Sr Director, Engineering
Apply NowCompany: Couchbase
Location: Santa Clara, CA 95051
Description:
As industries race to embrace AI, traditional database solutions fall short of rising demands for versatility, performance, and affordability. Couchbase is leading the way with Capella, the developer data platform for critical applications in our AI world. By uniting transactional, analytical, mobile, and AI workloads into a seamless, fully managed solution, Couchbase empowers developers and enterprises to build and scale applications with unmatched flexibility, performance, and cost-efficiency-from cloud to edge. Trusted by over 30% of the Fortune 100, Couchbase is unlocking innovation, accelerating AI transformation, and redefining customer experiences. Come join our mission.
Join our innovative software engineering team at Couchbase as the Sr. Director of Software Engineering for Capella, our advanced DBaaS platform built on AWS, GCP, and Azure. In this role, you will oversee the delivery, operational readiness, and technical alignment of the Capella Control Plane. You will lead multiple engineering teams responsible for building scalable, secure, and highly available cloud services. Your work will directly impact customer satisfaction, platform reliability, and Capella's ability to scale as a global DBaaS offering.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role, focused on operational execution, strategic alignment, long-term planning, and high-quality software delivery. You will work closely with Engineering, Product, UX, SRE, and Support to translate high-level goals into technical plans and execution. You'll own SDLC processes, guide architecture, prioritize initiatives, manage technical risk, and develop engineering leaders capable of driving outcomes independently.
Key Responsibilities
The anticipated starting base pay range for this role is listed below. Base salary is not the only component of our competitive total rewards package - you may also be eligible for bonus, commissions, equity, and other benefits as described below. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location.
Base Pay Range
$268,000-$315,000 USD
Why Couchbase?
Modern customer experiences need a flexible cloud database platform that can power applications spanning from cloud to edge and everything in between. Couchbase's mission is to simplify how developers and architects develop, deploy and consume modern applications wherever they are. We have reimagined the database with our fast, flexible and affordable cloud database platform Capella, allowing organizations to quickly build applications that deliver premium experiences to their customers- all with best-in-class price performance. More than 30% of the Fortune 100 trust Couchbase to power their modern applications and build innovative new ones. See our recent awards to learn why Couchbase is a great place to work.We are honored to be a part of the Best Places to Work Award for the Bay Area and the UK. Couchbase offers a total rewards approach to benefits that recognizes the value you create here, so that you in turn may best serve yourself and your family. Some benefits include:
*Note: some programs are not applicable to all countries. Please discuss with a Couchbase recruiter to learn more.
Learn more about Couchbase:
News and Press Releases
Couchbase Capella
Couchbase Blog
Investors
Disclaimer:
Couchbase is committed to being an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans' status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Join an impact initiative group and experience the amazing feeling of Couchbase can-do culture.
By using this website and submitting your information, you acknowledge our Candidate Privacy Notice and understand your personal information may be processed in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Notice following guidelines in your country of application.
Join our innovative software engineering team at Couchbase as the Sr. Director of Software Engineering for Capella, our advanced DBaaS platform built on AWS, GCP, and Azure. In this role, you will oversee the delivery, operational readiness, and technical alignment of the Capella Control Plane. You will lead multiple engineering teams responsible for building scalable, secure, and highly available cloud services. Your work will directly impact customer satisfaction, platform reliability, and Capella's ability to scale as a global DBaaS offering.
This is a hands-on technical leadership role, focused on operational execution, strategic alignment, long-term planning, and high-quality software delivery. You will work closely with Engineering, Product, UX, SRE, and Support to translate high-level goals into technical plans and execution. You'll own SDLC processes, guide architecture, prioritize initiatives, manage technical risk, and develop engineering leaders capable of driving outcomes independently.
Key Responsibilities
- Own and Execute the SDLC: Lead the full development lifecycle across multiple teams, ensuring consistent execution, high code quality, and production reliability.
- Ensure Architectural Alignment: Guide key architecture decisions and review designs to maintain platform scalability and consistency with technical standards.
- Translate Product Requirements: Work with Product to define technical specifications that align with roadmap priorities.
- Prioritize and Sequence Initiatives: Make tradeoffs across strategic and tactical work to focus teams on high-impact outcomes.
- Manage Technical Risk and Debt: Identify long-term risks and technical debt; adjust plans and resourcing to mitigate them.
- Coordinate Cross-Functionally: Align engineering work with UX, QA, SRE, and Infrastructure for cohesive product delivery.
- Oversee Production Operations: Ensure services meet uptime goals, support on-call processes, and lead incident response coordination for critical issues.
- Mentor Engineering Leaders: Develop senior engineers and managers, elevating execution and ownership across the organization.
- 10+ years of experience delivering large-scale, distributed, cloud-native systems in production.
- 5+ years leading engineering organizations across multiple teams and technical domains.
- Expertise in at least two major cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, Azure), including deep understanding of services and infrastructure.
- Strong technical background in backend development, distributed systems, and infrastructure automation.
- Proficiency in modern development tools and cloud-native technologies (e.g., Golang, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform).
- Proven ability to lead complex technical organizations, drive SDLC execution, and scale teams and processes in dynamic, fast-paced environments.
- Excellent collaboration and communication skills across engineering, product, and operational functions.
The anticipated starting base pay range for this role is listed below. Base salary is not the only component of our competitive total rewards package - you may also be eligible for bonus, commissions, equity, and other benefits as described below. Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location.
Base Pay Range
$268,000-$315,000 USD
Why Couchbase?
Modern customer experiences need a flexible cloud database platform that can power applications spanning from cloud to edge and everything in between. Couchbase's mission is to simplify how developers and architects develop, deploy and consume modern applications wherever they are. We have reimagined the database with our fast, flexible and affordable cloud database platform Capella, allowing organizations to quickly build applications that deliver premium experiences to their customers- all with best-in-class price performance. More than 30% of the Fortune 100 trust Couchbase to power their modern applications and build innovative new ones. See our recent awards to learn why Couchbase is a great place to work.We are honored to be a part of the Best Places to Work Award for the Bay Area and the UK. Couchbase offers a total rewards approach to benefits that recognizes the value you create here, so that you in turn may best serve yourself and your family. Some benefits include:
- Generous Time Off Program - Flexibility to care for you and your family
- Wellness Benefits - A variety of world class medical plans to choose from, along with dental, vision, life insurance, and employee assistance programs*
- Financial Planning - RSU equity program*, ESPP program*, Retirement program* and Business Travel Insurance
- Career Growth - Be valued, Create value approach
- Fun Perks - An ergonomic and comfortable in-office / WFH setup. Food & Snacks for in-office employees.
- And much more!
*Note: some programs are not applicable to all countries. Please discuss with a Couchbase recruiter to learn more.
Learn more about Couchbase:
News and Press Releases
Couchbase Capella
Couchbase Blog
Investors
Disclaimer:
Couchbase is committed to being an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans' status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Join an impact initiative group and experience the amazing feeling of Couchbase can-do culture.
By using this website and submitting your information, you acknowledge our Candidate Privacy Notice and understand your personal information may be processed in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Notice following guidelines in your country of application.