Director, Software Engineering, Product Eng

Snap Inc.•Los Angeles, CA

9d•$284,000 - $500,000•Onsite

About The Position

Snap is seeking a Director, Software Engineering to lead a Product Engineering team. The role combines people leadership, product judgment, and technical depth to build experiences for Snapchatters and deliver business impact. The Director will shape the team’s vision and strategy, develop a high-performing and inclusive organization, and work closely with Product, Design, Data Science, Operations, and Engineering leaders. The role guides delivery of reliable, scalable, privacy-conscious products in a fast-moving, collaborative environment. The position leads and mentors software engineers; sets technical vision, strategy, roadmaps, and goals; and partners with cross-functional teams to understand customer needs, define requirements, make tradeoffs, and deliver high-quality experiences. It also provides technical direction and drives execution across product launches, architecture, platform capabilities, and engineering excellence. The Director is accountable for availability, scalability, performance, privacy, security, operational excellence, and cost management, as well as hiring, retaining, and developing engineers and leaders. Snap follows a “default together” approach and expects team members to work in an office 4+ days per week. The position’s U.S. annual base salary ranges are $334,000–$500,000 in Zone A (CA, WA, NYC), $317,000–$475,000 in Zone B, and $284,000–$425,000 in Zone C. The role is eligible for equity in the form of RSUs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in a relevant technical field such as computer science, mathematics, or statistics, or equivalent years of practical work experience.
10+ years of post-bachelor’s software development experience; or a Master’s degree in a technical field plus 9+ years of post-graduate software development experience; or a PhD in a related technical field plus 6+ years of post-graduate software development experience.
5+ years of experience as an engineering manager or technical leader, including setting technical direction for engineering projects or organizations.
Experience architecting, designing, and developing distributed systems and business-critical products.
Experience leading, mentoring, and scaling engineering teams to consistently deliver complex, high-impact work.
Excellent programming and software design skills, including debugging, performance analysis, testing, and technical decision-making.
Proven experience building and operating highly available products or services at significant scale.
Strong product judgment and ability to connect technical choices to customer value and business outcomes.
Demonstrated ability to solve ambiguous problems, set direction, and lead complex initiatives from strategy through delivery and operation.
Strong collaboration, communication, mentorship, and stakeholder management skills.
Experience developing engineering talent, building effective teams, and fostering accountability, inclusion, and continuous improvement.
Ability to learn new concepts and technologies quickly and apply them effectively.
Experience with one or more modern programming languages, such as Java, C++, Go, Python, Swift, Kotlin, or JavaScript.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree in a technical field such as computer science.
Experience building consumer products used at global scale.
Experience partnering with senior executives and management across a globally distributed organization and exercising sound judgment in a fast-changing environment.
Experience leading product engineering teams across multiple platforms, such as web, mobile, and backend systems.
Experience applying artificial intelligence or machine learning to product development, personalization, recommendations, search, or engineering productivity.
Track record of delivering in rapidly changing, highly collaborative, multi-site, and multi-stakeholder environments.
Ability to create a compelling vision for the future, communicate clearly, and lead collaboratively.

Responsibilities

Lead, manage, and mentor software engineers, fostering an environment where people can do their best work, grow their careers, and feel included and supported.
Set the technical vision, strategy, roadmap, and measurable goals for a product engineering area aligned with company priorities.
Partner with Product, Design, Data Science, Operations, and Engineering teams to understand customer needs, define requirements, evaluate tradeoffs, and deliver high-quality experiences.
Design, implement, and scale critical product components and services across the stack, including backend services, distributed systems, client applications, and data platforms as appropriate.
Drive technical execution across product launches and longer-term investments in architecture, platform capabilities, and engineering excellence.
Establish high standards for availability, scalability, performance, privacy, security, operational excellence, and cost management.
Use product and engineering insights to identify opportunities, make decisions in ambiguous situations, and improve customer and business outcomes.
Provide technical direction that influences work beyond the immediate team and improves how engineering organizations operate.
Hire, retain, and develop high-caliber engineers and leaders while building a diverse and inclusive team.
Communicate with senior leaders and cross-functional partners to align on priorities, risks, decisions, and outcomes.