Director, Platform Engineering

We are open to NYC or San Francisco based candidates

The rise of generative AI is fundamentally changing how people search for information and discover brands online. Conductor is the only end-to-end, AI-first platform that enables enterprises to create high-performing, valuable content at scale and ensure their brand is found everywhere customers are lookingfrom Google to generative AI engines like ChatGPT. Recognized by Forrester as a Leader and #1 rated by customers on G2 and TrustRadius, we are committed to building a workplace where our people can grow and make a positive impact.

Conductor is a mission-driven company with a commitment to innovation, customer success, and culture. For Conductor, success is improving the lives of everyone in our orbitour customers, our customers' customers, our employee-owners, and our communities.

We are seeking a seasoned and strategic Director of Platform Engineering to lead our core technology foundations. This executive will be responsible for the team that manages our DevOps, CI/CD, and production systems. This is a pivotal role that moves beyond day-to-day operations to focus on long-term strategy, financial accountability, and executive-level partnership. You will be entrusted with shaping the future of our platform's architecture, ensuring it is scalable, cost-effective, and aligned with our strategic business objectives. Your leadership will be critical in driving multi-year vendor negotiations and communicating our technology strategy and its business implications directly to our senior leadership team.

What you'll do (Responsibilities):

• Executive Leadership & Strategy: Develop and execute a long-term vision and strategic roadmap for the company's platform infrastructure, directly aligning it with overarching business goals.
• Executive level Communication: Serve as the primary engineering liaison to senior business leaders, including the VP of Engineering, CPO, CFO, and CEO. Regularly present strategy, key performance indicators (KPIs), budget analyses, and major investment proposals.
• Vendor Negotiation & Management: Lead negotiations for multi-year, high-value contracts with key technology vendors and partners. Drive cost-optimization and ensure favorable terms that support our long-term financial and technical strategies.
• Team Leadership & Development: Mentor and guide a high-performing team of motivated engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and professional growth.
• Financial & Business Acumen: Own the budget for platform engineering, including forecasting, cost optimization, and reporting. Identify and execute on opportunities to improve gross margins through strategic infrastructure improvements.
• Architectural Oversight with a hands-on mindset: Regularly assess the health and scalability of our architecture and systems. Champion and secure investment for necessary upgrades and modernization initiatives to maintain a competitive edge.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with stakeholders across Engineering, Product, and Finance to evangelize, drive, and gain buy-in for critical technology initiatives.
• Security & Compliance: Work in close collaboration with the InfoSec team to ensure our platform and infrastructure adhere to the highest standards of security and maintain all necessary certifications.

Who you are (Required Skills/Abilities):

Experience: A minimum of 12+ years of progressive experience in technology leadership, with at least 5 years in a senior role (Director or above) defining infrastructure strategy for a large-scale SaaS environment.

Business Acumen: Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical concepts and decisions into clear, financial, and strategic business impacts for a non-technical, executive audience.

Vendor Negotiations: Proven track record of successfully leading and executing complex, multi-year contract negotiations with major technology vendors (e.g., AWS, Datadog, etc.).

Executive Communication: Exceptional communication and presentation skills, with extensive experience presenting to and collaborating with VP and C-level executives.

Technical Foundation: A strong technical background in modern infrastructure is essential. This includes extensive experience with:

• Managing production Kubernetes environments at scale.
• Infrastructure as Code (e.g., Terraform).
• Major cloud providers (AWS preferred).
• Bare metal infrastructure management.
• CI/CD pipelines and associated technologies.
• Large-scale database operations (NoSQL and RDBMS).

Leadership: Proven ability to lead, inspire, and develop engineering talent.

SaaS Expertise: Deep understanding of the operational and financial intricacies of running a high-availability SaaS platform.

Educational Background: A Bachelors degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field is preferred; an MBA or equivalent business experience is a significant plus.

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Compensation: Conductor maintains competitive, performance-based compensation programs.

The base salary for this role is currently $160,000 - $200,000. The actual base salary offered may vary within this range based on education, knowledge, skills, abilities, relevant experience, internal equity, and geographic location, among other factors. The actual compensation, if offered a position, will be based on these factors.

Variable compensation: In addition to base salary, this role is also eligible for a discretionary annual bonus based on attainment of corporate revenue performance targets.

Benefits: Conductor offers the following attractive benefits and perks including: 100% covered employee medical plan, a dental & vision plans, 401(k) with employer contribution, an unlimited vacation policy, 10 sick days, short-term disability, long-term disability, generous paid parental leave, employee assistance program, flexible savings accounts, paid holidays, life and accidental death insurance, and a host of perks.

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Conductor LLC is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Bringing in diverse perspectives and challenging our assumptions is the clear key to growth; it drives innovation, creativity, faster problem-solving, and stronger decision making. All aspects of employment including the decision to hire, promote, train, discipline, or discharge, will be based on merit, competence, performance, and business needs.

Conductor does not discriminate against any employee or applicant on the basis of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion or religious creed, mental or physical disability, medical condition, genetic information, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, military or veteran status, or other characteristics protected by state or federal law or local ordinance. In addition, it is the policy of Conductor to provide reasonable accommodation to qualified employees who have protected disabilities to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances where a particular employee works.