Description
Job Description
We are seeking a highly technical and influential Director of Engineering, Governance Foundation to define how security, privacy, and responsible data practices are built into the core of Databricks' products and infrastructure.
This role is not simply about running programs,it is about designing and scaling the engineering platforms, guardrails, and operating models that make secure and compliant product development the default across a rapidly growing, multi-cloud ecosystem.
Responsibilities
Security & Privacy Governance Architecture
- Define the company-wide strategy for embedding security, privacy, and responsible data use across engineering workflows and platform components.
- Build scalable governance frameworks that help engineering teams design secure systems from the start, not after the fact.
Incident Learning & Prevention
- Establish and lead a Security & Privacy Postmortem Review process that drives learning, accountability, and long-term resilience.
- Ensure insights from incidents translate into systemic improvements across tools, infrastructure, and engineering culture.
Security Champions & Distributed Expertise
- Rebuild and scale a Security Champions Network that brings security and governance expertise directly into product and infrastructure teams.
- Create centralized enablement, tooling, and shared learning systems that allow thousands of engineers to integrate security seamlessly.
Data Governance for Products & AI
- Lead efforts to ensure responsible data use across AI/ML systems, SaaS environments, and internal workspaces.
- Define and enforce policies that uphold privacy, integrity, auditability, and proper data lifecycle management.
Developer-Centric Security Enablement
- Transform security into a key enabler for engineering velocity.
- Deliver automation, self-service tools, and intelligent guardrails that reduce developer friction while increasing safety and compliance.
- Build JIT (Just-In-Time) security education and systems that proactively surface risky behaviour before it becomes an incident.
Security Maturity & Customer Trust
- Identify and elevate Databricks' security posture to exceed DB50 customer expectations, including areas such as:
- audit logging
- controlled access workflows
- secure asset import/export
- behaviour monitoring and lineage
- Partner with security, IT, and compliance teams to ensure readiness for the most demanding enterprise and regulated environments.
Requirements
- 10+ years of experience in large-scale software engineering, with at least several years leading engineering managers and senior ICs.
- Strong technical grounding in backend systems, distributed systems, identity/security, or enterprise cloud platforms.
- Experience defining governance, security, or enterprise-grade platform capabilities.
- A background as a senior IC (e.g., Staff/Principal Engineer) at some point,this role requires deep technical credibility.
- Proven success hiring, developing, and retaining senior engineering talent.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience building cloud-agnostic or multi-cloud services.
- Background in enterprise features such as access control, policy engines, compliance, or identity systems.
- Experience leading organisations through scaling phases in high-growth environments.
Pay Range Transparency
Databricks is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range(s) for this role is listed below and represents the expected salary range for non-commissionable roles or on-target earnings for commissionable roles. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to job-related skills, depth of experience, relevant certifications and training, and specific work location. Based on the factors above, Databricks anticipates utilising the full width of the range. The total compensation package for this position may also include eligibility for annual performance bonus, equity, and the benefits listed above. For more information regarding which range your location is in visit our page here.
Local Pay Range $243,100-$290,100 USD