Director of Data Platform and Engineering

We are looking for a strategic and technically proficient Director of Data Platform and Engineering to lead the architecture, development, operation and transformation of our data platform and engineering capabilities. This role combines leadership, technical expertise with high visibility and cross-functional responsibility to ensure that our data platform is scalable, secure, enables advanced analytics, machine learning, business intelligence. The ideal candidate thrives in fast-paced highly technical environment and is passionate about building high-impact teams.

In this role, you will work directly with multiple functional engineering and data teams, driving the direction of strategic projects. Your responsibilities include engaging with stakeholders to assess needs and time frames, analyzing and developing solutions with supporting business cases, documenting plans, collaborating with other engineers and architects, and presenting proposals to leadership.

If building data platforms and engineering solutions to support critical Internet infrastructure is your passion, you should apply today!

Key responsibilities:

• Define and lead the vision, strategy, architecture and execution of Data Platform, Data Engineering initiatives and transformation, across the organization.
• Manage and grow data engineering and platform teams, fostering a collaborative, high-performing and innovative work environment.
• Lead recruitment, mentoring and development of others.
• Collaborate with stakeholders across various departments to ensure data platforms support business intelligence, analytics, and reporting needs.
• Manage relationships with third-party vendors and cloud service providers. 
• Oversee the design and implementation of scalable, reliable data infrastructure including data pipelines, storage, processing, and access layers.
• Drive evaluation and adoption of modern data architectures (e.g., data lakehouse, real-time processing, self-service analytics, machine learning), tools and technologies both on-premise and cloud.
• Establish best practices for software development, CI/CD, testing, system monitoring and EOL management.
• Ensure high standards of code quality, documentation, and platform reliability.
• Oversee data governance, quality, security, and compliance policies to ensure that all data initiatives meet Verisign and industry standards.
• Contributing to the budget process, vendor contracts and renewals.
• Stay updated on industry trends and emerging technologies to recommend improvements and ensure competitive edge in data capabilities.
• Sharing knowledge by blog posts, presenting at open houses, internal events and to senior leadership.

Qualifications:

• Bachelors' degree in Computer Science or Engineering required, or equivalent work experience.
• 12+ years of Software Development/Engineering, Data Engineering experience.
• 6+ years of people management experience.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, data architecture, streaming data, and modern data tooling (e.g., Spark, Kafka, dbt, Airflow, Snowflake, Hadoop, AWS).
• Deep understanding of software engineering principles and Agile practices.
• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder management skills.
• Comfortable presenting to and influencing senior and executive leadership.
• Proven track record of building high-performing teams by recruiting, on-boarding, and developing line mangers and team members.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving capabilities, experienced with driving issues to resolution.
• Highly adaptable, able to juggle multiple priorities.
• Deep experience developing strategy and roadmaps.
• Experience developing and implementing transformational plans.

Preferred:

• Proven experience building and managing applications or large-scale data platforms in cloud environments both private and public cloud
• Cloud certifications from major cloud providers such as Snowflake, AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud
• Certifications including Spark/Hadoop Developer, Confluent CCDAK, and Cloudera certifications
• Software engineering experience with products such as Kubernetes, Jenkins, VMware, Docker, or Infrastructure and Orchestration tools

This position is based in our Reston, VA office and offers a flexible, hybrid work schedule

The pay range is $180,700 - $244,500. 

The anticipated annual base salary range for this position is noted above, however, base pay offered may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience. Verisign offers a discretionary bonus which is based on individual and company performance, and certain roles may be eligible for discretionary stock awards.