Director Software Development Jobs in California

Job Summary:
Adobe is a company focused on changing the world through digital experiences. They are seeking a hands-on technical leader to own and evolve the Kubernetes Platform for their Infrastructure Engineering team, requiring deep expertise in Kubernetes and cloud-native architectures to drive complex infrastructure initiatives.
Responsibilities:
• Lead the Kubernetes Platform team. This team manages hundreds of K8s clusters across multiple cloud providers and Adobe-managed data centers.
• Act as a liaison to client and partner engineering teams to share the Infrastructure Engineering mission, vision and roadmap
• Gather input on client needs and proposed integration points with technical services which are delivered by our partner organizations
• Inspire and encourage our internal customer teams to contribute to the kubernetes platform via an internal open source and open contribution model
• Review and provide feedback on features, technology, architecture, designs, time & budget estimates, and test strategies
• Manage projects risks & engage in creative problem solving
• Develop and evolve engineering and business processes to optimize team efficiency
• Partner with other teams across Adobe on achieving common goals
Qualifications:
Required:
• Expert-level understanding of Kubernetes internals (scheduler, control plane, networking, storage, autoscaling, etc.)
• Deeply experienced with cloud-native and open-source ecosystems, and actively leverage or contribute to them
• Production experience with managed Kubernetes platforms such as EKS and AKS, including their limitations and trade-offs
• Can debug complex, distributed systems issues end-to-end (networking, performance, reliability, scaling bottlenecks)
• Capable of designing and implementing novel solutions, not just applying known patterns
• Self-starter who operates with high ownership and urgency, capable of driving ambiguous, complex infrastructure initiatives to completion
• Comfortable designing large-scale architectures and diving deep into low-level technical problems
• Act as a technical authority across teams—setting direction, making hard architectural calls, and raising the engineering bar
• Able to influence senior engineers and executives alike, articulating clear, well-reasoned technical strategies
• Not a delegative leadership role; expected to personally engage in design, implementation, and production operations
• Experience running high-scale, highly reliable, always-on systems
• Strong bias toward automation, resilience, and operational excellence, and comfortable being accountable for production outcomes
• Thrives in complexity, pushes systems beyond their limits, and consistently raises the technical bar for everyone around them
• Deep customer empathy for developers, with a strong track record of building platforms that materially improve developer velocity, reliability, and productivity at scale
• Expert-level understanding of distributed systems, including consensus, fault tolerance, networking, and data consistency, with deep specialization in Kubernetes and cloud-native architectures
• Proven ability to design, build, and operate highly reliable, large-scale, cost-efficient cloud platforms, with clear ownership of production systems under real-world load
• Demonstrated expertise in writing and reviewing highly optimized code, and applying advanced architectural patterns for performance, scalability, and efficiency
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts, trade-offs, and architectural decisions to both engineers and executive stakeholders
• 12+ years of hands-on engineering experience, with deep, production-grade expertise in Kubernetes (K8s), EKS, AKS, and cloud networking—including debugging and operating these systems at scale
• 10+ years of engineering leadership experience, with a strong track record of raising the technical bar, mentoring senior engineers, and driving execution on complex, ambiguous initiatives
• 5+ years leading leaders (manager-of-managers / Director-level scope), with demonstrated ability to scale organizations without compromising on technical excellence
• A strong track record of building and retaining high-performing, diverse engineering teams, with uncompromising hiring standards
• Strong influence and decision-making ability, capable of driving alignment on contentious technical topics with well-reasoned, data-backed arguments
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience, with a strong foundation in systems, algorithms, and software design
Preferred:
• Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science (or equivalent), particularly with focus on distributed systems, systems engineering, or related fields
Company:
Adobe is a software company that provides its users with digital marketing and media solutions. Founded in 1982, the company is headquartered in San Jose, USA, with a team of 10001+ employees. The company is currently Late Stage.