Senior Director, Data Architecture and Engineering

Autodesk Autodesk · Enterprise · San Francisco, CA +2

Senior Director of Data Architecture and Engineering at Autodesk, responsible for the architectural vision and engineering execution of advanced knowledge retrieval systems and the overall Product Data platform. The role involves leading teams to solve petabyte-scale problems, build next-generation knowledge retrieval systems with semantic search and GraphRAG, and scale data services. The candidate will also lead the adoption of AI-driven engineering practices.

What you'd actually do

  1. Lead the Architectural vision for the Product Data platform
  2. Drive complex architectural decisions and technology innovation in OLTP systems infrastructure
  3. Build and evolve the knowledge retrieval engineering organization to deliver predictable execution, high quality, and operational excellence
  4. Hire, mentor, and retain the next generation of engineering leaders
  5. Serve as a senior leader within the Product Data leadership team, shaping organizational strategy, prioritization, execution, and innovation across the portfolio

Skills

Required

  • 15+ years of software engineering experience
  • 5+ years leading architects, managers and senior leaders across global teams
  • Demonstrated ability to adopt and scale AI-driven engineering practices to accelerate delivery and improve developer effectiveness
  • Proven track record of owning and delivering large-scale, complex systems or platforms with measurable business impact
  • Experience building and scaling high-performing engineering organizations, including org design and leadership development
  • Established history of driving operational excellence (quality, reliability, scalability, and execution predictability)
  • Deep expertise in distributed systems, databases, cloud platforms, high-scale transactional environments, knowledge retrieval systems and modern software architecture patterns
  • Exceptional communication and influencing skills, with the ability to align product, platform, external, and executive stakeholders
  • Ability to understand complex business requirements and quickly and iteratively execute against them in a highly matrixed environment
  • Systems thinker with a strong desire to understand how complex systems work

Nice to have

  • Experience building or leading domain-specific data platforms (e.g., AEC, BIM, GIS, manufacturing, or other complex object models)
  • Experience with schema evolution, versioning, and backward compatibility in long-lived, large-scale systems
  • Understanding of how operational product data interfaces with analytics, AI, and downstream data platforms
  • Experience influencing industry standards, data interoperability frameworks, or open ecosystems
  • Track record of driving platform adoption across large, federated organizations
  • Strong grasp on object-oriented design principles and enterprise domain/data modeling
  • Advanced degree in computer science, engineering, or related field

What the JD emphasized

  • AI-driven engineering practices
  • knowledge retrieval systems
  • semantic search
  • GraphRAG
  • Context Graphs

Other signals

  • knowledge retrieval systems
  • semantic search
  • GraphRAG
  • Context Graphs
  • AI-driven engineering practices