Director, Engineering Operations (Chief of Staff to VP of Engineering, Adobe Express)

The Opportunity

This role exists to make sure Engineering actually delivers on what matters.

The Director, Engineering Operations is a force multiplier to the VP of Engineering, Adobe Express—driving alignment across leaders, forcing decisions when things stall, and ensuring cross-cutting initiatives land.

If priorities are unclear, you surface and resolve it. If decisions are lingering, you push them to closure. If execution drifts, you bring it back on track. This is not a coordination role. You will work directly with senior engineering leaders, challenge assumptions, and drive outcomes without formal authority.

What You’ll Do

Drive Cross-Org Execution

• Drive progress on the most critical, cross-cutting Engineering initiatives (platform migrations, reliability, AI/agentic systems, infra transformations, org-wide process changes).
• Maintain a clear view of priorities, dependencies, and risks across pillars—and continuously pressure-test alignment.
• Identify where work is misaligned to top priorities and force tradeoff conversations.

Force Decisions & Closure

• Ensure leadership discussions result in decisions—not open threads.
• Drive clear ownership, timelines, and follow-through on every major action.
• Relentlessly close loops. Nothing should sit unresolved across staff or leadership forums.

Leadership Cadence (Run It Like an Operating System)

• Own Engineering leadership cadence (staff, reviews, offsites) with a focus on signal, decisions, and outcomes.
• Cut noise. Drive structured discussions with clear inputs and outputs.
• Maintain high-quality artifacts: decision logs, action trackers, initiative views.

Cross-Functional Alignment

• Work across Engineering, Product, Design, Data, and partner teams to ensure priorities are aligned and sequenced correctly.
• Step into misaligned situations and drive resolution directly with leaders.
• Represent the VP of Engineering, Adobe Express in forums where needed to maintain momentum.

Execution Visibility & Insights

• Provide a real-time, honest view of initiative health, risks, and tradeoffs.
• Synthesize complex technical and organizational inputs into clear, actionable insights.
• Standardize how progress and risks are surfaced—no surprises.

Targeted Deep Dives (When Things Go Sideways)

• Go deep enough to understand why something is off track (technical, organizational, or process).
• Bring back clear options and drive teams to resolution.
• Do not become the execution layer—drive accountability through leaders.

What You’ll Need to Succeed

• 8–12+ years in Strategy & Operations, Business Operations, Chief of Staff, or Program Leadership roles.
• Background in consulting, business operations, or large-scale program delivery.
• Strong experience working with Engineering organizations in complex, fast-moving environments.
• Technical fluency: able to understand architecture discussions, engineering tradeoffs, and system constraints well enough to challenge and drive decisions (without being the architect).
• Proven ability to influence senior engineering leaders and drive outcomes without authority.
• Exceptional communication—clear, direct, and able to cut through ambiguity.
• High judgment and low tolerance for drift or lack of accountability.

Preferred

• Experience supporting VP/SVP-level Engineering leaders.
• Experience in product/platform environments with significant scale and complexity.
• Exposure to modern engineering systems (distributed systems, AI/ML workflows, platform architectures).

What Success Looks Like

• The highest-priority Engineering initiatives move with urgency and clarity.

• Leadership meetings consistently produce decisions and actions—not discussion.

• Cross-team misalignment is surfaced and resolved quickly.

• Action items are reliably driven to closure.

About Adobe

Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.

Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We’re on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours. 

Let’s Adobe together

At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture, focus on people, purpose and community, Adobe for All, comprehensive benefits programs, the stories we tell, the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.

Adobe is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on gender, race or color, ethnicity or national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic. Learn more.

Adobe aims to make our Careers website and recruiting process accessible to any and all users. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation to navigate our website or complete the application process, email accommodations@adobe.com or call +1 408-536-3015. 

AI Use Guidelines for Interviews:
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.

At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI — and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it’s restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience.

 

Expected Pay Range:

Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several  U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $171,900 -- $326,800 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.

 



In California, the pay range for this position is $225,700 - $326,800


At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans.  Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).

In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.

State-Specific Notices:

California:

Fair Chance Ordinances

Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

Colorado:

Application Window Notice

If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.

Massachusetts:

Massachusetts Legal Notice

It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.