Director, Software Engineering

Founded in 2012, H2O.ai is on a mission to democratize AI. As the world’s leading agentic AI company, H2O.ai converges Generative and Predictive AI to help enterprises and public sector agencies develop purpose-built GenAI applications on their private data. With a focus on Sovereign AI—secure, compliant, and infrastructure-flexible deployments—H2O.ai delivers solutions that align with the highest standards of data privacy and control.

Our open-source technology is trusted by over 20,000 organizations worldwide, including more than half of the Fortune 500. H2O.ai powers AI transformation for companies like AT&T, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Chipotle, Workday, Progressive Insurance, and NIH.

H2O.ai partners include NVIDIA, Dell Technologies, Deloitte, Ernst & Young (EY), Snowflake, AWS, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), VAST Data and MinIO. H2O.ai’s AI for Good program supports nonprofit groups, foundations, and communities in advancing education, healthcare, and environmental conservation. With a vibrant community of 2 million data scientists worldwide, H2O.ai aims to co-create valuable AI applications for all users.

H2O.ai has raised $256 million from investors, including Commonwealth Bank, NVIDIA, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Nexus Ventures and New York Life.

For more information, visit www.h2o.ai.

About This Opportunity

Based in Sri Lanka, the Director, Software Engineering – APAC leads engineering teams across the Asia Pacific region and serves as the Site Leader for Sri Lanka, driving regional engineering strategy, delivery, and talent development while ensuring strong alignment between global leadership, local execution, and engineering culture.

What You Will Do

Engineering Leadership & Delivery

• Define and execute the APAC technical roadmap aligned with business and product goals.
• Lead end-to-end software delivery across the SDLC, ensuring high quality, scalability, security, and reliability.
• Champion best practices in architecture, design, coding standards, testing, and security-first development.
• Actively participate in product design, architecture, security, and planning discussions.
• Manage technical risks, budgets, and resources effectively.
• Stay current with AI/ML, cloud, and software engineering trends.

People Leadership & Culture

• Build, mentor, and retain high-performing engineering teams across APAC.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive, and high-excellence engineering culture.
• Implement strong performance management, coaching, and succession planning.
• Lead by example—driving focus, velocity, innovation, and product quality.

Sri Lanka Location Lead Responsibilities

• Serve as the senior on-site engineering Sri Lanka leader for the Sri Lanka office.
• Act as the primary point of leadership, coordination, and representation for the site.
• Advocate for local needs while ensuring alignment with global priorities.
• Strengthen hiring, onboarding, retention, and team cohesion in a hybrid / on-site model.
• Promote strong engineering culture, collaboration, and community.
• Bridge communication and execution between the Sri Lanka team and global leadership.

Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement

• Partner closely with Product, Customer Data Science, Sales, DevOps, and Corporate teams.
• Ensure engineering execution aligns with customer needs and product vision.
• Maintain compliance with internal policies and external regulations.

What We Are Looking For

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with proven leadership across global, distributed teams (USA, EU, APAC).
• Strong expertise across the full SDLC, including cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and Kubernetes-based environments.
• Solid experience coaching and mentoring teams
• Demonstrated ability to define and deliver complex technical roadmaps.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills across all organizational levels.
• Comfortable operating in fast-paced, ambiguous environments.
• Hands-on mindset with experience in architecture and code reviews; strong interest in AI/ML-driven products.

Why H2O.ai?

• Market Leader in Total Rewards
• Remote-Friendly Culture
• Flexible working environment
• Be part of a world-class team
• Career Growth

H2O.ai is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive culture. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability status or any other legally protected basis.

H2O.ai is an innovative AI cloud platform company, leading the mission to democratize AI for everyone. Thousands of organizations from all over the world have used our cutting-edge technology across a variety of industries. We’ve made it easy for people at all levels to generate breakthrough solutions to complex business problems and advance the discovery of new ideas and revenue streams. We push the boundaries of what is possible with artificial intelligence. 

H2O.ai employs the world’s top Kaggle Grandmasters, the community of best-in-the-world machine learning practitioners and data scientists. A strong AI for Good ethos and responsible AI drive the company’s purpose.