Director of Engineering - Data Access, Applications

Ookla • Memphis, TN

1d • $175,000 - $213,000

About The Position

Our team is a group of people brought together through passion and inspired by possibility. We are looking for team members who love solving problems, are motivated by challenges, and enjoy turning clever ideas into exceptional products. When you work for us, you are using Ookla data and insights to advance our mission of better connectivity for all.
We're looking for a Director of Engineering to lead our Data Access team - a critical function that powers our enterprise products through APIs and data systems serving ISPs and government customers worldwide. You'll oversee a team of backend and data engineers responsible for designing, scaling, and operating the infrastructure that delivers petabyte-scale telemetry and analytics data to our customers.
This role requires a technical leader who can bridge backend engineering and data infrastructure, balancing system performance with product velocity. You'll drive technical strategy, partner across product and engineering organizations, and build a team culture focused on operational excellence and customer impact.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, or Engineering
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with 4+ years in engineering management roles
• Experience leading teams of 10 or more engineers, ideally managing both backend and data engineering functions
• Strong technical background in API development and distributed systems architecture
• Deep understanding of data pipeline orchestration tools (Airflow, Dagster, etc.) and their operational patterns
• Experience designing APIs over analytical data stores, managing schema evolution and versioning at scale
• Solid grasp of data engineering fundamentals: streaming systems, data storage formats, query optimization, and data quality
• Familiarity with Go and/or Node.js in production environments (hands-on experience preferred)
• Understanding of analytical databases and query engines (SingleStore, ClickHouse, Athena, Presto, Snowflake)
• Experience with geospatial data systems, spatial indexing, and location-based query optimization (PostGIS, H3, geohashing)
• Experience with cloud-native architectures on AWS, including data lake patterns and modern storage layers (S3, Iceberg, Parquet)
• Knowledge of observability, monitoring, and reliability engineering practices for data-intensive systems
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills across technical and non-technical audiences
• Strong strategic thinking with ability to balance short-term delivery and long-term technical investment

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of 10+ engineers across backend (Go, Node.js) and data engineering disciplines
• Define and execute technical strategy for our data access layer, including APIs, data pipelines, and orchestration systems
• Drive architectural decisions for high-throughput APIs serving analytical workloads, ensuring scalability, reliability, and performance
• Partner closely with product management and frontend/web application engineering teams to deliver seamless data experiences for customers
• Oversee the operation and evolution of our data orchestration systems (Airflow, Dagster) and analytical databases (SingleStore)
• Lead development of geospatial data systems and APIs, supporting location-based analytics and network intelligence features
• Build operational excellence through observability, data quality frameworks, and incident management practices
• Manage team planning, roadmaps, and delivery across a portfolio of data products and infrastructure initiatives
• Foster a culture of technical excellence, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement
• Collaborate with platform teams on data architecture evolution (S3, Athena, lakehouse patterns)

Benefits

• Ookla offers competitive salaries in addition to robust, health and wellness-focused benefits, including comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, as well as life and disability benefits.
• Our employees enjoy Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), a 401(k) with company match, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan.
• We are committed to work-life balance with Flexible Time Off, Volunteer Time Off, and paid holidays.
• We offer family building and caregiving support and generous Family Care and Parental leave, when you need it.
• We also provide Fitness Reimbursement and access to wellness programs, ensuring our team stays healthy both physically and mentally.
• At Ziff Davis, we remain dedicated to creating an environment where everyone feels valued, respected, and empowered to succeed.
• We offer Employee Resource Groups, company-sponsored events, and regular opportunities for professional growth through educational support, mentorship programs, and career development resources.
• Our employees are recognized and celebrated through employee engagement programs and recognition awards.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 51-100 employees