI-assisted development landscape. You understand the current ecosystem of AI coding assistants, code generation tools, and LLM-based development frameworks, and you’ve led or contributed to organizational strategies for adopting them thoughtfully.

• Governance-minded without being risk-averse. You know how to design guardrails and policies around emerging technology — particularly AI — that protect the organization without stifling innovation, and you’re comfortable partnering with security, legal, and compliance teams to get there.

• A strong cross-functional partner. You build trust easily with product engineering, architecture, security, and business stakeholders, and you’re skilled at translating platform capabilities into business value.

• Operationally excellent. You’ve managed cloud infrastructure budgets, vendor relationships, and capacity planning at scale, and you bring a disciplined approach to headcount planning and resource allocation.

• An effective communicator who can articulate platform strategy and technical trade-offs to audiences ranging from individual contributors to executive leadership with equal clarity.

Salary Range:

The salary range for this position is $212,000- $300,000. Actual compensation on this range varies based on a variety of non-discriminatory factors, including location, job level, experience, and skill set. This role may be eligible for bonuses, commissions, or other forms of compensation, please ask your recruiter for details.

Reasons To Join Us:

• Health Insurance: All full-time employees are eligible to enroll in Medical, Dental, and Vision.

• Additional Benefits: Full-time employees are eligible for fertility, commuter, and educational assistance benefits.

• 401(K) Matching Plan: We are proud to offer a competitive 401k matching plan to our employees to support their future financial goals.

• Vacation: All salaried employees are eligible for flexible time-off.

• Holiday Pay: All regular, full-time employees are eligible for ten company paid holidays.

• Employee Discounts: Employees receive discounts on select grading services for approved submissions.

• Flexible Hours: Many of our teams offer flexible schedules with varying shifts and will work with you to accommodate your needs.

• Fun Working Environment: Our team members are invited to participate in celebrations, holiday events, and team building activities.

• Additional Resources: Collectors Tech Blog, PSA.

Qualified applications with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act. 12.

Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.

Collectors uses e-Verify to validate your ability to work legally in the United States.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, national origin, gender, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital or parental status, disability, veteran status, or other class protected by applicable law. We believe that a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills will better service the diverse community of collectors we support.

If you require an accommodation to apply or interview with us due to a disability or special need, please email [e-mail].

U.S. residents: for disclosures relating to personal information we collect during the employment application and recruitment process, please see our Privacy Notice for U.S. Applicants.

If you are based in California, you can read information for California residents here.