Director, Field Engineering Emerging Enterprises & Startups
HotApplication analysis
Director, Field Engineering Emerging Enterprises & Startups at Databricks is a forward deployed data & ai platform role for engineers who want customer-facing technical work with real deployment ownership.
Reading this role
This Forward Deployed Engineer role centers on embedded customer delivery — discovery, prototyping, integration, and production rollout. Key signals from the listing: Senior scope.
About Databricks
Databricks sells a unified data platform to enterprises. Forward deployed engineers help customers migrate workloads and prove value on live data. The role is anchored in San Francisco, California, so expect on-site customer work in that region.
Signals in the listing
Stand out for Director, Field Engineering Emerging Enterprises & Startups
- Lead your application with one paragraph tying Director, Field Engineering Emerging Enterprises & Startups to a specific customer or deployment you owned — Databricks hires for shipped outcomes, not tool lists.
- Prepare a 5-minute “week one on site” plan: who you would meet, what you would inspect in their stack, and what artifact you would deliver by day five.
- Show you can go from discovery notes → working integration → production checklist without needing a large internal team.
- This role is tied to San Francisco, California — mention willingness to work on-site with customers and any existing ties to that market (clients, partners, or domain knowledge).
Stand out at Databricks
- Demonstrate Spark/SQL fluency with a concrete example — Databricks will probe for specifics, not buzzwords.
- Demonstrate enterprise stakeholder management with a concrete example — Databricks will probe for specifics, not buzzwords.
- Strong candidates show they can whiteboard a lakehouse migration and then actually implement the first milestone.
- Read recent engineering blog posts, product launches, and customer stories on databricks.com — reference one explicitly in your outreach to show genuine interest.
Tailored from this listing’s title, company, and description. Always verify requirements on the company careers page before applying.
Role description
Req ID FEQ327R163
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, ac