Director, Engineering- Collaboration Services & Developer Edge (EMEA)

For over 20 years, Smartsheet has helped people and teams achieve–well, anything. From seamless work management to smart, scalable solutions, we’ve always worked with flow. We’re building tools that empower teams to automate the manual, uncover insights, and scale smarter. But more than that, we’re creating space– space to think big, take action, and unlock the kind of work that truly matters. Because when challenge meets purpose, and passion turns into progress, that’s magic at work, and it’s what we show up for everyday.

 We’re expanding our Collaboration Services domain—enhancing teamwork features, information sharing, and project progression—while also owning the Developer Edge: API Gateway infrastructure and adjacent platform services that power secure, reliable, and delightful developer experiences across EMEA.

You’ll scale and lead multiple engineering teams, set strategy, and ensure we deliver customer-loved capabilities with operational excellence and a world-class developer platform. Expect deep partnership with Product, Design, Security, and GTM across regions.

You can work remotely from Bulgaria and will report to the Head of Engineering, EMEA, based in Bulgaria. The position is part of a multi-country, multi-disciplinary engineering team within the EMEA region.

You will:

• Lead & scale EMEA engineering for Collaboration Services and Developer Edge (API Gateway, service mesh/ingress, auth, traffic management, developer portal/SDKs), building a high-performing org and culture of continuous improvement.
• Deliver customer-delighting products while stewarding the health of our codebase and platforms (quality, maintainability, tech-debt management).
• Own platform reliability & security: define SLOs/SLIs; drive incident readiness, on-call, change management; embed security by design in services and APIs.
• Champion engineering excellence: modern CI/CD, strong automated testing, TDD where appropriate, and frictionless DevEx to speed safe delivery.
• Set technical direction for collaboration capabilities and API/edge architecture (multi-region, microservices/SOA, zero-trust, rate-limiting, quota, observability, versioning, deprecation policy).
• Run design & deployment reviews on high-impact changes; ensure scalable rollouts, monitoring, and safe rollback paths.
• Hire, grow, and retain talent; coach managers and senior ICs; create succession plans; positively influence technical culture across groups.
• Partner deeply with Product/Design on roadmap, outcomes, and customer feedback loops; communicate effectively with exec and non-technical audiences.
• Operate across time zones: establish crisp rituals for distributed teams, with data-driven prioritization and clear accountability.

What success looks like:

• 30–60 days: Org and platform assessment; confirm strategy and OKRs; stabilize operations & on-call; align EMEA roadmap with global platform needs.
• 90–180 days: Ship 1–2 impactful collaboration capabilities; land API GW reliability & security improvements (e.g., auth hardening, rate-limit policy); measurable lead-time/MTTR gains.
• 12 months: Multiple cross-team releases adopted at scale; clear DevEx wins (faster safe deploys, better telemetry); engaged, diverse teams with strong retention and a healthy delivery cadence.

You have:

• 11+ years broad system architecture & engineering experience across multiple languages/frameworks; 3+ years leading orgs of ~20+ engineers (multi-team).
• Proven leadership of microservices/SOA web applications and multi-region cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure); strength in distributed systems and autoscaling.
• Track record building highly available, secure customer-facing services; comfort with design reviews, deployment safety, and post-release monitoring.
• Expertise in developer platforms: API design & lifecycle (versioning, deprecation), gateways/ingress, auth, quotas, telemetry/trace, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Excellent communication across exec, product, and engineering; ability to influence technical culture and mentor senior talent.
• Familiarity with Agile/Scrum at scale and product-engineering partnership best practices.
• Bachelor’s or Master’s in CS/Engineering or equivalent practical experience.
• Legally eligible to work in Bulgaria on an ongoing basis
• Fluency in English is required

Nice to have:

• Experience with collaboration/work management products.
• Prior ownership of API Gateways (e.g., Kong/Envoy/Apigee), service mesh, and developer portals/SDK governance.
• Data privacy & compliance awareness for EMEA (GDPR, data residency).
• Experience leading distributed EMEA teams

How we work & grow:

We value leaders who build learning organizations, keep up with the state of the art, and model the behaviors they ask of others—continuously raising the bar on quality, security, and customer impact.

Get to Know Us:

At Smartsheet, your ideas are heard, your potential is supported, and your contributions have real impact. You’ll have the freedom to explore, push boundaries, and grow beyond your role. We welcome diverse perspectives and nontraditional paths—because we know that impact comes from individuals who care deeply and challenge thoughtfully. When you’re doing work that stretches you, excites you, and connects you to something bigger, that’s magic at work. Let’s build what’s next, together.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Smartsheet is an Equal Opportunity (EEO) employer committed to fostering an inclusive environment with the best employees. It is our policy to provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified applicants in accordance with applicable laws in the US, UK, Australia, Germany, Costa Rica, Japan, Bulgaria, and India. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information. 

If there are preparations we can make to help ensure you have a comfortable and positive interview experience, please let us know.

#LI-Remote