Director of Software Applications Engineering

Position : Director of Software Applications Engineering

Department: Cloud Networking Engineering

Reports To: Vice President, Cloud Networking Engineering

Location: Hybrid - Salem, United States

Full-Time

Position Summary

Extreme Networks is looking for a Director, Software Applications Engineering to lead the teams that design, build, and operate the cloud-native applications, APIs, and middleware/data services powering our cloud networking platform. This leader owns the technical roadmap and delivery quality for application-layer services that sit above the network fabric - provisioning, orchestration, telemetry, analytics, and customer-facing management applications - and partners closely with product management, platform/infrastructure engineering, and customer-facing teams to ship reliable, secure, and scalable software at cloud scale. Reporting to the VP of Cloud Networking Engineering, this role balances hands-on technical leadership with people management, resourcing, and cross-functional influence.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the strategy, architecture, and execution roadmap for cloud applications, APIs, and middleware/data services supporting the cloud networking platform.
• Lead, hire, and develop multiple engineering teams (managers and individual contributors), setting clear goals, career paths, and performance expectations.
• Partner with Product Management and the VP of Cloud Networking Engineering to translate business and customer requirements into a prioritized, achievable technical roadmap.
• Drive engineering excellence: code quality, CI/CD practices, test automation, observability, and secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC) across all owned services.
• Ensure the scalability, availability, and performance of cloud applications and data services running in multi-tenant, multi-region cloud environments.
• Collaborate with Platform Engineering, SRE/Cloud Operations, Security, and Support teams to manage incident response, capacity planning, and service-level objectives (SLOs).
• Evaluate and evolve the middleware and data-services architecture (APIs, messaging, event streaming, data pipelines) to support new product capabilities and integrations.
• Manage departmental budget, vendor/tooling decisions, and resource planning in partnership with the VP.
• Represent Software Applications Engineering in executive reviews, planning cycles, and cross-org initiatives; communicate status, risks, and trade-offs clearly to senior leadership.
• Champion Agile/Scrum or similar delivery practices, continuous improvement, and a strong engineering culture across distributed teams.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• 12+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including 5+ years in engineering leadership/management roles overseeing multiple teams.
• Demonstrated experience building and operating cloud-native applications on AWS, Azure, or GCP, including microservices, containers (Docker/Kubernetes), and serverless technologies.
• Strong background in middleware and data services - REST/gRPC APIs, message queues/event streaming (e.g., Kafka), and data pipeline or database technologies (SQL and NoSQL).
• Proven ability to lead through organizational change, manage competing priorities, and deliver complex, cross-team initiatives on schedule.
• Experience partnering with Product Management on roadmap definition, and communicating technical strategy to executive stakeholders.
• Solid understanding of secure software development practices, CI/CD pipelines, and modern observability/monitoring tooling.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills; ability to influence peers and senior leadership without direct authority.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in the networking, cloud networking, or infrastructure software industry (SD-WAN, network management, IoT, or similar).
• Master's degree in a relevant technical field or MBA.
• Experience scaling engineering organizations through periods of rapid product or company growth.
• Familiarity with multi-tenant SaaS architecture, subscription/licensing models, and enterprise-grade security and compliance requirements (SOC 2, GDPR, etc.).
• Prior exposure to AIOps, telemetry/analytics platforms, or large-scale data engineering.

Travel Requirements

Occasional travel (up to 10-15%) for team offsites, customer engagements, and company events.

Compensation & Benefits

The base salary range for this role is [$ 190000 - $240000 USD], determined by geographic location, relevant experience, and qualifications, in compliance with applicable US pay transparency laws. This position is also eligible for bonus/incentive compensation, equity, and Extreme Networks' full benefits package (medical, 401(k) match, and more).

Equal Opportunity Employer

Extreme Networks is an Equal Opportunity Employer and considers all applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.