Director of Engineering, Platform (Runtime & Stateful Systems)

Sentry•San Francisco, CA

18d•$300,000 - $450,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Sentry is seeking an experienced engineering leader to own the runtime and stateful systems within its Platform organization. The role leads multiple engineering teams and Staff engineers responsible for OLTP and OLAP databases, real-time compute and stream processing, blob storage, and distributed caching. These mission-critical systems power Sentry’s products, including Seer, and support the work of product teams across the company. The Director will set technical vision and strategy across these systems, lead major architectural changes, and develop the engineering leaders and teams responsible for building and operating them. The role combines deep technical judgment and strategic thinking with responsibility for driving complex initiatives from concept through execution and shaping the organization’s technical direction and growth. This is a hybrid role based in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an expectation of working from Sentry’s San Francisco office three days per week.

Requirements

At least 12 years of experience in backend, platform, or infrastructure engineering, including significant experience designing and operating large-scale distributed systems.
Director-level engineering management experience, or equivalent senior engineering leadership overseeing multiple teams at comparable scale and complexity.
Deep technical expertise in at least one of these domains: OLTP databases, OLAP databases, real-time compute and stream processing, blob/object storage, or distributed caching.
Demonstrated experience driving significant architectural changes, evaluating technical tradeoffs, establishing direction, and leading implementation.
Strong technical judgment and ability to engage deeply in architectural discussions across multiple distributed systems domains.
Proven track record leading complex, cross-functional engineering initiatives from strategy through execution, with measurable technical or business impact.
Experience hiring, developing, and leading engineering managers and senior technical talent.
Strong communication and organizational leadership skills, including the ability to articulate technical concepts, influence senior stakeholders, and align teams around a shared strategy.
Experience operating mission-critical infrastructure and a strong understanding of reliability, scalability, performance, and operational efficiency.

Responsibilities

Lead multiple engineering teams and Staff engineers responsible for runtime and stateful systems supporting Sentry, Seer, and related products.
Set technical vision and strategy across multiple systems, identifying architectural opportunities as the business scales.
Drive significant architectural changes and technical initiatives, weighing scalability, reliability, performance, cost, and complexity.
Provide technical leadership across teams; work with senior engineers to evaluate architectural decisions, challenge assumptions, and establish technical direction.
Own execution and operational excellence for mission-critical systems, ensuring reliable, scalable, high-performing platform components.
Build and develop the engineering organization by hiring, mentoring, and growing engineering managers and senior technical leaders.
Foster engineering excellence, technical accountability, and continuous improvement.
Partner across Platform, Infrastructure, and Product to align priorities, navigate ambiguity, and deliver complex cross-functional initiatives.
Anticipate product and infrastructure needs, identify opportunities to build platform capabilities, and improve existing systems.