SonicWall is a cybersecurity forerunner with more than 30 years of expertise and is recognized as a leading partner-first company, ensuring our partners and their customers are never alone in the fight against cybercrime. With the ability to build, scale and manage security across the cloud, hybrid and traditional environments in real-time, SonicWall provides relentless security against the most evasive cyberattacks across endless exposure points for increasingly remote, mobile and cloud-enabled users. With its own threat research center, SonicWall can quickly and economically provide purpose-built security solutions to enable any organization—enterprise, government agencies and SMBs—around the world. For more information, visit www.sonicwall.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Senior Director of Engineering to lead the strategy, development, and delivery of next-generation network management platforms, including firewalls, switches, and wireless access points. This leader will drive innovation through AI-assisted development practices, build high-performing teams, and ensure consistent delivery of high-quality, metrics-driven outcomes at scale.

The ideal candidate brings deep domain expertise in networking infrastructure combined with modern software development leadership and a strong track record of adopting AI/ML tools to accelerate engineering productivity and product quality.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Strategy

Define and execute engineering strategy for network management platforms (firewall, switching, and wireless solutions)
Lead and mentor globally distributed engineering teams, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and operational excellence
Partner with Product, Architecture, and Customer Success teams to align roadmaps with business goals and customer needs
Drive organizational transformation toward AI-assisted engineering practices

Engineering Excellence

Establish and enforce quality, reliability, and performance standards
Champion modern, data-driven engineering practices, leveraging delivery performance, developer experience, and AI-assisted productivity metrics (e.g., SPACE, flow, and AI impact measures) to drive continuous improvement and high-quality outcomes
Foster a fail-fast, learn-fast culture by encouraging rapid experimentation, iterative development, and quick feedback loops to accelerate innovation while minimizing risk
Promote blameless postmortems and continuous learning to improve systems, processes, and team effectiveness

AI-Driven Development

Lead adoption of AI-assisted development tools (e.g., code generation, automated testing, observability, and incident response automation)
Integrate AI/ML into engineering workflows to:

Accelerate development velocity
Improve code quality and defect detection
Enhance operational insights and automation

Promote best practices for responsible and secure use of AI in engineering

Delivery & Execution

Drive predictable and high-quality software releases across multiple product lines
Ensure programs are delivered on time, within scope, and aligned with strategic objectives
Establish robust CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps practices
Continuously improve engineering processes based on data and feedback

Stakeholder Management

Communicate effectively with executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders
Provide regular updates on roadmap execution, risks, and performance metrics
Represent engineering in customer and partner engagements when needed

Qualifications Required

12+ years of engineering experience, with 5+ years in senior leadership roles
Proven expertise in networking technologies, including at least one of:

Firewall management systems
Switching platforms
Wireless access point solutions

Demonstrated success leading large-scale, distributed engineering teams
Strong track record of delivering high-quality, scalable products using metric-driven approaches
Hands-on experience driving adoption of AI-assisted software development tools and practices
Deep understanding of cloud-native architectures, microservices, and distributed systems
Experience with DevOps/DevSecOps frameworks and CI/CD pipelines

Preferred

Experience in enterprise or SaaS-based network management platforms
Familiarity with observability, telemetry, and data-driven operations
Knowledge of security principles related to networking and infrastructure
Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Key Success Metrics

Improvement in engineering velocity and predictability (e.g., SPACE metrics)
Reduction in production defects and MTTR
Adoption rate and impact of AI-assisted development tools
Platform reliability, scalability, and customer satisfaction (SLAs, NPS)
Employee engagement and retention within engineering teams

Leadership Profile

Strategic thinker with strong execution focus
Data-driven decision-maker
Passion for innovation and continuous improvement
Collaborative and influential across organizational boundaries
Strong advocate for engineering excellence and customer value

#Networking

SonicWall is an equal opportunity employer.

We are committed to creating a diverse environment and are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, age, marital status, veteran status, pregnancy, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

At SonicWall, we pride ourselves on recruiting a diverse mix of talented people and providing active security solutions in 100+ countries.

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Senior Director, Software Engineering- Networking background is a must