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🦾 Head of Engineering

250k – 300kNew York, NYEngineering ManagementOnsite10+ YOE
Summary

Leads and scales engineering team from 15 to 40+ engineers, owning execution, culture, recruiting, and operational excellence. Partners with CTO/CEO on strategy while hands-on building in fast-paced startup; requires 10+ years experience leading engineering orgs.

About the role

What you’ll do

  • Build and lead a high-performing engineering organization that can ship ambitious product and infra work with speed, quality, and accountability
  • Partner closely with the CTO on technical strategy, architecture, and roadmap prioritization; balance short-term product goals with long-term scalability and reliability
  • Partner closely with the CEO & CTO to communicate company vision and strategy, ensuring the entire engineering team is highly motivated to achieve ambitious goals
  • Own engineering execution and deadlines: ensure every project has clear goals, scope, owner, and deadlines — and that they’re consistently hit
  • Introduce lightweight, effective systems for ownership, accountability, and visibility (planning, status, reviews) without weighing the team down in process
  • Systematically identify bottlenecks and friction in team workflows — from planning and handoffs to QA and releases — and simplify or redesign processes so engineers spend more time on deep work and shipping
  • Assess and develop existing leads; build a strong middle-management layer (EMs / Leads / Staff ICs) that can scale us from 15 to 40+ engineers
  • Define, roll out, and maintain a clear career ladder and performance framework for engineers and managers
  • Build a culture where high performers are energized — people feel real ownership, are recognized and rewarded for impact, and are motivated to do the best work of their careers here
  • Hold a high bar for performance: celebrate wins and exceptional outcomes; ensure underperformance is identified early and addressed directly, whether via coaching, role changes, or exits
  • Own engineering recruiting end-to-end with the CTO and People team: set the bar, refine the process, and personally help source, interview, and close top talent
  • Codify and enforce engineering culture and standards (speed, craftsmanship, ownership, resilience); make excellence the default via code review norms, postmortems, documentation, and technical design practices
  • Strengthen cross-functional collaboration with Product, Design, and Ops so engineering effort is tightly aligned to company goals
  • Establish and track key metrics for engineering velocity, quality, and recruiting pipeline health, and use them to guide decisions
  • Work "in the trenches" with the team: we're in the office 3 days a week, with occasional late nights to get the job done

What you’ll bring

  • 10+ years of software engineering experience, with proven leadership of 15–40+ engineers in a fast-paced startup or high-growth environment
  • Direct experience building and scaling an engineering org: hiring, org design, management systems, and performance management
  • A track record of driving operational excellence in engineering — predictable delivery, clear ownership, and high-quality output
  • Strong people leadership skills: you’ve hired, leveled, developed, and retained high-performing engineers and managers
  • Comfort making and executing on hard people decisions with clarity and empathy
  • Deep experience partnering with a founder/CTO and product leaders on roadmap, architecture, and tradeoffs
  • Strong recruiting instincts: you’re personally effective at sourcing, assessing, and closing top talent
  • Clear and concise communication; you create alignment, set context, motivate teams, and make decisions in the face of ambiguity
  • You’re energized by high-intensity, hands-on building — you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, live close to the work, and model the pace and standards you expect from the team

Nice-to-haves (but not required)

  • Background in consumer or highly product-centric engineering
  • Experience managing both product and infra/platform teams
  • Experience scaling teams in hybrid or in-office environments

What we offer

  • Competitive salary and meaningful equity
  • 401(k) with company matching
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance for you and your dependents
  • OneMedical membership, telehealth, and virtual mental health support
  • Commuter benefits & contributions towards fitness / wellness (e.g., ClassPass, Citibike)
  • Flexible PTO and ~14 paid holidays per year
  • Quarterly stipend to plan your own party and dogfood the product, plus semiannual team offsites
  • Parental leave

Anticipated annual salary: $250,000 - $300,000, plus a generous equity package.

Skills
software engineeringtechnical strategyarchitectureroadmap prioritizationorg designperformance managementhiringcode reviewpostmortemstechnical designrecruitingcareer laddermetrics tracking
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