NextChapter

Director of Engineering jobs: 1,046 open roles, pay, industries and skills

1,046 open Director of Engineering jobs, taken from employers’ own career sites and checked to still be open. Also listed as Engineering Director, Director, Engineering, Senior Director of Engineering, Global Director of Engineering, Regional Director of Engineering. Listings that state pay show a median of $245,000 a year.

Job hunting as a Director of Engineering? Do not do it alone.

The Director of Engineering network is for people in Director of Engineering roles who are thinking about their next step: a weekly email with the Director of Engineering openings and what they pay, what other members post, and a peer group in the same role.

Free. You will sign in or create an account first, then you are added.

The market for Director of Engineering work

Every figure is counted from verified open listings. Pay is what the employer advertises for the job.

Verified open Director of Engineering jobs
1,046

Source: NextChapter, checked against employer career sites, last 7 days.

See the detail →
Median pay in listings that state it
$245,000

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

See the detail →
State with the most openings
California (231)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Industry hiring the most
Technology & Software (36%)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Listings that are remote
32%

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

See the detail →
Listings that ask for an AI skill
38%

Source: NextChapter verified openings, read in full.

What a Director of Engineering does

Director role in Engineering.

A director of engineering leads a team inside the function and answers for the engineering teams, the architecture and how reliably the product ships.

Usually reports to a vice president or a C-suite leader, and manages managers and individual contributors. Senior and global director titles are counted here.

Other ways this role is written

  • Director of Engineering
  • Engineering Director
  • Director, Engineering
  • Senior Director of Engineering
  • Global Director of Engineering
  • Regional Director of Engineering
  • Director of Software Engineering
  • Director of Platform Engineering

Listings under any of these titles are counted on this page. Assistant, associate, manager and staff titles are not.

Open Director of Engineering jobs

Verified against the employer’s own career site within the last week.

Showing the newest 15 of about 1,046 verified open jobs here. Search all jobs

Search all Director of Engineering jobs

Director of Engineering salary

From 272 open listings that state pay. Annual, in US dollars, base pay only.

Lower quarter
$210,000
Median
$245,000
Upper quarter
$284,000

Leadership pay often includes bonus and equity that a listing does not state. Treat these figures as the floor of the conversation, not the whole package.

Best industries for Director of Engineering jobs

Employers hiring the most, as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry. Median pay shown where at least 8 listings state it.

Where Director of Engineering jobs are

States with the most open listings; median pay where at least 8 listings state it.

Skills Director of Engineering jobs ask for

Named in the listings themselves, as a share of 515 Director of Engineering listings that name skills. Leadership listings name fewer skills than individual-contributor ones, so this is a signal, not a checklist.

Most named in Director of Engineering listings

  1. 1. aws21%
  2. 2. ci/cd18%
  3. 3. supply chain16%
  4. 4. python15%
  5. 5. agile13%
  6. 6. project management13%
  7. 7. azure11%
  8. 8. devops11%
  9. 9. onboarding11%
  10. 10. machine learning11%

Across all Engineering openings

  1. 1. python10%
  2. 2. project management5%
  3. 3. linux4%
  4. 4. c++4%
  5. 5. aws4%
  6. 6. agile4%
  7. 7. supply chain4%
  8. 8. procurement3%
  9. 9. ci/cd3%
  10. 10. kubernetes3%

AI skills for Director of Engineering jobs

Specific AI skills named in the full posting text, such as prompt engineering, AI governance or an AI tool. A general mention of AI does not count.

38% of 546 open Director of Engineering listings ask for a specific AI skill, against 8% of all Engineering openings.

AI skills named most often

  1. 1. AI tools in daily work19%
  2. 2. AI workflow automation16%
  3. 3. LLM application engineering12%
  4. 4. AI coding assistants10%
  5. 5. AI governance and risk8%
  6. 6. AI adoption and change management7%

Do AI skills change director of engineering pay?

