Director, Software Engineering
Software Engineering
Mountain View, CA, USA
USD 209k-343k / year + Equity
Posted on Jul 17, 2025
Company Description
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, built to help members of all backgrounds and experiences achieve more in their careers. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Every day our members use our products to make connections, discover opportunities, build skills and gain insights. We believe amazing things happen when we work together in an environment where everyone feels a true sense of belonging, and that what matters most in a candidate is having the skills needed to succeed. It inspires us to invest in our talent and support career growth. Join us to challenge yourself with work that matters.
Job Description
We are looking for a strategic and hands-on Director of Databases (within the Online Infrastructure Org) to lead our database systems team. This role is pivotal in overseeing the design, implementation, and optimization of our database infrastructure, encompassing technologies such as relational databases, graph databases, core analytics, caching, and serving. The Director will lead efforts to ensure scalability, reliability, and performance across our entire data stack, supporting our mission-critical data storage and processing capabilities. The ideal candidate will bring deep technical expertise, strategic leadership, and a passion for empowering engineering teams through best-in-class infrastructure solutions.
At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business. The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team.
Responsibilities:
Lead the entire area of online databases, including various types such as relational, document DB, distributed SQL, and caching.
Oversee the storage of mission-critical data, connections, and all related logic.
Develop and execute an overarching strategy to consolidate fragmented database efforts across different organizational units.
Define and drive the roadmap for LinkedIn's database platforms, including relational, and distributed database technologies.
Ensure efficient sharing and integration across multiple database platforms.
Take responsibility for all structured data within the organization.
Establish and enforce best practices for database infrastructure operations, including monitoring, automation, disaster recovery, and security protocols.
Maintain a deep understanding of emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices in database infrastructure, data processing, and analytics.
Drive innovation and adoption of new tools and frameworks to enhance our data capabilities and foster a culture of operational excellence,
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of engineers specialized in database infrastructure and data processing.
Basic Qualifications:
10+ years of work experience in the technical field
6+ years of technical leadership experience leading teams of ~80+
5+ years of technical knowledge surrounding large scale databases (structured, distributed, relational, graph, etc)
Preferred Qualifications:
Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the database infrastructure roadmap aligned with our business objectives and data strategy. Provide technical leadership and guidance on adopting new technologies and methodologies to enhance system performance and efficiency.
Experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), Linux-based systems, container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), and infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana).
Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor technical teams, drive technical initiatives, and communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Experience with various types of databases, including structured, relational, graph, key-value stores, NoSQL, and MongoDB.
Ability to develop and implement strategies for consolidating database systems and finding efficiencies.
Ability to work in large tech migrations and handle ambiguity.
Suggested Skills:
Excellent leadership and technical depth related to running efficient large-scale databases for global, exabyte tech companies.
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Great ability to execute in ambiguity.
LinkedIn is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.
The pay range for this role is $209,000 to $343,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor.
The total compensation package for this position may also include an annual performance bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable incentive compensation plans. For more information, visit https://careers.linkedin.com/benefits.
Equal Opportunity Statement
We seek candidates with a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. LinkedIn considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.
LinkedIn is committed to offering an inclusive and accessible experience for all job seekers, including individuals with disabilities. Our goal is to foster an inclusive and accessible workplace where everyone has the opportunity to be successful.
If you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, apply for a position, or participate in the interview process, connect with us at accommodations@linkedin.com and describe the specific accommodation requested for a disability-related limitation.
Reasonable accommodations are modifications or adjustments to the application or hiring process that would enable you to fully participate in that process. Examples of reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to:
-Documents in alternate formats or read aloud to you
-Having interviews in an accessible location
-Being accompanied by a service dog
-Having a sign language interpreter present for the interview
A request for an accommodation will be responded to within three business days. However, non-disability related requests, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.
LinkedIn will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by LinkedIn, or (c) consistent with LinkedIn's legal duty to furnish information.
Pay Transparency Policy Statement
As a federal contractor, LinkedIn follows the Pay Transparency and non-discrimination provisions described at this link: https://lnkd.in/paytransparency.
