Sr. Director- Software Development (Global Network Engineering)

Visa•Foster City, CA

7d•$194,700 - $400,900•Hybrid

About The Position

The Sr. Director role in the Global Network Engineering organization entails end-to-end ownership of the strategy, architecture, technology selection, software development, and ongoing evolution of the infrastructure-as-code (IaC) platform supporting Visa’s entire multi-vendor networking portfolio. This ownership includes defining the framework for network device configuration generation and management; leading the development team responsible for Visa’s internally developed IaC network configuration platform, while contributing code personally; and partnering with stakeholders across a diverse set of organizations, including Engineering, Operations, Cybersecurity, and Client Services. The IaC platform is a mission-critical engineering system that automates engineering and operations workflows, enables self-service capabilities across the organization, and serves as a foundational platform for GenAI and agentic AI adoption. A successful candidate will bring deep software engineering leadership experience, a strong platform engineering mindset, hands-on development expertise, and the ability to drive technical innovation, organizational transformation, and execution at scale.

Requirements

12+ years of relevant work experience and a Bachelor's degree, OR 15+ years of relevant work experience.
Proven track record leading large-scale software engineering, platform engineering, DevOps, or network engineering organizations in enterprise environments.
Strong understanding of networking technologies and routing protocols (OSPF, BGP, EIGRP), SNMP, load balancing, and network configuration and monitoring systems, with the ability to effectively partner with senior network architects and engineers.
Deep technical expertise in software development, including Python, SQL, modern web technologies (Angular/JavaScript), REST APIs, and distributed systems architecture.
Strong understanding of time-series databases (InfluxDB, Prometheus) and their application to monitoring, observability, analytics, and operational insights.
Demonstrated experience with containerization technologies such as Docker, Kubernetes, or Docker Swarm.
Solid understanding of data storage technologies including Redis, MongoDB, and other NoSQL databases.
Experience applying ML/AI and GenAI techniques to operational and infrastructure data, including network environments, using modern data science and AI frameworks.
Proven ability to architect and develop production-grade automation platforms and software systems with strong scalability, resiliency, observability, and error handling.
Experience establishing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines, coding standards, software quality frameworks, and engineering best practices including unit testing, code coverage, and test-driven development.
Strong analytical, problem-solving, and systems architecture skills.
Outstanding communication and presentation skills with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to both technical and executive audiences.
Experience driving technology transformation and delivering production-grade software, automation, and AI-enabled platform solutions.
Strong collaboration skills with demonstrated leadership in cross-functional, highly technical environments.

Nice To Haves

15 or more years of experience with a Bachelor's Degree or 12 years of experience with an Advanced Degree (e.g., Master's, MBA, JD, or MD), or PhD with 9+ years of experience.
Experience leading geographically distributed software engineering, platform engineering, DevOps, or network engineering teams.
Demonstrated success architecting, building, and operating enterprise-scale software platforms, automation systems, developer infrastructure, or IaC solutions.
Experience with network telemetry systems, time-series databases, real-time analytics, and AI/ML-driven operational insights.
Proficiency with infrastructure-as-code tools (Ansible, Terraform, etc.).
Experience mentoring and developing software engineers, platform engineers, DevOps engineers, and network specialists.
Metrics-driven management approach with a focus on service reliability, scalability, and platform performance.
Strong product management skills, including requirements gathering, roadmap development, stakeholder management, and solution design.
Experience managing mission-critical infrastructure and delivering exceptional reliability in large-scale production environments.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts for diverse audiences.
Ability to drive consensus across diverse, global technology teams.
Sound judgment, high ethical standards, and the ability to work effectively at all organizational levels.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute comprehensive platform engineering and network automation strategies and roadmaps, ensuring alignment with business objectives and elevating operational reliability and efficiency.
Write code and lead a geographically distributed software engineering and DevOps team responsible for a mission-critical IaC platform that serves as the single source of truth and is essential to configuring and managing Visa’s production networks at industry-leading levels of availability.
Function as the executive leader for network automation, platform engineering, and IaC initiatives, partnering with Cybersecurity and cross-functional engineering and operations teams to define priorities, direction, and implementation timelines.
Lead the evaluation, selection, and deployment of new technologies and vendors, including containerized automation platforms, ML-driven anomaly detection, GenAI capabilities, and event-driven remediation systems.
Serve as a technical leader for software-driven network automation environments, including Python frameworks, infrastructure-as-code, CI/CD pipelines, containerized microservices, and AI-enabled operational workflows.
Set technical direction for architecture, engineering, and delivery of complex, enterprise-wide automation solutions supporting multi-vendor network environments.
Lead cross-functional and external collaboration projects, managing strategic partnerships with both internal stakeholders and external vendors.
Drive adoption of industry best practices for software engineering, code quality, security, performance monitoring, reliability engineering, and platform operations.
Establish and enforce robust software development processes including coding standards, test-driven development, code reviews, and comprehensive CI/CD pipelines.
Ensure change management and compliance with information security standards across all automation initiatives.
Lead GenAI adoption in the organization and evolve the IaC platform into a foundational engineering platform that enables agentic AI use cases across Network Engineering.
Inspire, mentor, and lead high-performing teams of software engineers, platform engineers, and network specialists to deliver operational excellence and continuous improvement.
Set clear priorities and goals (OKRs) and foster a culture of innovation, service reliability, engineering excellence, and accountability.
Monitor and evaluate team performance and coach for growth.
Build strong relationships with business leaders, stakeholders, and operations teams, advocating for their needs and incorporating feedback.