Director, Software Engineering

Job Description

At Zendesk, we geek out about building software that delivers the ultimate customer experience. Your favorite brands (like Airbnb, Uber, Slack, and Disney) use our products to engage you as a customer, and we lead the industry with beautifully simple software. And we’re constantly innovating - no really, we can’t wait to outdo ourselves in the near future.

What You’ll Do

Zendesk is looking for an experienced Director of Software Engineering to lead our WFM (Workforce Management)  Engineering team based in Serbia and Poland. As Director of Software Engineering, you will oversee the development of our WFM platform as well as oversee and lead our Novi Sad, Serbia site.

You will work closely with our Director of Product to together shape the vision, roadmaps of our product and to give technical insight into our platform, its capabilities, and its future.

This is a senior management role responsible for a group of over 50 Engineers reporting through managers. You will make the necessary adjustments to enable the further growth of the WFM engineering organization and work collaboratively with the other engineering groups within Zendesk  to promote excellence in our engineering practices.

As well as being able to manage, develop and support less experienced staff you'll also be an active influencer in technical discussion and vision setting. Being able to set clear goals and contribute constructively to architectural conversations are key focuses to ensure your success in this role.

What You Need To Succeed

We’ve found that experience managing an entire department, overseeing resources, staffing and the enhancement and maintenance of first-class teams are the most common predictors for a successful Director of Software Engineering at Zendesk. You play a highly collaborative role where you work closely with the senior engineering leadership in defining long-term organizational, software strategies and roadmaps.

In this collaboration, you also coordinate and communicate development activities and priorities with the senior engineering leadership in order to ensure the successful completion of both your product and key company objectives. You will also demonstrate natural leadership abilities, being able to influence and inspire cross-functional teams and influence senior engineering leadership. You are able to make meaningful and lasting connections with others. Your people skills will inspire trust and confidence in others who will then readily follow in your insights and directives.

A Product-centric team 

Zendesk values diversity of opinions and experience, and we cultivate a culture of openness and visibility. We have an international organization of engineers with backgrounds in tech, health care, criminal justice, finance, and more. They’re brilliant, supportive, and collaborative. We help each other out with best practices, tips, and strategies for success. From day one, your input will be valued, your skills leveraged, and your personal style celebrated.

Not Your Average Tech Company

Zendesk has all the stuff you’d expect from a tech company - competitive pay, benefits, beautiful offices, snacks, and more. We also have a culture deeply dedicated to helping our staff keep a proper work-life balance, from flexible hours to remote work, to the most forward-thinking parental leave plans on the market.

Our Corporate Social Responsibility team is actively engaged in our community and enables us to invest thousands of hours with local community groups each year. We invest in diversity and inclusion so that our staff reflects the diversity of the world around us. We have a whole crew dedicated to ensuring our workplace experience is top notch and welcoming for all.

Hybrid: In this role, our hybrid experience is designed at the team level to give you a rich onsite experience packed with connection, collaboration, learning, and celebration - while also giving you flexibility to work remotely for part of the week. This role must attend our local office for part of the week. The specific in-office schedule is to be determined by the hiring manager.

The intelligent heart of customer experience

Zendesk software was built to bring a sense of calm to the chaotic world of customer service. Today we power billions of conversations with brands you know and love.

Zendesk believes in offering our people a fulfilling and inclusive experience. Our hybrid way of working, enables us to purposefully come together in person, at one of our many Zendesk offices around the world, to connect, collaborate and learn whilst also giving our people the flexibility to work remotely for part of the week.

Zendesk is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster global diversity, equity, & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment and employees at Zendesk are considered without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We are an AA/EEO/Veterans/Disabled employer. If you are based in the United States and would like more information about your EEO rights under the law, please click here.

Zendesk endeavors to make reasonable accommodations for applicants with disabilities and disabled veterans pursuant to applicable federal and state law. If you are an individual with a disability and require a reasonable accommodation to submit this application, complete any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participate in the employee selection process, please send an e-mail to [email protected] with your specific accommodation request.