Director - Performance Engineering

QualiZeal is looking for a senior leadership professional to lead its Performance Engineering Center of Excellence (CoE) and drive the transformation toward AI-driven Performance Intelligence and Reliability Engineering.

This role is responsible for end-to-end ownership of performance strategy, delivery excellence, innovation, and business growth, while embedding AI, observability, and platform-led execution models into the organization.

The ideal candidate will act as a strategic advisor to clients, a delivery leader, and an innovation driver, ensuring scalable, resilient, and high-performing systems across enterprise environments.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and execute the Performance Engineering and Reliability strategy aligned to business growth
• Lead global performance delivery across multiple accounts ensuring SLA adherence and quality
• Drive AI-led transformation using platforms and accelerators
• Establish standard performance KPIs (SLOs, SLAs, Perf Index) across engagements
• Integrate observability and SRE practices into performance lifecycle
• Lead pre-sales, solutioning, and client advisory discussions
• Build and mentor high-performing teams across performance, SRE, and observability
• Drive platform-led delivery adoption (60%+ target)
• Enable shift-left and shift-right performance practices
• Own governance, OKRs, metrics, and executive reporting

Qualifications

• Bachelors or Master’s degree in Computer Science / Engineering / related field
• 18+ years of experience in Performance Engineering / QE / SRE
• 5+ years in leadership roles managing CoEs or large-scale global teams
• Proven experience in enterprise client engagement and delivery ownership
• Strong exposure to cloud-native architectures and distributed systems

Must-Have Skills

• Deep expertise in Performance Engineering tools (JMeter, LoadRunner, k6, NeoLoad)

• Strong knowledge of Observability/APM tools (Datadog, Dynatrace, AppDynamics, Prometheus, Grafana)

• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS / Azure) for scalable performance testing

• Strong understanding of:

• Microservices and API-driven architectures

• Distributed systems performance challenges

• CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub, DevOps tools)

• Proven ability to lead large teams and manage multi-client delivery

• Experience in pre-sales, RFP solutioning, and client stakeholder management

• Strong communication and executive-level presentation skills

Desired Skills (Good to Have)

• Experience with AI/GenAI in Performance Engineering

• Understanding of:

• RAG architectures

• AI workload performance (latency, token usage, throughput)

• Exposure to SRE practices (error budgets, reliability engineering models)

• Experience in building or scaling platform-led delivery models

• Knowledge of SAP, Salesforce, or enterprise packaged applications performance

• Familiarity with cost optimization and performance efficiency in cloud environments

• Experience in defining and tracking Performance Index / business-driven KPIs

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic thinking with execution focus
• Ability to influence CXO-level stakeholders
• Strong ownership mindset and accountability
• Balance of innovation + delivery + revenue focus
• High emotional intelligence and team leadership capability

Success Metrics

• 60% adoption of platform-led performance delivery
• Improved delivery efficiency and SLA adherence (>95%)
• Creation of client success case studies with measurable outcomes
• Increased contribution to revenue through performance-led engagements
• Establishment of AI-driven performance frameworks across accounts