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Director of Engineering jobs: 940 open roles, pay, industries and skills

940 open Director of Engineering jobs, taken from employers’ own career sites and checked to still be open. Also listed as Engineering Director, Director, Engineering, Senior Director of Engineering, Global Director of Engineering, Regional Director of Engineering. Listings that state pay show a median of $237,500 a year.

The market for Director of Engineering work

Every figure is counted from verified open listings. Pay is what the employer advertises for the job.

Verified open Director of Engineering jobs
940

Source: NextChapter, checked against employer career sites, last 7 days.

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Median pay in listings that state it
$237,500

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

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State with the most openings
California (206)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Industry hiring the most
Technology & Software (41%)

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

Listings that are remote
29%

Source: NextChapter verified openings.

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Listings that ask for an AI skill
37%

Source: NextChapter verified openings, read in full.

What a Director of Engineering does

Director role in Engineering.

A director of engineering leads a team inside the function and answers for the engineering teams, the architecture and how reliably the product ships.

Usually reports to a vice president or a C-suite leader, and manages managers and individual contributors. Senior and global director titles are counted here.

Other ways this role is written

  • Director of Engineering
  • Engineering Director
  • Director, Engineering
  • Senior Director of Engineering
  • Global Director of Engineering
  • Regional Director of Engineering
  • Director of Software Engineering
  • Director of Platform Engineering

Listings under any of these titles are counted on this page. Assistant, associate, manager and staff titles are not.

Open Director of Engineering jobs

Verified against the employer’s own career site within the last week.

Showing the newest 15 of about 940 verified open jobs here. Search all jobs

Search all Director of Engineering jobs

Director of Engineering salary

From 290 open listings that state pay. Annual, in US dollars, base pay only.

Lower quarter
$203,500
Median
$237,500
Upper quarter
$283,500

Leadership pay often includes bonus and equity that a listing does not state. Treat these figures as the floor of the conversation, not the whole package.

Best industries for Director of Engineering jobs

Employers hiring the most, as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry. Median pay shown where at least 8 listings state it.

Where Director of Engineering jobs are

States with the most open listings; median pay where at least 8 listings state it.

Skills Director of Engineering jobs ask for

Named in the listings themselves, as a share of 513 Director of Engineering listings that name skills. Leadership listings name fewer skills than individual-contributor ones, so this is a signal, not a checklist.

Most named in Director of Engineering listings

  1. 1. aws24%
  2. 2. python17%
  3. 3. ci/cd17%
  4. 4. supply chain15%
  5. 5. project management14%
  6. 6. onboarding12%
  7. 7. agile11%
  8. 8. azure11%
  9. 9. kubernetes11%
  10. 10. devops10%

Across all Engineering openings

  1. 1. python8%
  2. 2. project management5%
  3. 3. agile5%
  4. 4. aws5%
  5. 5. ci/cd4%
  6. 6. excel3%
  7. 7. sql3%
  8. 8. linux3%
  9. 9. azure3%
  10. 10. devops3%

AI skills for Director of Engineering jobs

Specific AI skills named in the full posting text, such as prompt engineering, AI governance or an AI tool. A general mention of AI does not count.

37% of 537 open Director of Engineering listings ask for a specific AI skill, against 7% of all Engineering openings.

AI skills named most often

  1. 1. AI tools in daily work16%
  2. 2. AI workflow automation16%
  3. 3. LLM application engineering14%
  4. 4. AI coding assistants8%
  5. 5. AI governance and risk5%
  6. 6. Machine learning engineering5%

Do AI skills change director of engineering pay?

For Engineering roles in general, as of November 2, 2026. This is the function’s figure, not one for director of engineering alone: one title rarely has enough listings on both sides.

Among Engineering listings, those that ask for an AI skill advertise +16.9% (about $29k) compared with similar listings that do not, matched on level and industry.

Listings that ask for an AI skill
$210,000
median, from 4,087 paid listings
Listings that never mention AI
$154,000
median, from 4,980 paid listings

Advertised pay only: the midpoint of the range an employer posted, on live U.S. postings read from the full text. “Asks for an AI skill” means the posting names a specific AI skill; “no AI” means it never mentions AI. A difference in what is advertised is not a promise of what you would be paid, and it does not show that learning a skill causes a raise.

See the AI-skill pay table for every function · Check your own pay against these listings

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The Engineering ladder

The same function at other levels: where this role comes from and where it leads.

All Engineering jobs

Job titles under Director of Engineering

The exact titles employers use, with their own job and salary pages.

Employers hiring for Director of Engineering roles

  • JPMorgan Chase 34
  • Oracle 24
  • Kimmel & Associates 12
  • EY-Parthenon 10
  • BNY 9
  • Fidelity Investments 9
  • Advanced Micro Devices 7
  • Pismo 6
  • Shield AI 6
  • Hadrian 6
  • Careers | Roberts Recruiting 6
  • Humana 5

Director of Engineering questions

What does a Director of Engineering do?
A director of engineering leads a team inside the function and answers for the engineering teams, the architecture and how reliably the product ships. Usually reports to a vice president or a C-suite leader, and manages managers and individual contributors. Senior and global director titles are counted here.
What else is a Director of Engineering called?
The same job is also written Engineering Director, Director, Engineering, Senior Director of Engineering, Global Director of Engineering, Regional Director of Engineering, Director of Software Engineering, Director of Platform Engineering.
How many Director of Engineering jobs are open?
940 verified open Director of Engineering jobs, each checked against the employer’s own career site within the last week.
How much does a Director of Engineering make?
Among 290 open Director of Engineering listings that state pay, the median is $237,500 a year, and half of listings fall between $203,500 and $283,500. This is pay the employer advertises for the job, not total compensation such as bonus or equity.
Where are Director of Engineering jobs?
California (206), New York (105), Texas (72), North Carolina (39) have the most open Director of Engineering listings. About 29% of listings that state a work arrangement are remote.
Which state pays a Director of Engineering the most?
Of the states with enough listings that state pay, California has the highest median at $285,000.
Which industries hire for Director of Engineering roles?
Technology & Software (41%), Financial Services & Banking (13%), Manufacturing & Industrial (12%), Healthcare & Hospital Systems (6%), as a share of listings whose employer has a known industry.
What skills do Director of Engineering jobs ask for?
The skills named most often in open Director of Engineering listings are aws, python, ci/cd, supply chain, project management.
Do Director of Engineering jobs ask for AI skills?
37% of 537 open Director of Engineering listings read in full name a specific AI skill. The most common is AI tools in daily work.

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