Director, Field Engineering Emerging Enterprises & Startups — San Francisco

Req ID FEQ327R163 Director, Field Engineering Emerging Enterprises & Startups About the Role As a Director, Field Engineering, you will lead a multi-team Field Engineering organization and own strategy, talent, operating model, and execution for a significant business area. You will scale customer and business impact through other leaders while influencing broader go-to-market, partner, Product, Engineering, and company priorities. This role typically oversees a leadership team of approximately 3–5 leaders or an equivalent multi-team scope. Depending on the assignment, you may lead a broad business unit, multiple segments or countries, a major portfolio, or another strategically significant area. The Impact You Will Have • Build and lead a strong leadership team that attracts, develops, and retains exceptional Field Engineering talent. • Own an end-to-end strategy across talent, customer coverage, technical priorities, operating model, execution, and business impact. • Translate customer, market, competitive, and technical trends into clear priorities and 6–12+ month plans. • Scale impact beyond individual teams through leaders, cross-functional GTM initiatives, partner ecosystems, and repeatable operating mechanisms. • Build trusted relationships with senior customer stakeholders, including VP-level and equivalent audiences, and guide complex programs, escalations, and transformation roadmaps. • Establish operating norms and inspection cadences across the organization that create visibility, accountability, predictable execution, and fast course correction. • Shape resourcing and organizational design to support growth, customer outcomes, technical quality, and long-term business value. • Upgrade hiring rigor, talent practices, leadership development, performance management, and succession planning across the organization. • Influence broader Sales, Professional Services, Marketing, Partners, Product, Engineering, Support, and executive priorities through a clear point of view and strong cross-functional relationships. • Partner with GTM Strategy & Operations and other functions to create scalable tools, programs, dashboards, and mechanisms; use AI to drive one-to-many organizational impact. • Act as a recognized resource on data, AI, cloud, customer transformation, and evolving market trends. • Embed Databricks Culture Principles into hiring, development, recognition, decision-making, and daily operations while maintaining a high bar for performance and customer impact. What We Look For • Extensive experience leading technical customer-facing organizations in enterprise software, cloud, data, AI, analytics, technical consulting, or a related environment. • Proven success leading through managers and building a high-performing leadership team. • Track record of recruiting exceptional talent, developing leaders, addressing complex performance situations, and evolving organizational structure for scale. • Strong strategic and business judgment, with the ability to connect customer and market insight to organizational priorities and measurable business outcomes • Experience designing and running operating models across multiple teams, portfolios, segments, geographies, or countries. • Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders across Sales, Professional Services, Marketing, Partners, Product, Engineering, Support, and executive stakeholders. • Executive-level customer-advisory skills, including the ability to guide complex programs, critical escalations, technical strategy, and long-term transformation roadmaps. • Strong technical credibility across data platforms, analytics, AI, cloud architecture, governance, security, networking, and enterprise adoption, with the judgment to pressure-test complex approaches. • An AI-first, builder mindset demonstrated through experimentation, adoption, and scalable application of AI to customer outcomes and organizational effectiveness. • Demonstrated alignment with Databricks Culture Principles and a track record of preserving and strengthening culture during growth and change. Basic Qualifications • Experience leading multi-team technical customer-facing organizations and managing through other leaders. • Experience owning strategy and execution for a significant business area, portfolio, geography, segment, or comparable scope. • Experience leading complex customer transformations and cross-functional initiatives. • Experience in data platforms, analytics, AI, cloud, software, technical consulting, or a related technical domain. • Strong written, verbal, presentation, strategic-planning, and executive-stakeholder skills. • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience. Preferred Qualifications • Experience with Databricks or comparable data and AI platforms. • Experience leading across multiple business units, countries, customer segments, or Field Engineering practices. • Experience shaping broader GTM strategy, partner ecosystems, product priorities, or company-wide programs. • Experience building leadership pipelines, succession plans, communities of practice, and scalable talent systems. • Experience using AI, automation, analytics, or other technology to transform organizational operating models. About Databricks Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including adidas, AT&T, Bayer, Block, Mastercard, Rivian, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on the Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn , X , YouTube , and Instagram . Benefits At Databricks, we strive to provide comprehensive benefits and perks that meet the needs of all of our employees. For specific details on the benefits offered in your region click here . Our Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion At Databricks, we are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can excel. We take great care to ensure that our hiring practices are inclusive and meet equal employment opportunity standards. Individuals looking for employment at Databricks are considered without regard to age, color, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other protected characteristics. Compliance If access to export-controlled technology or source code is required for performance of job duties, it is within Employer's discretion whether to apply for a U.S. government license for such positions, and Employer may decline to proceed with an applicant on this basis alone.