Director of Software Engineering – Experimentation and Audience Platforms

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Director, Software Engineering

San Mateo, CA

About the Role:

Reports to: Senior Director, Data Platform Engineering

Director of Software Engineering – Experimentation and Audience Platforms is a critical leadership role at SIE, responsible for driving the innovation and scalability of both the Experimentation and Audience Platforms, including the Customer Data Platform (CDP). In this role, you will have the opportunity to redefine customer engagement and establish a robust experimentation culture that shapes how we deliver personalized customer experiences and make data-driven decisions across the organization.

You will lead the development and scaling of the Experimentation Platform, enabling rapid iteration and optimization across products and services. You'll also oversee the Audience Platform, integrating CDP capabilities that drive personalized marketing and engagement strategies in real time. Your leadership will foster an environment of continuous improvement, empowering teams to think critically and innovate quickly. This role is pivotal to shaping SIE's future by scaling the use of experimentation and redefining how we engage with our customers.

Key Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership:

  • Define the long-term vision and strategy for the Experimentation and Audience Platforms, ensuring alignment with SIE's broader business goals and industry best practices.
  • Build a scalable, innovative platform that supports continuous experimentation, customer insights, and marketing campaigns, driving significant business impact.
  • Lead a team of software engineers, architects, and UX engineers, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and relentless improvement.

• Platform Development & Delivery:

  • Oversee the architecture, design, and development of the Experimentation Platform, empowering teams across the organization to rapidly test, learn, and iterate on product features.
  • Lead the engineering efforts for the Audience Platform, integrating Customer Data Platform (CDP) capabilities to deliver real-time personalized marketing and customer engagement solutions.
  • Build and maintain a flexible, scalable, and secure Customer Data Platform that consolidates data from various touchpoints, delivering targeted and personalized experiences.

• Innovation & Experimentation:

  • Champion a data-driven culture of experimentation at SIE, encouraging teams to leverage the platform to optimize customer experiences and business strategies.
  • Partner with data science and engineering teams to incorporate advanced analytics and machine learning models into both the Experimentation and Audience Platforms.
  • Continuously enhance the platforms' features and capabilities to support evolving business needs and unlock new opportunities for customer engagement.

• Stakeholder Collaboration:

  • Collaborate with senior leadership, product, marketing, and data teams to drive experimentation and customer engagement strategies.
  • Act as a key technical partner to executives, providing strategic insights into platform performance and identifying opportunities for growth and innovation.
  • Drive alignment between business needs and technical execution to ensure optimal outcomes and scalability.

• Team Leadership & Growth:

  • Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing engineering team, promoting technical excellence and professional growth.
  • Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and creativity, ensuring the team is well-equipped to meet current and future challenges.
  • Manage team resourcing, recruitment, and professional development, ensuring the team's success in scaling experimentation across SIE.

Technical Expertise:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 12-15+ years of experience in software engineering, with 5-7 years in leadership roles, managing cross-functional engineering teams.
• Extensive hands-on experience in building and operating web services and data systems, with expertise in scalable infrastructure technologies such as Kafka, Kubernetes, Databricks, and Flink.
• Strong foundation in backend service development, including experience with RESTful services and principles of scalable web service architecture.
• Proven experience making buy vs. build decisions, assessing whether to develop in-house solutions or integrate third-party platforms based on cost, scalability, and business needs.
• In-depth knowledge of system design, data engineering, and data flow architecture, with a focus on scalability, performance optimization, and fault tolerance.
• Solid understanding of continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) processes, ensuring efficient and reliable software delivery.
• Deep experience with experimentation platforms, including A/B testing frameworks, feature management/flags, and statistical frameworks for experimentation.
• Proven expertise in building and scaling Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), including data integration, customer profiling, and real-time decisioning.
• Familiarity with data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA) and how they impact customer data handling and platform design.

Leadership & Strategic Skills:

• Proven leadership abilities with a track record of building and leading high-performing engineering teams, balancing short-term execution with long-term strategic planning to drive sustained growth and innovation.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to effectively convey complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders and collaborate across diverse teams to achieve business objectives.

Collaboration & Innovation:

• Extensive experience collaborating with product, marketing, and data teams to drive experimentation, enhance customer engagement strategies, and deliver innovative solutions that elevate customer experiences and operational efficiencies.
• Proven ability to thrive in fast-paced, collaborative environments, balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution, while continuously exploring new technologies to drive business outcomes.

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Equal Opportunity Statement:

Sony is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All persons will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender (including gender identity, gender expression and gender reassignment), race (including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, marital or civil partnership status, disability, age, sexual orientation, pregnancy, maternity or parental status, trade union membership or membership in any other legally protected category.

We strive to create an inclusive environment, empower employees and embrace diversity. We encourage everyone to respond.

PlayStation is a Fair Chance employer and qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records will be considered for employment.