Senior Director, Inference Products – Optimizations

DigitalOcean

Senior Director leading engineering team on LLM inference products at DigitalOcean. Driving product development and collaboration in AI/ML systems at scale.

Posted 7/16/2026full-timeSeattle • Washington • 🇺🇸 United StatesSenior💰 $274,400 - $343,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

Use this summary to align your resume positioning with the role.

Demonstrates extensive experience in software engineering and technical leadership, with a focus on distributed systems design and modern AI/ML technologies. Proven ability to mentor teams, define product roadmaps, and ensure system stability and performance.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Technical LeadershipDistributed Systems DesignKubernetesLLM InferenceCloud-Native Architectures

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Software EngineeringDistributed Systems DesignAI/ML TechnologiesKubernetesLLM InferenceHardware-Aware OptimizationSystems EngineeringSecurityObservabilitySLOs

Soft Skills

Excellent CommunicationMentoringCoachingOwnershipProactive Drive

Industry Keywords

Inference ProductsProduct RoadmapOpen-Source Inference EnginesMulti-Region Architectures

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

CloudDistributed SystemsKubernetes

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Recruit, mentor, and coach engineers
Define and execute on the Product roadmap for Inference Products
Lead design and evolution of inference serving stack
Collaborate with Product Management and engineering teams
Ensure production health and stability
Encourage contributions to open-source inference engines

Requirements

What you’ll need

10+ years of software engineering experience
6+ years in a technical leadership or management role
Deep expertise in distributed systems design
Modern AI/ML technologies
Kubernetes
LLM inference
Strong understanding of cloud-native multi-region architectures
Hardware-Aware Optimization knowledge
Systems Engineering & Security familiarity
Observability and SLOs expertise
Excellent communication skills
A strong sense of ownership and proactive drive.

Benefits

Comp & perks

We prioritize career development.
We care about your well-being.
We reward our employees.
DigitalOcean is an equal-opportunity employer.
Flexible working hours.