Director of Engineering, Real Time Experience (RTX)
Adobe
San Jose; Seattle Posted Discovered via the company's careers siteMatch locked
Full time5+ years exp
The Opportunity
Adobe's Digital Video & Audio (DVA) business builds Premiere Pro, After Effects, and Media Encoder, the tools that filmmakers, broadcasters, and creators trust to tell their stories. At the center of these products sits the Realtime Experience (RTX) team. RTX owns the rendering engine, GPU abstraction layer, compositor, video player, importer and exporter host, and Effects and Transitions SDK. Every frame our customers play, edit, and export passes through this stack.
The next 12 months will define the future of video creation at Adobe. RTX is finishing its GPU-first pipeline, moving to a modern graphics API, and designing how AI-native rendering fits in. Leader for this team will shape the engine under Premiere Pro and After Effects for years to come.
We are hiring a Director of Engineering for RTX. The team is senior and highly specialized, and it needs a leader with matching depth. The Director will own these modernization efforts and align the many teams that touch rendering, as Topaz and LTX integrations arrive.
What You Will Do
This role sets the technical vision for the rendering technology behind DVA's desktop products, with a near-term focus on Premiere Pro performance and stability. Architectural decisions come with clear investment plans for engineering and quality engineering.
- Deliver the GPU-first rendering pipeline to improve playback, scrubbing, and dropped frames.
- Choose and lead the move to a modern graphics and compute API such as DirectX 12, Vulkan, or Dawn/WebGPU.
- Define how AI features and partner technologies such as Topaz and LTX fit the render pipeline while keeping quality and user experience high.
- Unify rendering, effects, and transitions across desktop, web, and mobile.
- Build lasting partnerships with technology leaders and shape our roadmap around their platform plans.
- Work with media and format teams to modernize legacy components, and align partner teams on shared priorities.
- Lead the engineering side of a Developer Relations effort to unify and document our SDKs and raise third-party plugin quality, protecting a key competitive advantage.
The Director also grows a team of managers, architects, and senior engineers, protects the quality bar, and coaches leaders as the organization changes.
What We Are Looking For (Must Have)
Are you a technical leader whose judgment shapes the product? The ideal candidate does not need to write shaders, but knows which paths lead to great outcomes and can defend that view to engineers, partners, and executives.
- 12+ years of software engineering experience, with deep architectural judgment in GPU-accelerated, real-time rendering, graphics, or media systems.
- 5+ years leading engineering teams, with proven people leadership at senior engineering manager level or above, including developing managers and growing careers.
- Experience building or leading performance-critical software such as rendering engines, playback and compositing systems, game engines, or broadcast tools.
- Strong knowledge of GPU architecture and compute, and of modern graphics APIs including Metal, DirectX 12, Vulkan, and WebGPU.
- A track record in large, mature C/C++ desktop codebases, modernizing them while continuing to ship.
- A clear point of view on where rendering technology is heading, and the skill to turn it into a funded, staffed plan.
- Strong influence across Product, Engineering, QE, and external partners.
Nice to Have
- Understanding of video codecs, formats, and import and export pipelines, and how they affect playback and effects.
- Experience in games, VFX, AR/VR, real-time 3D, or live broadcast production.
- Experience adding AI or ML inference to rendering or media pipelines.
- Experience unifying rendering across desktop, web, and mobile.
- Experience building developer ecosystems, SDKs, or plugin programs.
About Adobe
Adobe empowers everyone to create through innovative platforms and tools that unleash creativity, productivity and personalized customer experiences. Adobe's industry-leading offerings including Adobe Acrobat Studio, Adobe Express, Adobe Firefly, Creative Cloud, Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Manager, and GenStudio enable people and businesses to turn ideas into impact, powered by AI and driven by human ingenuity.
Our 30,000+ employees worldwide are creating the future and raising the bar as we drive the next decade of growth. We're on a mission to hire the very best and believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. At Adobe, we believe that great ideas can come from anywhere in the organization. The next big idea could be yours.
Let's Adobe together
At Adobe, we believe in creating a company culture where all employees are empowered to make an impact. Learn more about Adobe life, including our values and culture , focus on people, purpose and community , Adobe for All , comprehensive benefits programs , the stories we tell , the customers we serve, and how you can help us advance our mission of empowering everyone to create.
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AI Use Guidelines for Interviews
Our interviews are designed to reflect your own skills and thinking. The use of AI or recording tools during live interviews is not permitted unless explicitly invited by the interviewer or approved in advance as part of a reasonable accommodation. If these tools are used inappropriately or in a way that misrepresents your work, your application may not move forward in the process.
At Adobe, we empower employees to innovate with AI - and we look for candidates eager to do the same. As part of the hiring experience, we provide clear guidance on where AI is encouraged during the process and where it's restricted during live interviews. See how we think about AI in the hiring experience .
Expected Pay Range
Our compensation reflects the cost of labor across several U.S. geographic markets, and we pay differently based on those defined markets. The U.S. pay range for this position is $186,500 - $358,250 annually. Pay within this range varies by work location and may also depend on job-related knowledge, skills, and experience. Your recruiter can share more about the specific salary range for the job location during the hiring process.
In California, the pay range for this position is $247,400 - $358,250
In New York, the pay range for this position is $247,400 - $358,250
In Washington, the pay range for this position is $228,600 - $331,050
At Adobe, for sales roles starting salaries are expressed as total target compensation (TTC = base + commission), and short-term incentives are in the form of sales commission plans. Non-sales roles starting salaries are expressed as base salary and short-term incentives are in the form of the Annual Incentive Plan (AIP).
In addition, certain roles may be eligible for long-term incentives in the form of a new hire equity award.
Fair Chance Ordinances
Adobe will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and "fair chance" ordinances.
Application Window Notice
Oct 20 2026 12:00 AM
If this role is open to hiring in Colorado (as listed on the job posting), the application window will remain open until at least the date and time stated above in Pacific Time, in compliance with Colorado pay transparency regulations. If this role does not have Colorado listed as a hiring location, no specific application window applies, and the posting may close at any time based on hiring needs.
Massachusetts Legal Notice
It is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.
Not included in the source posting: what you'll do, qualifications, benefits.
Skills
artificial-intelligenceexpressmachine-learningc
Who can apply
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