Engineering Director - Search

LinkedIn is the worlds largest professional network, built to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Our products help people make powerful connections, discover exciting opportunities, build necessary skills, and gain valuable insights every day. Were also committed to providing transformational opportunities for our own employees by investing in their growth. We aspire to create a culture thats built on trust, care, inclusion, and fun where everyone can succeed.

At LinkedIn, our approach to flexible work is centered on trust and optimized for culture, connection, clarity, and the evolving needs of our business. The work location of this role is hybrid, meaning it will be performed both from home and from a LinkedIn office on select days, as determined by the business needs of the team.

We are seeking an exceptional Director of Engineering to lead the Flagship Search organization at LinkedIn. This is a rare opportunity to drive the technical and organizational vision behind the next generation of search products, transforming how millions of professionals discover connections, knowledge, and opportunities. As the engineering leader for Search, you will oversee a team responsible for designing and implementing state-of-the-art search technology stack, building intuitive, personalized, and scalable search experiences. You will lead the integration of cutting-edge AI/ML techniques and large language models (LLMs) into our relevance, retrieval, and ranking systems. In addition to deep technical expertise, this role requires strong people leadership, operational excellence, and the ability to partner closely with Product, AI, Infrastructure, and other cross-functional leaders to deliver business impact at scale.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Search Organization: Manage and grow a high-performing engineering team to execute on an ambitious product and technical roadmap.
• Set Technical Vision: Shape the future of LinkedIn Search by combining AI, LLMs, and systems innovation to deliver highly relevant and personalized member experiences.
• Architect for Scale: Guide the team in building scalable, high-availability infrastructure to handle billions of queries reliably and efficiently.
• Drive Product Strategy: Partner closely with product, design, and AI teams to align technical investments with member and business needs.
• Foster a High-Performance Culture: Champion engineering best practices, quality, operational rigor, and innovation across the team.
• Talent Development: Recruit, mentor, and grow top engineering talent, fostering an inclusive environment where individuals can do their best work.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Influence and collaborate across multiple teams and stakeholders to drive complex, high-impact initiatives forward.
• Stay Ahead of Trends: Monitor emerging technologies and industry trends to ensure LinkedIn Search remains an industry leader.

Basic Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience building AI-powered consumer products at scale, with at least 5 years in engineering leadership roles.
• Bachelors degree in a quantitative field - Computer Science, Operational Research, Statistics, Economics or related fields
• Proven experience leading and scaling engineering teams to deliver consumer-facing search products.
• Technical foundation in relevance algorithms, retrieval systems, personalization, and search infrastructure.

Preferred Qualifications

• Hands-on experience integrating AI/ML and large language models into production search systems.
• Track record of influencing technical and product strategy at an organizational level.
• Deep understanding of building robust, scalable systems to handle high-velocity, large-scale data and query loads.
• Strong leadership and people development skills, with a passion for building inclusive, high-performing teams.
• Ability to thrive in ambiguous, high-stakes environments and drive clarity and execution across complex initiatives.

Suggested Skills

• People Leadership
• Search experience
• AI/ML experience

You will Benefit from our Culture

We strongly believe in the well-being of our employees and their families. That is why we offer generous health and wellness programs and time away for employees of all- levels.- LinkedIn is committed to fair and equitable compensation practices. The pay range for this role is $218,000 to $357,000. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, depth of experience, certifications, and specific work location. This may be different in other locations due to differences in the cost of labor. The total compensation package for this position may also include annual performance bonus, stock, benefits and/or other applicable incentive compensation plans. For more information, visit https://careers.linkedin.com/benefits.

Equal Opportunity Statement 

We seek candidates with a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer. LinkedIn considers qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, sex, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, citizenship, or any other legally protected class.

LinkedIn is committed to offering an inclusive and accessible experience for all job seekers, including individuals with disabilities. Our goal is to foster an inclusive and accessible workplace where everyone has the opportunity to be successful.

If you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, apply for a position, or participate in the interview process, connect with us at [email protected] and describe the specific accommodation requested for a disability-related limitation.

Reasonable accommodations are modifications or adjustments to the application or hiring process that would enable you to fully participate in that process. Examples of reasonable accommodations include but are not limited to:

• Documents in alternate formats or read aloud to you
• Having interviews in an accessible location
• Being accompanied by a service dog
• Having a sign language interpreter present for the interview

A request for an accommodation will be responded to within three business days. However, non-disability related requests, such as following up on an application, will not receive a response.

LinkedIn will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by LinkedIn, or (c) consistent with LinkedIn's legal duty to furnish information.

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Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, LinkedIn will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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