Director Engineering Release Management jobs at F5 in United States, San Jose

This role also oversees cross-functional technology capabilities that are foundational to the broader Employee Experience ecosystem, which sits within the Digital organization.You will collaborate closely with leaders across Finance, Procurement, Legal, Compliance, Digital, and People orgs. to ensure our platforms and tools align with business objectivesincrease productivity, and deliver measurable impact. You’ll also play a pivotal role in defining and implementing AI capabilities across the Employee Experience pillar — leveraging intelligent automation, predictive insights, and next-generation employee engagement tools to enable smarter, simpler, connected and frictionless experiences.

Key Responsibilities:

· Actas the strategic technology partner for Finance, Procurement, Legal and Platform Services leadership, translating business objectives into a cohesive technology roadmap.

· Leadthe delivery of technology solutions supporting various functions within the Employee Experience pillar

Oversee theimplementation/optimizationof Oracle EBS, Workday and other critical Finance, HR, Legal technology solutions including services platforms like ServiceNow, integrations platforms.

Lead complex cross-functional transformation initiatives across Finance, Procurement, and Legal Technology to streamline and automate operations and enterprise workflows.

Drive innovation in Enterprise operations, incorporating fintech solutions, intelligent automation, and data-driven insights.

Manage a set of shared services, including UX/UI design, systems integration, security oversight, and environment management.

Qualifications & Experience

10–15+ years of experience in technology leadership roles, with a strong background supporting G&A functions.

Demonstrated success in delivering complex enterprise solutions across G&A landscape (Oracle EBS, Coupa, Workday, ServiceNow, plus any other relevant systems).

Proven success in leading complex, enterprise-wide technology or experience transformation initiatives involving Finance, Legal & People systems.

Knowledge of Workday (and similar HCM platforms).

Strategic thinker with strong systems thinking, program leadership, and change management skills in a global context.

Strong communication skills, and ability to influence at all levels of the organization.

Familiarity with automation and AI/ML applications in service operations (e.g., virtual agents, intelligent routing, predictive support).

Excellent leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

Background in digital transformation and cross-functional program leadership.

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, or related field; MBA or advanced degree is a plus.

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

At F5, we strive to bring a better digital world to life. Our teams empower organizations across the globe to create, secure, and run applications that enhance how we experience our evolving digital world. We are passionate about cybersecurity, from protecting consumers from fraud to enabling companies to focus on innovation.

Everything we do centers around people. That means we obsess over how to make the lives of our customers, and their customers, better. And it means we prioritize a diverse F5 community where each individual can thrive.

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

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It is the policy of F5 to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and employment applicants without regard to unlawful considerations of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, sensory, physical, or mental disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other classification protected by applicable local, state, or federal laws. This policy applies to all aspects of employment, including, but not limited to, hiring, job assignment, compensation, promotion, benefits, training, discipline, and termination.. Requesting an accommodation is completely voluntary. F5 will assess the need for accommodations in the application process separately from those that may be needed to perform the job. Request by contacting .

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

Position Overview

The Director of Engineering Release Management will lead and oversee the organization's release management strategy and execution, ensuring smooth and reliable software delivery across multiple product lines. This role combines technical expertise, strategic thinking, and leadership skills to optimize the release process and drive engineering excellence.

Strategic Leadership

• Develop and implement the organization's release management strategy, aligning with business objectives and engineering capabilities
• Drive the architecture, execution and delivery of CI/CD platforms, delivery pipelines and related engineering builds/branches and environments
• Define and maintain release management processes, standards, and best practices across engineering teams
• Oversee the technical infrastructure supporting release processes, including CI/CD pipelines, automation tools, and testing frameworks
• Guide the implementation of modern release practices such as feature flags, canary deployments, and automated rollback mechanisms
• Create the strategy for building and owning a self-service; enterprise-scale experimentation platform
• Ensure robust monitoring and alerting systems are in place for release health tracking
• Foster a culture of collaboration and experimentation across engineering and product to enable rapid prototyping, iteration and a “fail-forward” mindset for new feature development.
• Lead cross-functional initiatives to improve release velocity, quality, and reliability
• Partner with Product, Engineering, and Operations leaders to establish release roadmaps and priorities
• Oversee the end-to-end release lifecycle, from planning through deployment and post-release monitoring
• Establish metrics and KPIs to measure release performance and quality
• Implement risk management strategies to minimize release-related incidents
• Establish release communication protocols and ensure transparency