For Engineering roles in general, as of November 9, 2026. This is the function’s figure, not one for director of engineering alone: one title rarely has enough listings on both sides.

Among Engineering listings, those that ask for an AI skill advertise +19.1% (about $32.5k) compared with similar listings that do not, matched on level and industry.

Listings that ask for an AI skill
$209,000
median, from 3,968 paid listings
Listings that never mention AI
$152,500
median, from 4,882 paid listings

Advertised pay only: the midpoint of the range an employer posted, on live U.S. postings read from the full text. “Asks for an AI skill” means the posting names a specific AI skill; “no AI” means it never mentions AI. A difference in what is advertised is not a promise of what you would be paid, and it does not show that learning a skill causes a raise.

See the AI-skill pay table for every function · Check your own pay against these listings

How would your résumé fare for director of engineering?

Paste it to see which skills these openings ask for and which your résumé leaves out. It runs here in your browser, so nothing you paste is sent.

Paste at least a few lines to check it.

Want a real read on your résumé?

Tell us your state and where to reach you. Attach your résumé if you want a real read on it.

The Engineering ladder

The same function at other levels: where this role comes from and where it leads.

All Engineering jobs

Job titles under Director of Engineering

The exact titles employers use, with their own job and salary pages.

Employers hiring for Director of Engineering roles

  • CVS Health 29
  • JPMorgan Chase 28
  • Oracle 28
  • Centene 14
  • Humana 13
  • Kimmel & Associates 12
  • Graef 10
  • EY-Parthenon 9
  • Energy Innovation 9
  • BNY 8
  • L3HARRIS Technologies 7
  • Shield AI 7

Recruiters who place Director of Engineering roles

Search firms with live public searches in Engineering, counted from their own job postings, not self-described. Each has at least two at this level.

All Engineering search firms

Engineering leadership turnover

Departures and appointments reported in SEC filings and news in the last 120 days, for the engineering leadership seat above this role. Each links to its source.

  • QuidelOrtho

    QuidelOrtho eliminated its Chief Operations Officer role and restructured around two businesses, with the CTO and EVP of Portfolio Management transitioning to new divisional leadership positions. A search for a replacement usually follows.

    Nov 3, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

  • Dropbox

    Dropbox's Chief Technology Officer is stepping down effective November 18, 2026, with no permanent successor named.

    Oct 28, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

  • Sprouts Farmers Market

    Sprouts Farmers Market's Chief Technology Officer stepped down, with no permanent successor named yet.

    Oct 14, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

  • Voya Financial

    Voya Financial's Chief Technology and Operations Officer will transition to Chief Risk and Global Operating Officer, with the Chief Technology Officer role being filled by an internal promotion effective January 1, 2027. New leaders often bring in or reshape the senior team under them.

    Oct 2, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

  • AMC Robotics

    AMC Robotics appointed Ang Li as Chief Technology Officer. New leaders often bring in or reshape the senior team under them.

    Oct 1, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

  • Moderna

    Moderna appointed Juan Andres as Chief Operating Officer in a newly created role, and announced that its Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer is retiring. A search for a replacement usually follows.

    Sep 30, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

  • Brunswick

    Brunswick's Chief Executive Officer is retiring at year-end, and the current Chief Technology Officer will be promoted to CEO while the Lead Independent Director will become Chairman. A search for a replacement usually follows.

    Sep 22, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

  • Q/C Technologies

    Q/C Technologies appointed Yossef Ehrlichman as Chief Technology Officer, promoting him from his previous role as Founding Manager of Photonic Integrated Circuit Development. New leaders often bring in or reshape the senior team under them.

    Sep 18, 2026

    Read the SEC filing

Conferences for Director of Engineering leaders

Events tagged for Engineering, with dates, cost and how to speak.

  • QCon San Francisco

    Nov 16 to Nov 18, 2026 · San Francisco, CA

    Ticket About $2,995. $2,995 three-day conference pass; current pricing ends Nov 10; workshops Nov 19-20 extra.

