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Software Engineering Director Jobs in California

Diality Inc

Director, Software Engineering

Irvine, CA · On-site

$223K - $260K/yr

The Director of Software Engineering reports to Director of Product Development and leads Diality's Software Engineering and Software Verification & Validation organizations. This role serves as the ...

Diality

Director, Software Engineering

Irvine, CA · Hybrid

$223K - $260K/yr

The Director of Software Engineering reports to Director of Product Development and leads Diality's Software Engineering and Software Verification & Validation organizations. This role serves as the ...

Socket.dev

Director, Software Engineering

San Diego, CA · On-site

$205 - $220/hr

JOB SUMMARY Truvian is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead software development for its recently FDA-cleared blood testing platform, TruVerus(TM). This role will follow software ...

Logos Space

Director, Software Engineering

San Diego, CA · On-site

$268K/yr

The Director will lead a team of software engineers, architects, and managers to deliver high-quality, scalable, and reliable software solutions that meet the evolving needs of our business. The full ...

HiddenLayer

Director of Engineering

San Francisco, CA · On-site +1

Director of Engineering Remote [within the US] ABOUT THE ROLE: The Engineering Director is ... Implement best practices in agile development, software quality assurance, and deployment pipelines.

Cotality

Director, Software Engineering

Irvine, CA · On-site

$271K/yr

Cotality is seeking a highly experienced and strategic Director of Software Engineering to lead our Digital Gateway initiatives. In this critical leadership role, you will hold ultimate ...

CoreLogic

Director, Software Engineering

Irvine, CA · On-site

$271K/yr

Cotality is seeking a highly experienced and strategic Director of Software Engineering to lead our Digital Gateway initiatives. In this critical leadership role, you will hold ultimate ...

Meta

Director, Software Engineering

Menlo Park, CA · On-site

$271K - $347K/yr

Meta is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead the CI Care organization within Integrity, focused on building user-facing experiences that keep our platforms safe. In this role, you will ...

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Software Engineering Director information

What is a software engineering director?

Software Engineering Directors are senior leaders responsible for overseeing software development teams and projects within an organization. They set the technical vision, manage engineering managers and senior engineers, and ensure that software products meet strategic business goals. Their role involves collaborating with other departments, defining engineering best practices, and ensuring the scalability and quality of software solutions. They also play a key role in hiring, mentoring, and developing engineering talent. Overall, they bridge the gap between business objectives and technical execution.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a software engineering director?

To thrive as a Software Engineering Director, you need a strong background in software development, leadership experience, and typically a degree in computer science or a related field. Familiarity with software development methodologies (such as Agile or Scrum), cloud platforms, and project management tools is highly valued, along with certifications like PMP or relevant technical credentials. Exceptional communication, strategic thinking, and the ability to motivate and mentor teams are standout soft skills in this role. These skills and qualities are crucial for aligning engineering efforts with business goals, driving innovation, and ensuring successful project delivery.

What are some common challenges faced by a software engineering director when managing cross-functional teams?

As a Software Engineering Director, one common challenge is aligning the priorities and workflows of diverse teams, such as development, QA, and product management, to ensure smooth project delivery. Navigating communication gaps and managing resource allocation across multiple projects can also be complex. To address these challenges, strong leadership, effective stakeholder management, and a keen ability to set clear objectives are essential. Proactively facilitating collaboration and maintaining transparency helps ensure teams remain focused and productive.

What are the most commonly searched types of Software Engineering jobs in California?

The most popular types of Software Engineering jobs in California are:

What cities in California are hiring for Software Engineering Director jobs?

Cities in California with the most Software Engineering Director job openings:

Infographic showing various Software Engineering Director job openings in California as of August 2026, with employment types broken down into 1% As Needed, 90% Full Time, 6% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 4% Hybrid, and 9% Remote job distribution.

Software Engineering Director - Inference Platform

SambaNova

San Jose, CA

$296K/yr

Full-time

Re-posted 16 days ago

Job description

About the Role

We help enterprises and service providers host their own AI inference platforms, powered by our state-of-the-art RDU (Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit) hardware architecture. Our cloud-agnostic, enterprise-grade inference serving platform enables seamless deployment, management, and scaling of foundation model workloads at production scale.

As an Engineering Director on the SambaStack team, you will lead a high-performing team of engineers while remaining a hands-on technical contributor. You will be responsible for the growth and effectiveness of your team, the technical quality of their output, and driving key engineering initiatives while continuing to contribute directly on the platform's most important challenges.

This is a high-impact, high-visibility role combining:

  • People leadership and team development
  • AI infrastructure
  • Enterprise software
  • Systems architecture and design
ResponsibilitiesPeople & Team Leadership
  • Lead, grow, and inspire a software team, fostering a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement
  • Own hiring for your team: define roles, assess candidates, and build a diverse, high-performing engineering organization
  • Drive the career development of your engineers through regular 1:1s, meaningful feedback, and clear growth plans
  • Set clear goals and expectations, track team progress, and remove blockers to keep the team executing effectively
  • Partner with Product, ML, QA, and DevOps leadership to align team priorities with broader organizational objectives
Technical Contribution
  • Contribute directly as a software engineer: designing systems, writing code, and leading implementation on critical platform initiatives
  • Participate in and lead design reviews, providing authoritative technical guidance on major features and cross-cutting changes
  • Establish and uphold engineering standards, best practices, and coding quality across the team
  • Proactively identify and drive the resolution of systemic risks: performance bottlenecks, reliability gaps, and scaling constraints
  • Stay current on emerging technologies and AI inference trends to inform the team's technical direction
Required Qualifications
  • 12+ years of software engineering experience, including 2+ years leading and managing engineering teams
  • Demonstrated ability to manage, develop, and hire strong engineers while remaining a hands-on technical contributor
  • Strong technical depth in backend systems built with Python, Go, or Rust
  • Experience with AI inference serving, orchestration, and the infrastructure challenges of LLM workloads at production scale
  • Proven ability to drive engineering excellence across an engineering team
  • Excellent communication skills: able to work effectively with engineers, cross-functional partners, and senior leadership
  • Experience running iterative engineering processes in a fast-paced environment
Preferred Qualifications
  • Experience with Kubernetes ecosystem tooling, including Operators and Helm Charts
  • Background in ML application optimization and productionization
  • Experience building or managing teams that deliver cloud-native platforms for enterprise customers
  • Familiarity with AI coding assistants and the developer tooling ecosystem
  • Experience at a high-growth AI infrastructure company

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