Process Optimization

• Streamline release processes to reduce cycle time and increase deployment frequency
• Implement and maintain release governance frameworks
• Lead incident post-mortems and drive process improvements
• Establish release communication protocols and ensure transparency

Required Experience

• 10+ years of engineering experience with 5+ years in release management
• 5+ years of people management experience, preferably in a director-level role
• Strong track record of implementing and scaling release processes in high-growth environments
• Deep understanding of CI/CD, DevOps practices, and modern deployment technologies
• Strong expertise in branching strategies
• Experience building or using A/B testing infrastructure and deep understanding of SRE operating models
• Experience setting up complete end to end fully integrated delivery system (source control management, build tools, artifact repositories, deployment and monitoring systems)
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and containerization
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• Experience with microservices architecture, releasing 30+ microservices across multiple geo’s and distributed systems
• Track record of successful organizational transformation initiatives
• Strong background in agile methodologies and scaled agile frameworks

Impact & Scope

• Lead a team of 5-10 direct reports with broader influence across engineering organization
• Manage release processes for multiple product lines and services
• Significant influence on engineering culture and practices
• Direct impact on product quality and customer satisfaction
• Key role in scaling engineering operations and improving delivery capabilities

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.

How You'll Make an Impact

As a leader in this role, you will:

• Lead an Empowered Team : Build, mentor, and inspire a high-performing AI/ML engineering team that thrives on trust, collaboration, and autonomy.
• Drive Strategy : Develop and execute the vision and strategic roadmap for AI/ML engineering in partnership with Product Management and Data Science teams.
• Shape Innovation : Stay at the cutting edge of AI/ML advancements and steer innovative initiatives that influence F5’s strategic direction.
• Turn Ideas into Solutions : Balance exploratory, forward-looking R&D with delivering enterprise-grade solutions that make a measurable impact for customers.
• Collaborate Across Functions : Work hand-in-hand with leaders across Engineering, Product Management, and Data Science to amplify the impact of AI/ML across F5 products.
• Foster Growth : Guide your team’s professional development through mentorship, goal setting, clear communication, and constructive feedback.

What Will Your Day Look Like?

Your day-to-day responsibilities may include:

• Participating in brainstorming sessions to define ambitious AI product goals.
• Coaching team members on implementation strategies or design choices.
• Collaborating with senior stakeholders across multiple disciplines to shape overarching projects.
• Making informed decisions for operational effectiveness in AI/ML engineering.
• Tackling challenges with enthusiasm—whether it’s researching emerging technologies, strategizing product roadmaps, or contributing to the evaluation of ML frameworks.
• Celebrating wins, learning from setbacks, and nurturing a supportive team environment.

What You’ll Bring to the Team

We look for someone who brings the following skills:

• Technical Acumen : Mastery of AI/ML technologies,mathematical/statisticaltechniques, and real-world applications. Hands-on experience with modern ML frameworks like PyTorch, TensorFlow, and hardware acceleration platforms (CUDA, ROCm, etc.).
• Leadership Excellence : Proven ability to lead geographically distributed teams, empower junior technical staff, and offer mentorship that inspires growth.
• End-to-End Knowledge : Expertise in machine learning models, SaaS products, observability architecture, and production-scale cloud computing deployments, particularly in Kubernetes environments.
• Unwavering Curiosity : The drive to stay updated on emerging AI/ML advancements and apply them to practical business needs.
• A Team-First Mentality : A collaborative, communicative style—you know how to read a room and inspire enthusiasm across disciplines.

Your Qualifications

• 8+ years of software development experience.
• 5+ years as a technical leader or manager overseeing development teams.
• Track record of shaping innovative solutions in AI/ML.
• Experience building and operating distributed systems with CI/CD pipelines.
• Ability to travel up to 20% if needed.

The Job Description is intended to be a general representation of the responsibilities and requirements of the job. However, the description may not be all-inclusive, and responsibilities and requirements are subject to change.