Director, Software Engineering, Vet & Services (San Diego)

Want to help pets live their best lives?

At Petco, we're proud to be where the pets go—and where pet people go. For more than 60 years, we've helped pet parents provide everything their companions need to thrive, from nutrition and veterinary care to training, supplies, and services.

We're looking for an experienced engineering leader who is passionate about building great teams, delivering impactful technology solutions, and driving business outcomes through software. This is an opportunity to influence the future of Petco's technology landscape while working alongside talented engineers, product leaders, and business partners.

About the Role

As a Director of Engineering, you will lead multiple engineering teams responsible for designing, building, and supporting critical technology solutions across the organization. You will help shape technical direction, drive execution, and foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

This role is well suited for a strong engineering leader who has experience managing managers or multiple teams and is ready to expand their impact through broader organizational leadership.

What You'll Do

• Lead, develop, and inspire multiple software engineering teams.
• Partner with Product, Architecture, and Business leaders to define priorities and deliver meaningful outcomes.
• Drive execution across complex initiatives while balancing speed, quality, scalability, and operational excellence.
• Help establish technical direction and guide architectural decisions that support long-term business objectives.
• Foster engineering best practices across software development, testing, security, reliability, and system operations.
• Build a strong engineering culture focused on ownership, accountability, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Coach and mentor engineering managers and individual contributors to support their growth and career development.
• Drive cross-functional alignment and help teams navigate ambiguity to achieve results.
• Identify opportunities to improve engineering processes, team effectiveness, and organizational scalability.
• Contribute to technology strategy and investment decisions across the broader engineering organization.

What We're Looking For

• Strong technical foundation and a solid understanding of modern software engineering principles and practices.
• Proven experience leading engineering teams through complex technical and organizational challenges.
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with a practical, execution-oriented mindset.
• Experience partnering effectively with cross-functional stakeholders at multiple levels of the organization.
• Track record of building, developing, and retaining high-performing teams.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and influencing skills.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment with evolving priorities.
• Passion for technology, people leadership, and delivering customer value.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience with progressive leadership responsibilities.
• Experience leading engineering managers, multiple teams, or large-scale engineering initiatives.
• Demonstrated success delivering complex technology solutions from concept through execution.
• Experience with modern software development practices, cloud technologies, and agile delivery methodologies.