Director, Software Development Engineering
Zscaler, San Jose, CA, United States
Director, Software Engineering San Jose, California, USA
Overview Director, Software Engineering to join our team. This is a hybrid role based out of our San Jose HQ (minimum 3 days a week on Tue, Wed, Thu), reporting to the VP, Engineering for the Zero Trust Branch (Zero Trust Exchange) department.
We are looking for a leader who will drive architecture, delivery, and operational excellence for gateway/datapath engineering—high‑performance, highly reliable traffic processing systems. The role sets the technical strategy and executes on critical dataplane capabilities to ensure scalable, secure, and observable performance that directly impacts customer experience and platform stability.
What you’ll do (Role Expectations) Set technical direction and architecture for the gateway/datapath, driving scalable, high‑performance designs while balancing latency, throughput, resiliency, and cost
Lead and grow the engineering organization, hiring and developing a high‑performing team and building a culture of accountability, execution, and continuous improvement
Drive delivery of critical dataplane capabilities, translating business priorities into clear roadmaps, milestones, and measurable outcomes, and consistently shipping high‑quality releases
Own operational excellence for production systems, improving reliability, observability, incident response, and SLO/SLI discipline to meet availability and performance targets
Partner cross‑functionally with Product, QA, Security, SRE, and peer engineering teams to align priorities, manage dependencies, and ensure end‑to‑end customer impact
Who You Are (Success Profile) You thrive in ambiguity. You’re comfortable building the path as you walk it in a dynamic environment, turning ambiguity into meaningful outcomes
You act like an owner with a bias for action and integrity, adapting between strategy and hands‑on execution
You are customer‑obsessed, building deep empathy for internal and external customers and anchoring decisions in solving real‑world problems
You are a positive force, bringing constructive energy and a can‑do spirit that keeps the team focused on solutions
You operate with urgency, delivering high‑impact results quickly while maintaining quality
Minimum Qualifications 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 7+ years leading engineering teams delivering complex, production‑grade systems
Proven experience building and operating high‑performance gateway/datapath or networking systems with strong fundamentals in performance and reliability
Demonstrated ability to set technical strategy and drive execution across multiple workstreams with a track record of shipping impactful capabilities on predictable timelines
Strong production ownership experience: operating mission‑critical services, driving SLOs/SLIs, incident management, root‑cause analysis, and continuous reliability improvements
Excellent cross‑functional leadership and communication skills, able to align engineering, product, and operations stakeholders around priorities and tradeoffs
Preferred Qualifications Strong experience designing, building, and operating SD‑WAN datapaths and control/data plane interactions
Experience delivering gateway/datapath capabilities in cloud‑native, multi‑tenant environments with robust observability and safe rollout strategies
Strong experience with routing and switching fundamentals (e.g., BGP/OSPF, ECMP, VRFs, VLANs) in high‑scale production environments
Compensation and Benefits Zscaler’s salary ranges are benchmarked and are determined by role and level. The base pay range listed for this full‑time position is $206,500 – $295,000 USD and excludes commission/bonus/equity plus benefits.
Base Pay Range
$206,500 - $295,000 USD
We offer comprehensive benefits to support employees and their families, including time off, parental leave options, retirement options, in‑office perks, and more.
Equal Employment Opportunity Zscaler is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or other protected characteristics. See Know Your Rights for more information.
Voluntary Self‑Identification (EEO Voluntary Measures) This section is provided for government reporting purposes. Completion is voluntary and will not impact hiring decisions. The information is confidential and will be used solely for compliance reporting.
Please only refer to the main job posting for application instructions.
J-18808-Ljbffr
Overview Director, Software Engineering to join our team. This is a hybrid role based out of our San Jose HQ (minimum 3 days a week on Tue, Wed, Thu), reporting to the VP, Engineering for the Zero Trust Branch (Zero Trust Exchange) department.
We are looking for a leader who will drive architecture, delivery, and operational excellence for gateway/datapath engineering—high‑performance, highly reliable traffic processing systems. The role sets the technical strategy and executes on critical dataplane capabilities to ensure scalable, secure, and observable performance that directly impacts customer experience and platform stability.
What you’ll do (Role Expectations) Set technical direction and architecture for the gateway/datapath, driving scalable, high‑performance designs while balancing latency, throughput, resiliency, and cost
Lead and grow the engineering organization, hiring and developing a high‑performing team and building a culture of accountability, execution, and continuous improvement
Drive delivery of critical dataplane capabilities, translating business priorities into clear roadmaps, milestones, and measurable outcomes, and consistently shipping high‑quality releases
Own operational excellence for production systems, improving reliability, observability, incident response, and SLO/SLI discipline to meet availability and performance targets
Partner cross‑functionally with Product, QA, Security, SRE, and peer engineering teams to align priorities, manage dependencies, and ensure end‑to‑end customer impact
Who You Are (Success Profile) You thrive in ambiguity. You’re comfortable building the path as you walk it in a dynamic environment, turning ambiguity into meaningful outcomes
You act like an owner with a bias for action and integrity, adapting between strategy and hands‑on execution
You are customer‑obsessed, building deep empathy for internal and external customers and anchoring decisions in solving real‑world problems
You are a positive force, bringing constructive energy and a can‑do spirit that keeps the team focused on solutions
You operate with urgency, delivering high‑impact results quickly while maintaining quality
Minimum Qualifications 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 7+ years leading engineering teams delivering complex, production‑grade systems
Proven experience building and operating high‑performance gateway/datapath or networking systems with strong fundamentals in performance and reliability
Demonstrated ability to set technical strategy and drive execution across multiple workstreams with a track record of shipping impactful capabilities on predictable timelines
Strong production ownership experience: operating mission‑critical services, driving SLOs/SLIs, incident management, root‑cause analysis, and continuous reliability improvements
Excellent cross‑functional leadership and communication skills, able to align engineering, product, and operations stakeholders around priorities and tradeoffs
Preferred Qualifications Strong experience designing, building, and operating SD‑WAN datapaths and control/data plane interactions
Experience delivering gateway/datapath capabilities in cloud‑native, multi‑tenant environments with robust observability and safe rollout strategies
Strong experience with routing and switching fundamentals (e.g., BGP/OSPF, ECMP, VRFs, VLANs) in high‑scale production environments
Compensation and Benefits Zscaler’s salary ranges are benchmarked and are determined by role and level. The base pay range listed for this full‑time position is $206,500 – $295,000 USD and excludes commission/bonus/equity plus benefits.
Base Pay Range
$206,500 - $295,000 USD
We offer comprehensive benefits to support employees and their families, including time off, parental leave options, retirement options, in‑office perks, and more.
Equal Employment Opportunity Zscaler is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability status, or other protected characteristics. See Know Your Rights for more information.
Voluntary Self‑Identification (EEO Voluntary Measures) This section is provided for government reporting purposes. Completion is voluntary and will not impact hiring decisions. The information is confidential and will be used solely for compliance reporting.
Please only refer to the main job posting for application instructions.
J-18808-Ljbffr