Global Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates
This document provides transparency around the way in which LinkedIn handles personal data of employees and job applicants: https://lnkd.in/GlobalDataPrivacyNotice
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network, built to help members of all backgrounds and experiences achieve more in their careers. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Every day our members use our products to make connections, discover opportunities, build skills and gain insights. We believe amazing things happen when we work together in an environment where everyone feels a true sense of belonging, and that what matters most in a candidate is having the skills needed to succeed. It inspires us to invest in our talent and support career growth. Join us to challenge yourself with work that matters.
Job Description
We are looking for a strategic and hands-on Director of Databases (within the Online Infrastructure Org) to lead our database systems team. This role is pivotal in overseeing the design, implementation, and optimization of our database infrastructure, encompassing technologies such as relational databases, graph databases, core analytics, caching, and serving. The Director will lead efforts to ensure scalability, reliability, and performance across our entire data stack, supporting our mission-critical data storage and processing capabilities. The ideal candidate will bring deep technical expertise, strategic leadership, and a passion for empowering engineering teams through best-in-class infrastructure solutions.
At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business. The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team.
Responsibilities:
Lead the entire area of online databases, including various types such as relational, document DB, distributed SQL, and caching.
Oversee the storage of mission-critical data, connections, and all related logic.
Develop and execute an overarching strategy to consolidate fragmented database efforts across different organizational units.
Define and drive the roadmap for LinkedIn's database platforms, including relational, and distributed database technologies.
Ensure efficient sharing and integration across multiple database platforms.
Take responsibility for all structured data within the organization.
Establish and enforce best practices for database infrastructure operations, including monitoring, automation, disaster recovery, and security protocols.
Maintain a deep understanding of emerging technologies, industry trends, and best practices in database infrastructure, data processing, and analytics.
Drive innovation and adoption of new tools and frameworks to enhance our data capabilities and foster a culture of operational excellence,
Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team of engineers specialized in database infrastructure and data processing.
Basic Qualifications:
10+ years of work experience in the technical field
6+ years of technical leadership experience leading teams of ~80+
5+ years of technical knowledge surrounding large scale databases (structured, distributed, relational, graph, etc)
Preferred Qualifications:
Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the database infrastructure roadmap aligned with our business objectives and data strategy. Provide technical leadership and guidance on adopting new technologies and methodologies to enhance system performance and efficiency.
Experience with cloud computing platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP), Linux-based systems, container orchestration (e.g., Kubernetes), and infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform, Ansible).
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana).
Demonstrated ability to lead and mentor technical teams, drive technical initiatives, and communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
Experience with various types of databases, including structured, relational, graph, key-value stores, NoSQL, and MongoDB.
Ability to develop and implement strategies for consolidating database systems and finding efficiencies.
Ability to work in large tech migrations and handle ambiguity.
Suggested Skills:
Excellent leadership and technical depth related to running efficient large-scale databases for global, exabyte tech companies.
Strong communication and collaboration skills.
Great ability to execute in ambiguity.
LinkedIn is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices.
The pay range for this role is $209,000 to $343,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor.
The total compensation package for this position may also include an annual performance bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable incentive compensation plans. For more information, visit https://careers.linkedin.com/benefits.
Equal Opportunity Statement
We seek candidates with a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. LinkedIn considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.
LinkedIn is committed to offering an inclusive and accessible experience for all job seekers, including individuals with disabilities. Our goal is to foster an inclusive and accessible workplace where everyone has the opportunity to be successful.
If you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, apply for a position, or participate in the interview process, connect with us at accommodations@linkedin.com and describe the specific accommodation requested for a disability-related limitation.
Reasonable accommodations are modifications or adjustments to the application or hiring process that would enable you to fully participate in that process. Examples of reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to:
-Documents in alternate formats or read aloud to you
-Having interviews in an accessible location
-Being accompanied by a service dog
-Having a sign language interpreter present for the interview
A request for an accommodation will be responded to within three business days. However, non-disability related requests, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.
LinkedIn will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by LinkedIn, or (c) consistent with LinkedIn's legal duty to furnish information.
Pay Transparency Policy Statement
As a federal contractor, LinkedIn follows the Pay Transparency and non-discrimination provisions described at this link: https://lnkd.in/paytransparency.
Global Data Privacy Notice for Job Candidates
This document provides transparency around the way in which LinkedIn handles personal data of employees and job applicants: https://lnkd.in/GlobalDataPrivacyNotice