Director, Compute Platform

Company Introduction 

We exist to wow our customers. We know we’re doing the right thing when we hear our customers say, “How did we ever live without Coupang?” Born out of an obsession to make shopping, eating, and living easier than ever, we’re collectively disrupting the multi-billion-dollar e-commerce industry from the ground up. We are one of the fastest-growing e-commerce companies that established an unparalleled reputation for being a dominant and reliable force in South Korean commerce.

We are proud to have the best of both worlds — a startup culture with the resources of a large global public company. This fuels us to continue our growth and launch new services at the speed we have been since our inception. We are all entrepreneurs surrounded by opportunities to drive new initiatives and innovations. At our core, we are bold and ambitious people that like to get our hands dirty and make a hands-on impact. At Coupang, you will see yourself, your colleagues, your team, and the company grow every day.

Our mission to build the future of commerce is real. We push the boundaries of what’s possible to solve problems and break traditional tradeoffs. Join Coupang now to create an epic experience in this always-on, high-tech, and hyper-connected world.

Role Overview

The Developer platform team is responsible for Coupang’s developer experiences including Coupang’s internal workload management and microservice ecosystem which scales to thousands of microservices. We are in a process of revolutionizing our developer experiences and infrastructure by adopting the best technologies available.

Within Developer Platform, this role is for Compute Platform, which manages compute for all application workloads across Coupang and is expanding its focus to manage and scale all workloads across Coupang. We are looking for a leader who has a deep understanding of distributed systems, hands-on experiences in large scale backend infrastructure, especially Kubernetes based compute infra. You will be responsible to lead the team and scale the architecture to deliver a modern platform that powers all of Coupang’s compute needs across the spectrum of workloads.

What You Will Do

As an Engineering Director in Developer platform, you will partner with leaders of multiple platform teams to deliver scaled infrastructure for Coupang. You will work closely with the product team to define and implement simple solutions of complex infrastructure problems while ensuring to build a highly scalable, reliable and efficient platform for our customers. You will be accountable for raising the bar on engineering and operational excellence.

In this role, you will:

• Operationalize our Kubernetes platform so that it continues to scale, run efficiently, be reliable and automated and address all compute use cases, including developing net-new Kubernetes-based capabilities for service and infrastructure owners at Coupang.

• Plan: define and execute technical roadmaps that advance Coupang’s capability to manage large-scale general and specialized compute infrastructure efficiently.

• Decompose complex problems into simple, straightforward solutions, providing mechanisms for the teams to prioritize ruthlessly and “move with urgency”.

• Build and grow the organization: attract, hire, mentor, and retain top-tier engineers; foster a culture of innovation, automation, simplicity, rapid learning and operational excellence. 

• Demonstrate excellence resulting in scalable systems and services with the highest quality architecture and design.

• Collaborate with other Coupang tech leaders to make the service extensible to unlock opportunities for innovations.

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years in large-scale infrastructure engineering, including 5+ years leading teams that run business-critical, globally distributed fleets.

• Strong AWS and/or GCP infrastructure knowledge

• Demonstrated excellence in communication, planning, negotiation, and interpersonal interactions across executives, cross-functional stakeholders, and team members, with a strong ability to influence and drive organizational change.

• Ability to balance business needs with technical solutions

• Strong problem solving skills and ability to identify problems, determine their root cause, and see them through to solution

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related technical fields.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Strong experience managing large scale Kubernetes-based compute infrastructure.

• Past hands-on compute infrastructure experience: you once built or operated clusters (writing Golang operators, CRDs, and CLI tools), graduated into org leadership, and continue to dive deep as needed.

• Experience operating a tier zero/one production system to a high degree of operational excellence.

• Ability to handle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment and leading the delivery of large-scale services for complex business offerings.

Pay & Benefits

Our compensation reflects the cost of living across several US geographic markets. At Coupang, your base pay is one part of your total compensation.   

The base pay for this position ranges from $159,000/year in our lowest geographic market to $324,000/year in our highest geographic market. Pay is based on several factors including market location and may vary depending on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.  

General Description of All Benefits 

• Medical/Dental/Vision/Life, AD&D insurance   
• Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) & Health Savings Account (HSA)  
• Long-term/Short-term Disability  
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) program  
• 401K Plan with Company Match  
• 18-21 days of the Paid Time Off (PTO) a year based on the tenure  
• 12 Paid Holidays  
• Paid Parental leave  
• Pre-tax commuter benefits  
• MTV - [Free] Electric Car Charging Station   

General Description of Other Compensation    

 “Other Compensation” includes, but is not limited to, bonuses, equity, or other forms of compensation that would be offered to the hired applicant in addition to their established salary range or wage scale.   ​

Coupang is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, or gender (including pregnancy, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, transgender status), national origin, age, disability, medical condition, HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis C status, marital status, military or veteran status, use of a trained dog guide or service animal, political activities, or affiliations, citizenship, or any other characteristic or class protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation in the recruiting process due to a disability, please contact us at [email protected]. 

Job Requisition ID: R0060057