Remote Senior Director, Engineering- X-Ops Platform

Remote Senior Director, Engineering- X-Ops Platform

2026-10-03T00:00:00

Queensbury

West Yorkshire

GB

BD13 2

Work From Home

2027-01-01T19:02:59.76

Director of Engineering to lead our X-Ops Platform organization. The leader will coordinate with stakeholders to align business priorities and support engineering teams in delivering secure, high-quality software at scale using modern AI technologies. You will set strategy and standards for how we build, run, and improve our platforms and operational tooling across the engineering lifecycle - partnering closely with Product, Security, IT, and Engineering leaders. You will lead and grow multiple teams and managers, fostering strong engineering practices and a culture of ownership. You will collaborate with senior stakeholders across Engineering, Product, Security, IT, and Finance to ensure platform roadmaps and operational priorities support company goals. This role is based in Abingdon UK with remote working and teams also in India and Hungary. Periodic in-person leadership and team collaboration and travel are needed.

Responsibilities:

• Lead, coach, and develop engineering leaders (directors, managers and senior ICs), building high-performing teams with clear ownership and strong engineering culture


• Partner with product engineering and threat research leaders to improve productivity and delivery throughput across the software and service lifecycle


• Drive cloud efficiency and cost transparency (FinOps): budgeting, forecasting, unit economics, and optimisation initiatives in partnership with Finance and Engineering


• Establish platform governance and standards (architecture, security, compliance, data handling, vendor/tooling choices) while enabling appropriate team autonomy


• Measure impact and promote best practices that improve quality, speed, and operational effectiveness while protecting sensitive data


• Communicate progress, risks, and trade-offs clearly to executive stakeholders

Qualifications and Experience:

• Significant engineering leadership experience, including leading leaders and scaling teams in a platform, infrastructure, SRE, DevOps, or operations-focused environment


• Strong track record of building reliable, secure platforms and improving developer productivity through pragmatic, outcome-driven investment


• Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills, with the ability to align across Engineering, Product, Security, IT, and Finance


• Commercial and financial acumen, including experience with cloud cost management, budgeting, and performance metrics


• Commitment to responsible AI adoption setting guardrails, enabling teams, and demonstrating measurable improvements in productivity and quality


• Experience building and operating platforms at scale in a SaaS environment, ideally with multi-region cloud deployment


• Experience with organisational design, operating cadence, and change management in a complex engineering organisation


• Exposure to FinOps practices and tooling, including unit cost models and cost allocation/chargeback approaches

Additional Information:

• Remote work is supported as Sophos operates a remote-first working model, though some roles may require a hybrid approach.


• Applicants must have legal authorization to work in the jurisdiction where the position is posted without employer sponsorship.


• We promote diversity and inclusion, supporting employee-led networks, charity initiatives, webinars, and community engagement.


• All applicants are treated fairly and equally in accordance with the law.


• Data Protection: Personal details shared will be held for 12 months and used for recruitment purposes, with options to update or delete information as per our Privacy Policy.


• We may use AI tools in our hiring process. For more information, contact us.

#s1-Gen

Director of Engineering to lead our X-Ops Platform organization. The leader will coordinate with stakeholders to align business priorities and support engineering teams in delivering secure, high-quality software at scale using modern AI technologies. You will set strategy and standards for how we build, run, and improve our platforms and operational tooling across the engineering lifecycle - partnering closely with Product, Security, IT, and Engineering leaders. You will lead and grow multiple teams and managers, fostering strong engineering practices and a culture of ownership. You will collaborate with senior stakeholders across Engineering, Product, Security, IT, and Finance to ensure platform roadmaps and operational priorities support company goals. This role is based in Abingdon UK with remote working and teams also in India and Hungary. Periodic in-person leadership and team collaboration and travel are needed. Lead, coach, and develop engineering leaders (directors, managers and
senior ICs), building high-performing teams with clear ownership and strong engineering culture Partner with product engineering and threat research leaders to improve productivity and delivery throughput across the software and service lifecycle Drive cloud efficiency and cost transparency (FinOps): budgeting, forecasting, unit economics, and optimisation initiatives in partnership with Finance and Engineering Establish platform governance and standards (architecture, security, compliance, data handling, vendor/tooling choices) while enabling appropriate team autonomy Measure impact and promote best practices that improve quality, speed, and operational effectiveness while protecting sensitive data communicate progress, risks, and trade-offs clearly to executive stakeholders Significant engineering leadership experience, including leading leaders and scaling teams in a platform, infrastructure, SRE, DevOps, or operations-focused environment Strong track record of building reliable, secure
platforms and improving developer productivity through pragmatic, outcome-driven investment Strong stakeholder management and executive communication skills, with the ability to align across Engineering, Product, Security, IT, and Finance Commercial and financial acumen, including experience with cloud cost management, budgeting, and performance metrics Commitment to responsible AI adoption setting guardrails, enabling teams, and demonstrating measurable improvements in productivity and quality Experience building and operating platforms at scale in a SaaS environment, ideally with multi-region cloud deployment Experience with organisational design, operating cadence, and change management in a complex engineering organisation Exposure to FinOps practices and tooling, including unit cost models and cost allocation/chargeback approaches li-remote #Sophos operates a remote-first working model, making remote work the primary option for most employees. However, some roles may necessitate a
hybrid approach. While we are a remote first organization, applicants must have legal authorization to work in the jurisdiction where the position is posted, without requiring employer sponsorship. Employee-led diversity and inclusion networks that build community and provide education and advocacy Annual charity and fundraising initiatives and volunteer days for employees to support local communities Monthly wellbeing webinars and training to support employee health and wellbeing We believe that diversity, combined with excellence, builds a better Sophos, so we encourage applicants who can contribute to the diversity of our team. All applicants will be treated in a fair and equal manner and in accordance with the law regardless of gender, sex, gender reassignment, marital status, race, religion or belief, color, age, military veteran status, disability, pregnancy, maternity or sexual orientation. Data Protection If you choose to explore an opportunity, and subsequently share your CV or
other personal details with Sophos, these details will be held by Sophos for 12 months in accordance with our Privacy Policy and used by our recruitment team to contact you regarding this or other relevant opportunities at Sophos. If you would like Sophos to delete or update your details at any time, please follow the steps set out in the Privacy Policy describing your individual rights. For more information on Sophos data protection practices, please consult our Privacy Policy Cybersecurity as a Service Delivered Sophos We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.