  • DeveloperWeek

    Feb 9 to Feb 11, 2027 · Santa Clara, CA

    Free expo floor; session passes $195 to $1,395. Open pass $195 (limited access); Pro pass early-bird tiers from $785 rising to…

  • NeurIPS

    Dec 6 to Dec 12, 2026 · Sydney, AU

    Paid ticket. Main conference in Sydney Dec 6-12 with satellite sites in Atlanta and Paris (Dec 9-13). Early registration ends Oct…

  • TRB Annual Meeting

    Jan 10 to Jan 14, 2027 · Washington, DC

    Ticket $310 to $1,570. General registration $1,225 early bird (to Nov 18), $1,520 advance, $1,570 onsite. Young professional (35…

  • ODSC AI NYC (AI for Work Summit)

    Dec 2 to Dec 3, 2026 · New York, NY

    Free expo floor; session passes $0 to $1,200. Open Pass free; Training $449 early/$800; Leadership Plus $649 early/$1,200

  • Louisiana IT Symposium

    Nov 17, 2026 · New Orleans, LA

    Paid ticket, price not listed

Showing 6 of 47 conferences, 47 with dates announced.

All conferences

Podcasts and media Director of Engineering leaders follow

Hand-picked, each checked to be live. Links go to the publisher.

  • Software Engineering Daily

    Podcast · Kevin Ball, Sean Falconer and other hosts

    Interviews on software architecture, infrastructure and AI.

  • Software Engineering Radio

    Podcast · IEEE Computer Society

    Episodes with practitioners on software engineering topics.

  • Engineering Enablement

    Podcast · Abi Noda and the DX research team

    Discussions of developer productivity and how engineering organizations measure it.

  • The Stack Overflow Podcast

    Podcast · Stack Overflow

    Interviews on software development, tools and the engineering workplace.

  • The Pragmatic Engineer

    Newsletter · Gergely Orosz

    Newsletter on big tech and startup engineering, with reporting on how engineering teams work.

  • LeadDev

    Publication · LeadDev

    Articles, reports and events for engineering managers and leaders.

Director of Engineering questions

What does a Director of Engineering do?
A director of engineering leads a team inside the function and answers for the engineering teams, the architecture and how reliably the product ships. Usually reports to a vice president or a C-suite leader, and manages managers and individual contributors. Senior and global director titles are counted here.
What else is a Director of Engineering called?
The same job is also written Engineering Director, Director, Engineering, Senior Director of Engineering, Global Director of Engineering, Regional Director of Engineering, Director of Software Engineering, Director of Platform Engineering.
How many Director of Engineering jobs are open?
1,046 verified open Director of Engineering jobs, each checked against the employer’s own career site within the last week.
How much does a Director of Engineering make?
Among 272 open Director of Engineering listings that state pay, the median is $245,000 a year, and half of listings fall between $210,000 and $284,000. This is pay the employer advertises for the job, not total compensation such as bonus or equity.
Where are Director of Engineering jobs?
California (231), New York (99), Texas (80), Massachusetts (47) have the most open Director of Engineering listings. About 32% of listings that state a work arrangement are remote.
Which state pays a Director of Engineering the most?
Of the states with enough listings that state pay, Washington has the highest median at $281,500.
Which industries hire for Director of Engineering roles?
Technology & Software (36%), Healthcare & Hospital Systems (12%), Manufacturing & Industrial (11%), Financial Services & Banking (10%), as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry.
What skills do Director of Engineering jobs ask for?
The skills named most often in open Director of Engineering listings are aws, ci/cd, supply chain, python, agile.
Do Director of Engineering jobs ask for AI skills?
38% of 546 open Director of Engineering listings read in full name a specific AI skill. The most common is AI tools in daily work.

Hiring director of engineering roles and not seeing the right people?

Leave your work email. We'll send how to reach people searching for director of engineering jobs.

See employer options