Sr. Director of Engineering, AI/ML

Do you ever wonder what happens inside the cloud?

DigitalOcean (NYSE: DOCN) simplifies cloud computing so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. With our mission-critical infrastructure and fully managed offerings, DigitalOcean enables startups and small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to rapidly deploy and scale modern applications. As a remote-first organization, our employees, like our customers, are based around the world.

We want people who are passionate about building products that will transform the way millions of developers innovate in the cloud.

At DigitalOcean, we are on a mission to simplify cloud infrastructure for developers and teams, empowering them to build, scale, and deploy applications without the complexities of managing infrastructure. We are looking for a Senior Director of Engineering to lead our new AI/ML initiative and play a key role in shaping the next generation of cloud services.

This is an exciting opportunity to work at the forefront of AI/ML and cloud technologies, driving product execution across DigitalOcean’s cloud platform. You will be responsible for leading a high-performing team, influencing the product strategy, and ensuring we deliver innovative solutions that help our community of 4+ million developers thrive. You will have the opportunity to build and scale an engineering team from the ground up, and collaborate across the organization to ensure DigitalOcean continues to deliver on its vision.

What You’ll Be Doing:

• Play a key role in shaping the future of DigitalOcean’s AI/ML and PaaS offerings. Help define and build cutting-edge AI/ML-driven cloud solutions that will empower millions of developers to build sophisticated applications with ease.
• Lead the creation of a new engineering team. Hire top talent, mentor engineers, and foster a high-performance culture as the foundation for long-term team success.
• Work closely with product, design, and other engineering teams to define the strategy for AI/ML and PaaS offerings. Ensure engineering execution is aligned with business goals and customer needs, delivering impactful solutions.
• Partner with product managers, sales, marketing, and other teams to ensure alignment between technical direction and business priorities. Promote a customer-first mindset across the company.
• Collaborate with key leaders across the organization to define and execute the engineering roadmap. Prioritize features and drive the development of tools and services that simplify complex processes for developers.
• Implement best practices in engineering processes, including agile development, CI/CD, testing, and performance monitoring. Focus on optimizing the development lifecycle and accelerating delivery without sacrificing quality.
• Stay at the cutting edge of AI/ ML and cloud infrastructure technologies. Ensure DigitalOcean's offerings are well-positioned for future innovation.
• Contribute to quarterly and annual planning processes, helping to prioritize key initiatives and develop business cases that influence strategic decision-making at the executive level.

What We’ll Expect From You:

• Extensive experience in leading engineering teams working on cloud infrastructure, AI/ML, or PaaS solutions. Proven success in scaling teams and delivering on complex technical projects.
• Deep knowledge of AI/ML and cloud-native platform development. Hands-on experience with scalable, distributed systems and cloud architectures.
• Experience developing and executing engineering roadmaps, managing trade-offs, and delivering results across cross-functional teams.
• Ability to align engineering work with business goals, translating high-level product strategies into actionable plans.
• Track record of building and leading high-performing engineering teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• A deep understanding of customer needs in cloud infrastructure, with a passion for delivering impactful, customer-first solutions.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to clearly present technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels of the organization.
• Hands-on experience with public cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure) and modern software engineering practices.
• Bachelor's degree in a technical field such as Computer Science, Engineering, or related disciplines. An advanced degree (MS, MBA) is a plus.

Why You’ll Like Working for DigitalOcean:

• We are proud to work here. You’ll be a part of a cutting-edge technology company with an upward trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud computing so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As a member of the team, you will be a Shark who thinks big, bold, and scrappy, like an owner with a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions. 
• We prioritize career development. At DO, you’ll do the best work of your career. You will work with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high-performance organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our organizational development team will provide you with resources to ensure you keep growing. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education. All employees have access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses to support their continued growth and development.
• We care about your well-being. Regardless of your location, we will provide you with a competitive array of benefits to support your overall well-being, from one-time work from home stipend to wellness allowance to flexible time off policy, to name a few. While the philosophy around our benefits is the same worldwide, specific benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.
• We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is between $250,000 - $330,000 based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary; bonus amounts are determined based on company and individual performance. We also provide equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program. 
• We value diversity and inclusion. We are an equal-opportunity employer, and recognize that diversity of thought and background builds stronger teams and products to serve our customers. We approach diversity and inclusion seriously and thoughtfully. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

*This is a remote role

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