M7 Senior Engineering Director
I deliver results against either a portfolio of strategic company level business objectives (or keys components of the EPD mission) or a single strategic objective with significant complexity
Scope Area of ownership and level of autonomy / ambiguity | Collaborative Reach Organizational reach and extent of influence | Impact Levers Organizational levers typically exercised to achieve business impact |
- I am fully accountable for delivering results against a portfolio of strategic objectives directly supporting company or EPD level business objectives over a two to three year time horizon.
- I am able to masterfully guide my org to impactful outcomes in the face of significant organizational, strategic and technical ambiguity, misalignment and change.
| - I substantially impact the way engineering as a whole functions and influence partner functions through organizational, people, and process insights and initiatives in complex situations.
- I anticipate challenges for and influence the direction of EPD as a whole even when faced with significant misalignment.
| - I hold myself and the managers reporting to me accountable for delivering direct business impact through effectively structuring and managing a complex engineering organization.
- In collaboration with cross-functional partners, VPs, and Directors, I define and motivate the strategic objectives against which my reports will operate.
- In addition to driving the full talent lifecycle of my org, I am a champion for high-performance culture across the company and generate excitement for delivering on business outcomes.
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Results
Responsibility | Key Behaviors |
Impact | - I drive the most important priorities for the company that create the highest value for my customer
- I know when to shut down company-wide initiatives that don't create value and how to re-structure my team's or org's roles and goals
- I know which levers to pull to drive meaningful results and consider company-wide implications of my team's work
- My teams plan for and executes on either a portfolio of strategic objectives or a single strategic objective with significant complexity
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Ownership | - I have a sense of responsibility and obligation to act on opportunities I see across the company
- I hold those reporting to me accountable for delivering the results needed by the organization and ensure that investments are appropriately prioritized across my portfolio of objectives
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Decision Making | - I act thoughtfully and decisively in critical situations even when making challenging or unpopular decisions
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Operational Excellence | - I ensure the right balance of operational excellence, innovation, and speed across teams against company-level goals
- I am skillful in detecting and addressing the situations where my personal attention is required while otherwise allowing my Directors to own their strategic objectives
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Direction
Responsibility | Key Behaviors |
Agility | - I drive transformation for the company, help other leaders champion change, and generate excitement for change across Dropbox
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Innovation | - I push boundaries and generate ideas—even if they are risky—that drive the greatest company-wide impact
- I create an environment that fosters innovation and helps Dropboxers take smart risks and learn from failures. I define strategic objectives that provide space to develop bold new ideas. I develop my own informed opinions on how Dropbox should leverage or guard against industry and market trends
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Strategy | - I deeply understand what is happening in the business and in the market. I use this understanding to collaborate with my cross-functional partners, VP, and Directors to define a long-term vision for my org/EPD
- I anticipate challenges for and influence the direction of my teams or org, even when faced with significant misalignment, to execute work toward that vision
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Talent
Responsibility | Key Behaviors |
Personal Growth | - I proactively ask for feedback from those I work with and have self-awareness about my strengths and areas for development
- I drive discussions with my manager about aspirational goals and seek out opportunities to learn and grow
- I invest time in being a better manager and leader
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Hiring | - I attract senior and diverse talent to Dropbox and have a strong followership across the company
- I am actively involved in interviewing and assessing executive leadership candidates. I look holistically at our hiring processes/standards and help drive improvements
- I take a holistic approach to talent engagement and retention across my teams/org
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Talent Development | - I champion a high-performance culture across the company, create an environment for continuous growth and development, and identify career opportunities for Dropboxers across teams
- I am an expert at both hiring and growing Directors, and I know what great looks like across all of the Core Responsibilities
- In addition to executing the responsibilities of a direct manager and leader of my organization effectively, I operate against the long term talent needs of the engineering function as a whole
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Organizational planning | - I have a clear succession plan and build a strong bench that sets my team up for success in the future for key roles on my team with a long-term view
- I invest in developing a pipeline of future leaders for Dropbox
- I help prioritize and structure the engineering organization to successfully execute against a portfolio of investments
- I give my Directors scope to drive the talent lifecycle for their groups, and know when I need to step in and go deep
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Culture
Responsibility | Key Behaviors |
Collaboration | - I remove barriers to collaboration across Dropbox
- I influence and build relationships with leaders across the company while expertly navigating organizational dynamics
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Organizational Health | - I sponsor community-building efforts and inclusion initiatives
- I shape Dropbox's culture and personify its values. I work to elevate existing standards while coaching my reports on how to do the same
- I drive engineering or org-wide efforts to ensure a consistent and strong culture while keeping in mind org-wide culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion
- I am capable of debugging and addressing even the gnarliest organizational health issues
- I practice vigilance in surfacing cultural issues that might not be explicitly raised to me. I proactively solicit feedback from my team on culture and leverage tools at hand (e.g. Pulse, Soapbox) to gain deeper insight into my team
- When I become aware of any lapse in my team’s culture, I communicate and work with my leadership team follow through on plans to correct and prevent recurrence of the lapse
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Communication | - I communicate complex, challenging, or unpopular ideas with poise and conviction and gain commitment from others
- I engage in executive-level communications and represent Dropbox effectively in external forums
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M7 Senior Engineering Director