Director of Engineering – Platform Services (Hybrid - Seattle, WA)

Nordstrom • Seattle, WA

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Director of Engineering to lead Core Platform Services, someone who sets a clear technical direction, builds strong teams, and is accountable for outcomes that matter to the business. Core Platform Services is the organization responsible for the foundational infrastructure platforms that power a significant portion of Nordstrom’s technology stack. Your team owns a portfolio of platform services that engineers across the company rely on to build, operate, and secure their applications. These platforms sit in the critical path of nearly everything we do. This is a director-of-managers role. You will lead a team of approximately 30 engineers and program managers across four engineering teams, each led by an Engineering Manager. You report to a Senior Director within our Platform & Data organization. A day in the life… Builds a team culture where engineers and managers do their best work and are held accountable for results Sets a clear multi-year technical direction and can translate that story to business priorities for a range of audiences Leads and develops a team of Engineering Managers; builds succession and talent pipelines across the organization Owns delivery of critical platform capabilities across a broad portfolio of infrastructure and developer services Drives architectural decisions that balance innovation, operational stability, security, and cost efficiency Leads major platform migration programs, moving the organization from legacy systems to modern, sustainable platforms at enterprise scale Governs production change for business-critical systems, including participation in change advisory processes and peak-season readiness Manages vendor relationships and technology contracts; optimizes licensing costs without compromising reliability Raises the bar on engineering practices across the org, including cloud-native architecture, automation, AI-assisted operations, and self-service developer tooling Knows what good looks like: platform reliability, engineer productivity, cost efficiency, and progress on the modernization roadmap

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, infrastructure, or platform engineering roles
• 5+ years leading managers and senior technical leaders in large-scale, complex technology environments
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience
• Demonstrated success shaping and delivering multi-year technology modernization strategies, including enterprise-scale platform migrations
• Strong technical breadth across infrastructure domains, with experience spanning multiple platform disciplines such as data, observability, developer tooling, or enterprise middleware
• Experience governing production systems in high-availability, high-stakes environments (retail, e-commerce, finance, or similar)
• Comfortable working across engineering, product, security, and executive stakeholders, including when there is no clear authority to drive alignment

Nice To Haves

• Experience with compliance-sensitive platform operations, including PCI DSS or similar regulatory frameworks (preferred)
• Strong familiarity with enterprise developer platforms including source control, artifact management, CI/CD, or secrets management (preferred)
• Experience in retail or e-commerce, with an understanding of seasonal operational rhythms and peak readiness (preferred)

Responsibilities

• Builds a team culture where engineers and managers do their best work and are held accountable for results
• Sets a clear multi-year technical direction and can translate that story to business priorities for a range of audiences
• Leads and develops a team of Engineering Managers; builds succession and talent pipelines across the organization
• Owns delivery of critical platform capabilities across a broad portfolio of infrastructure and developer services
• Drives architectural decisions that balance innovation, operational stability, security, and cost efficiency
• Leads major platform migration programs, moving the organization from legacy systems to modern, sustainable platforms at enterprise scale
• Governs production change for business-critical systems, including participation in change advisory processes and peak-season readiness
• Manages vendor relationships and technology contracts; optimizes licensing costs without compromising reliability
• Raises the bar on engineering practices across the org, including cloud-native architecture, automation, AI-assisted operations, and self-service developer tooling
• platform reliability, engineer productivity, cost efficiency, and progress on the modernization roadmap

Benefits

• Medical/Vision, Dental
• Retirement and Paid Time Away
• Life Insurance and Disability
• Merchandise Discount and EAP Resources
• 401k, medical/vision/dental/life/disability insurance options, PTO accruals, Holidays, and more.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees