Director, Software Engineer

NetApp; San Jose (CA); Hybrid; USD 228,000 - 339,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Life Insurance

Stock Purchase Plan

RSUs

Paid Time Off

Job summary

NetApp is searching for a Director of Software Engineering to lead multiple software teams delivering scalable, secure, and reliable products. You will partner with Product Management, UX, Architecture, and executives to translate business goals into engineering strategy and execution.

You will drive organizational effectiveness, technical excellence, and talent development while ensuring delivery of critical initiatives and maintaining high operational discipline.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of software engineering experience.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience managing managers and/or multiple 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.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute engineering strategies aligned with product goals.
• Develop long-term technology roadmaps and investment priorities.
• Drive modernization through best practices, tools, and technologies.
• Lead multiple software products, platforms, or portfolios delivering on roadmap.
• Establish metrics and reviews to measure team delivery and quality.
• Coach and develop engineering managers and teams; foster an inclusive culture.
• Influence architecture and platform decisions for scalability, security, and maintainability.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, IT, Security, Sales, and Customer Success.

Skills

Software engineering

People leadership

Large-scale projects

Software architecture

DevOps / SDLC

Stakeholder influence

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

Job description

Own Every Moment at NetApp

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.

Ready to innovate and contribute to our path to $10B? Here, you'll collaborate with passionate teams, tackle real-world challenges, and see your impact in how customers transform and grow. If you're ready to bring curiosity, creativity, and drive to every moment, NetApp is where your journey begins. Join teams that innovate to elevate, drive results, and excel together across every function.

Job Summary

The Director of Software Engineering leads multiple software engineering teams responsible for the delivery of innovative, scalable, secure, and reliable products and services.

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.

Job 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• 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.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, or related technical field.

Compensation: 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. Final compensation packages are competitive and in line with industry standards, reflecting a variety of factors, and include a comprehensive benefits package. This may cover Health Insurance, Life Insurance, Retirement or Pension Plans, Paid Time Off, various Leave options, Performance-Based Incentives, employee stock purchase plan, and/or restricted stocks (RSU's), with all offerings subject to regional variations and governed by local laws, regulations, and company policies. Benefits may vary by country and region, and further details will be provided as part of the recruitment process.

At NetApp, we embrace a hybrid working environment designed to strengthen connection, collaboration, and culture for all employees. This means that most roles will have some level of in-office and/or in-person expectations, which will be shared during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity Employer

NetApp is firmly committed to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) and to compliance with all federal, state and local laws that prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, religion, disability or genetic information, pregnancy, protected veteran status, and any other protected classification.

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.

NetApp is the trusted partner for organizations transforming data into opportunity. As the only enterprise-grade storage service natively embedded in Google Cloud, AWS, and Microsoft Azure, we empower customers to run everything from traditional workloads to enterprise AI with unmatched performance, resilience, and security.

Our culture

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.

If you're ready to innovate, rise to the challenge, and own every moment - make your next move your best one.

AI Disclosure

For select roles, some stages of our hiring process may use artificial intelligence tools to help evaluate applications and candidate selection. These tools support—rather than replace—human decision-making.