Director of Engineering Platforms

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Define and oversee the Engineering Platforms organization — structure the organization, guide the reporting team, and establish ownership across specified pillars.

• Drive the transition to a platform model — assist in shifting Sembi from a centralized DevOps approach to a platform engineering framework where internal teams take full ownership of their services from start to finish.

• Develop the data and AI infrastructure layer — implement a canonical data strategy across 8 products; set up AI platform foundations (model gateway, evaluation framework, training pipeline) that support Sembi's product AI roadmap.

• Manage cloud and infrastructure — develop a multi-brand cloud strategy that focuses on cost optimization, security posture, and vendor relations.

• Collaborate with brand engineering leaders — your platforms will empower them; you will work together through innersourcing to minimize cognitive load and enable faster scaling.

• Convert technical complexities into business results — effectively communicate platform strategies and trade-offs to the VP of Engineering, Executive Leadership Team, and board members as applicable.

⛳️ Requirements

• Proven track record and enthusiasm for collaboratively building and scaling platforms utilized by development teams.

• Ability to view platforms as products and effectively link the work to human value and business results.

• Experience in leading and growing engineering teams comprising employees, contractors, and agents.

• Strong grasp of cloud infrastructure, delivery patterns, observability, data infrastructure, and AI/ML concepts.

• Capable of articulating a compelling AI vision for others while setting an example through personal usage.

• Determination to build high-value services.

• Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate with a distributed workforce.

• Nice to have: Experience with internal developer platforms (Backstage, custom IDP, or similar).

• Background in development/engineering.

• Experience in environments with multiple products or brands.

• Familiarity with AI infrastructure patterns (model gateways, RAG pipelines, evaluation frameworks, MCP).

• Not mandatory but noted: Familiarity with specific tools we use: AWS, GCP, Azure, GitHub, Bitbucket, ArgoCD, Netbird, OTEL, Grafana, Prometheus, MongoDB.

🏝️ Benefits

• Greenfield opportunity — you will define the function rather than inherit someone else's vision.

• Direct influence on how 8 product engineering teams develop and deliver an AI-forward environment — Sembi is actively integrating AI into its products and engineering processes.

• Reporting structure with direct access and visibility — you will report directly to the VP of Engineering with active support from the Executive Leadership Team for the platform direction.

• A leadership team that recognizes platform investment as a strategic multiplier, not merely overhead.