Senior Director - Reliability Engineering

Company Description

Freshworks makes it fast and easy for businesses to delight their customers and employees. We do this by taking a fresh approach to building and delivering software that is affordable, quick to implement, and designed for the end user. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, Freshworks has a global team operating from 13 global locations to serve more than 65,000 companies -- from startups to public companies – that rely on Freshworks software-as-a-service to enable a better customer experience (CRM, CX) and employee experience (ITSM). 

Freshworks’ cloud-based software suite includes Freshdesk (omni-channel customer support), Freshsales (sales automation), Freshmarketer (marketing automation), Freshservice (IT service desk), Freshchat (AI-powered bots), supported by Neo, our underlying platform of shared services.

Freshworks is featured in global national press including CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg and has been a BuiltIn Best Place to work in San Francisco and Denver for the last 3 years. Our customer ratings have earned Freshworks products TrustRadius Top Rated Software ratings and G2 Best of Awards for Best Feature Set, Best Value for the Price and Best Relationship. 

Job Description

• Seasoned Engineering leader with deploying & supporting web scale SaaS applications in a multi-cloud environment that is served across continents, key tenets being Well-Architected with inclusion of availability, performance & deployability in addition to Performance, Security, and Cost Optimization to support large scale SaaS businesses.
• The leader is expected to have know-how of Gross Margins, COGS, building & running efficient, cost-optimized cloud environments.
• AI first thought process with experience of building and running MLOps, AI SRE in a Multimodal environment to stay ahead of company & market requirement of rapid AI development.
• Lead and oversee Reliability Engineering teams, providing strategic direction and technical guidance to ensure the reliability, scalability, and performance of the company's technology infrastructure.
• Develop and implement best practices for NOC, DevOps, CI/CD methodologies, driving automation, incident, change & problem management, and system monitoring to minimize downtime and optimize system performance.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including software development, operations, and product management, to identify opportunities for process improvements and efficiency enhancements.
• Foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the engineering organization, encouraging knowledge sharing, mentoring, and professional development for team members.
• Stay current with industry trends and emerging technologies related to DevOps/DBA and engineering practices, evaluating their potential impact on the company's operations and advising on adoption strategies.
• Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of the DevOps and engineering teams, regularly reporting to senior leadership on performance metrics and progress towards goals.
• Manage and allocate resources efficiently, balancing project priorities and staffing needs to deliver high-quality products and services on schedule.
• Collaborate with security and compliance teams to ensure that engineering practices align with data privacy and regulatory requirements, maintaining a strong focus on data protection and risk management.
• Participate in budget planning and financial forecasting for the DevOps/DBA and engineering functions, optimizing resource allocation and cost-effectiveness while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
• Represent the company's engineering initiatives in external forums, conferences, and industry events, fostering partnerships and promoting the company's technical expertise to a broader audience.
• Inspire,  lead  and  grow  a  team  of  software  engineers,  engineering  managers,  and  quality  assurance personnel. 
• Manage product milestones, deployment cycles & overall product roadmap. 
• Technical leadership for product and across all engineering requirements. Design and run engineering processes. 
• Continuously improve and drive best practices around software engineering & lead the craftsmanship, resilience, and scalability of your solutions. 
• Bring  a  passion  to  stay  on  top  of  tech  trends,  experimenting  with  and  learning  new  technologies, 
• Participating  in  internal  &  external  technology  communities,  and  mentoring  other  members  of  the engineering community. 
• Encourage  innovation,  implementation  of  cutting-edge  technologies,  inclusion  outside-of-the-box 
• thinking, teamwork, self-organization, and diversity. 
• As a key member of the executive team, work with product management, architecture and professional services to deliver and maintain compelling products to market. 
• Ship  great  products  under  stringent  deadlines  and  in  the  face  of  ambiguous  requirements  and changing business priorities. 
• Bring tested methodologies and tools of iterative, asynchronous development to the company. 
• Reduce the time-to-insights window for new customers. 
• Responsible for the overall development and release life cycle. 
   

Qualifications

• BE/ B. Tech. in Computer Science /Software Engineering from a reputed  college/university. 
• 15-18 years of industry experience with experience leading engineering teams with over 50+ software engineers. 
• Hands-on experience in building large-scale distributed systems with AWS, Azure & GCP
• 8+ years of direct people management experience. 
• Experience  communicating  with  technical  and  non-technical  stakeholders  at  all  levels  across  the business. 
• Experience in building highly scalable Enterprise SaaS software is a big plus. 
• Exceptional leadership skills and proven experience in shaping team culture. 
• Proven  ability  to  headhunt,  attract,  retain,  and  coach  engineering  talent  from  top  companies  and universities. 
• Strong analytical skills and passion for answering questions with data 
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or a related discipline. 
• Proven record of building, managing, and sustaining product organizations. 
• Must have the ability to influence people at the business unit level. 
• Must have the ability to understand the technical and non-technical aspects of product development. 
• Excellent problem-solving skills. 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
   

Additional Information

At Freshworks, we are creating a global workplace that enables everyone to find their true potential, purpose, and passion irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion and ethnicity. We are committed to providing equal opportunity for all and believe that diversity in the workplace creates a more vibrant, richer work environment that advances the goals of our employees, communities and the business.