Senior Director Engineering, Head of Internal Technology

Senior Director Engineering, Head of Internal Technology at DigitalOcean

Dive in and do the best work of your career at DigitalOcean. Journey alongside a strong community of top talent who are relentless in their drive to build the simplest scalable cloud. If you have a growth mindset, naturally like to think big and bold, and are energized by the fast-paced environment of a true industry disruptor, you’ll find your place here. We value winning together—while learning, having fun, and making a profound difference for the dreamers and builders in the world.

We want people who are passionate about building high-performing teams that operate at scale and creating internal tools that your peers will love.

DigitalOcean is at a pivotal moment, evolving into a world-class AI-native company. As the leader of Internal Technology Engineering, you won’t just manage systems; you will architect the engine that powers our global, remote-first workforce. This is a rare opportunity to re-imagine the very nature of work by integrating LLMs and AI into the daily fabric of a NYSE-listed cloud leader.

We are looking for a visionary engineering leader and strategic architect to lead our IT and Business Systems teams. Reporting to the Chief Information Security Officer, you will be a key player in accelerating our workforce's productivity and simplifying our internal knowledge ecosystem.

What You’ll Do

• Drive AI Transformation: Lead the strategy for integrating AI into internal workflows to re-imagine how knowledge is shared and work is executed across the global organization.
• Architect Strategic Platforms: Own the full engineering lifecycle for internal platforms, making high-stakes "Build vs. Buy" decisions to ensure we maintain a strategic edge over standard SaaS solutions.
• Maximize Organizational Velocity: Innovate at the speed of an AI-native company by staying ahead of tech trends and removing friction from internal processes.
• Foster Engineering Excellence: Cultivate a highly collaborative team of managers and engineers, providing the mentorship needed to build seamless, API-first ecosystems.
• Deliver Product-Centric Internal Tools: Execute a roadmap that treats internal technology with the same rigor and user-centricity as our external cloud products.
• Optimize Operational Resilience: Establish success metrics for uptime and employee productivity to ensure our global IT functions remain a robust backbone for the company.
• Lead Strategic Alignment: Partner with cross-functional stakeholders in HR, Finance, and Engineering to translate complex business needs into a unified technical vision.

What You’ll Add

• Technical Breadth: 12+ years of experience in technical roles with a deep understanding of cloud-based systems, cybersecurity, and the application of LLMs/AI to solve enterprise-scale problems.
• Strategic Leadership: A proven track record of managing managers, scaling internal developer productivity tools, and navigating the entire SDLC from ideation to deprecation.
• The "Human" Element: A feedback-driven leadership style that builds psychological safety, creates a sense of belonging, and empowers individuals to do the best work of their careers.
• Growth Mindset: A relentless drive to challenge the status quo of "how IT is done" and a commitment to continuous organizational improvement.

Why You’ll Like Working for DigitalOcean

We innovate with purpose. You’ll be a part of a cutting-edge technology company with an upward trajectory, who are proud to simplify cloud and AI so builders can spend more time creating software that changes the world. As a member of the team, you will be a Shark who thinks big, bold, and scrappy, like an owner with a bias for action and a powerful sense of responsibility for customers, products, employees, and decisions.We prioritize career development. At DO, you’ll do the best work of your career. You will work with some of the smartest and most interesting people in the industry. We are a high-performance organization that will always challenge you to think big. Our organizational development team will provide you with resources to ensure you keep growing. We provide employees with reimbursement for relevant conferences, training, and education. All employees have access to LinkedIn Learning's 10,000+ courses to support their continued growth and development.We care about your well-being. Regardless of your location, we will provide you with a competitive array of benefits to support you from our Employee Assistance Program to Local Employee Meetups to flexible time off policy, to name a few. While the philosophy around our benefits is the same worldwide, specific benefits may vary based on local regulations and preferences.We reward our employees. The salary range for this position is based on market data, relevant years of experience, and skills. You may qualify for a bonus in addition to base salary; bonus amounts are determined based on company and individual performance. We also provide equity compensation to eligible employees, including equity grants upon hire and the option to participate in our Employee Stock Purchase Program.DigitalOcean is an equal-opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, national origin, caste, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, age, disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic makeup, marital status, or military service.

Compensation Range

$221,000 - $277,000

This is a remote role

Key skills/competency

• AI Transformation
• Strategic Platform Architecture
• Engineering Leadership
• Cloud-based Systems
• Cybersecurity
• LLMs/AI Applications
• SDLC Management
• Team Mentorship
• Operational Resilience
• Cross-functional Alignment