Director, Software Engineering - Common Platform Services (San Jose)

Director, Software Engineering - Common Platform Services

San Jose, California, USA

About Zscaler

Zscaler accelerates digital transformation to ensure our customers can be more agile, efficient, resilient, and secure. As an AI-forward enterprise , we are constantly pushing the envelope, leveraging the world’s largest security data lake to power our cloud-native Zero Trust Exchange platform. This innovation protects our customers from cyberattacks and data loss by securely connecting users, devices, and applications in any location.

Here, impact in your role matters more than title and trust is built on results. We say, impact over activity. We seek innovators who actively use AI to amplify their impact and who thrive in an environment where we leverage intelligent systems to stay ahead of evolving threats. We believe in transparency and value constructive, honest debate —we’re focused on getting to the best ideas, faster. We build high-performing teams that can make an impact quickly and with high quality. To do this, we are building a culture of execution centered on customer obsession , collaboration, ownership, and accountability.

We value high-impact, high-accountability with a sense of urgency where you’re enabled to do your best work and embrace your potential. If you’re driven by purpose, thrive on solving complex challenges, and want to be part of the team that’s helping to secure the AI age, we invite you to bring your talents to Zscaler and help shape the future of cybersecurity.

Role

We are looking for a Director, Engineering, Common Platform Services to join our team. This is a Hybrid (San Jose, CA office 3 days a week) role, reporting to the VP, Software Engineering in the Zero Trust Exchange department. Our Common Platform Services team spans across all Zscaler products, with a core focus on Zscaler Workflow Automation, Unified Authorization service, and other common services. You will play a pivotal role in delivering scalable, secure, and high-performing platforms and developer tooling to empower our engineering teams. Your focus will be on enhancing our platform’s efficiency, scalability, and developer experience while managing and growing senior technical talent.

What you’ll do (Role Expectations)

• Lead large cross-functional teams to drive the technical roadmap, scale engineering talent, and guarantee operational execution
• Demonstrate executive presence and strong communication skills to enable high-level leadership visibility
• Bring transformation through the entire SDLC to modernize the team and execute a completely AI-native approach
• Provide deep technical leadership and decision-making backed by hands‑on experience with cloud technologies like AWS and GCP
• Build enterprise‑scale web service products for workflow automation and notification channels that integrate with Salesforce, AWS, and GCP

Who You Are (Success Profile)

• You act like an owner. Your passion for the mission fuels your bias for action, allowing you to navigate seamlessly between high‑level strategy and hands‑on execution.
• You are a high‑trust collaborator. You are ambitious for the team and embrace a challenge culture by exchanging candid feedback with clarity and respect to build deep trust.
• You operate with urgency. You understand that speed and quality are not mutually exclusive in a high‑growth environment, keeping a relentless focus on high‑impact execution.
• You champion simplicity. You are highly skilled at distilling complex technical problems and user needs into clear, simple, and actionable plans.
• You are data‑driven. You consistently use data and analytics to find the truth, valuing evidence over assumptions to drive optimal outcomes.

What We’re Looking for (Minimum Qualifications)

• Demonstrated curiosity and active exploration of AI tools, with a proven history of integrating new technologies to enhance daily workflows and augment problem‑solving
• 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 10+ years of technical people management and product/service delivery experience across public and private clouds
• U.S. citizenship due to the nature of the customers assigned to this role
• Strong technical leadership in building products with hyperscalers like AWS or GCP
• Extensive experience building cloud services engineered for massive scale and resiliency

What Will Make You Stand Out (Preferred Qualifications)

• Exceptional organizational leadership capabilities and communication skills tailored for executive visibility
• Deep product domain experience in security, networking, or enterprise workflow software like ServiceNow
• Proven ability to guide engineering teams through a comprehensive technical transformation journey using AI tooling

Base Pay Range

$248,000 - $310,000 USD

At Zscaler, we are committed to building a team that reflects the communities we serve and the customers we work with. We foster an inclusive environment that values all backgrounds and perspectives, emphasizing collaboration and belonging. Join us in our mission to make doing business seamless and secure.

Benefits

Our Benefits program is one of the most important ways we support our employees. Zscaler proudly offers comprehensive and inclusive benefits to meet the diverse needs of our employees and their families throughout their life stages, including:

• Time off plans for vacation and sick time
• Parental leave options
• Retirement options
• In‑office perks, and more!

Pay Transparency

Zscaler complies with all applicable federal, state, and local pay transparency rules.

Zscaler is committed to providing reasonable support (called accommodations or adjustments) in our recruiting processes for candidates who are differently abled, have long term conditions, mental health conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs, or who are neurodivergent or require pregnancy‑related support.

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