Director of Engineering

Summary

Join Trase Systems, an AI-focused company, as their Director of Engineering. Scale the engineering organization from 15 to 50+ engineers within a year, while maintaining high hiring standards. Build and implement team structures, communication channels, and processes for efficient collaboration. Establish performance review systems and career development frameworks. Foster a culture of excellence and innovation, manage engineering budgets, and identify obstacles hindering engineer productivity. Collaborate with leadership to align engineering capacity with business objectives, and use data to drive continuous improvement. This role requires strong leadership, operational excellence, and a data-driven approach.

Requirements

• Educational background: Bachelor's degree in any field; an advanced degree is a plus but not required
• Leadership experience: 10+ years of experience in engineering leadership roles, with at least 5 years managing managers and building engineering organizations
• Scaling expertise: Demonstrated experience scaling engineering teams through periods of rapid growth (3x+ headcount increase) in high-growth technology companies, preferably in B2B SaaS or enterprise software
• Operational excellence: Strong track record of implementing engineering processes, operational improvements, and modern development methodologies (Agile, Scrum, Kanban) at scale
• People development: Expertise in performance management, compensation planning, career development frameworks, and building high-performing distributed/remote teams
• Data-driven approach: Experience with engineering metrics and KPIs (velocity, quality metrics, employee satisfaction) with strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Communication skills: Exceptional ability to influence diverse stakeholders, translate between technical teams and business leaders, and align engineering capacity with business objectives
• Culture building: A people-first leader who creates psychological safety, maintains startup agility while implementing necessary structure, and attracts top engineering talent
• Systems thinking: Ability to see the big picture while diving deep into operational details, knowing when to add process and when to preserve flexibility
• Empathetic leadership: Creates opportunities for others to succeed, encourages diverse perspectives, and genuinely cares about developing talent

Responsibilities

• Scale the engineering organization: Lead recruitment efforts to grow our engineering team from 15 to 50+ engineers over the next 12 months while maintaining our high hiring bar
• Build organizational structure: Design and implement team structures and communication channels that promote collaboration and efficiency across distributed teams
• Establish engineering operations: Create and optimize processes for sprint planning, project management, resource allocation, and cross-functional collaboration
• Drive performance management: Implement comprehensive performance review systems, career development frameworks, and promotion criteria that help engineers grow and thrive
• Foster engineering culture: Champion a culture of excellence, innovation, and continuous improvement while ensuring high employee engagement and retention
• Manage engineering budgets: Own headcount planning, compensation benchmarking, and operational budgets for the engineering organization
• Enable productivity: Identify and remove obstacles that prevent engineers from being productive, including tooling gaps, process inefficiencies, and organizational friction
• Partner with leadership: Collaborate closely with the CTO, CPO, and other executives to align engineering capacity with business objectives
• Measure and improve: Establish KPIs for engineering productivity, quality, and satisfaction, using data to drive continuous organizational improvements

Benefits

• Competitive salary and performance-based bonuses
• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits package
• Collaborative and inclusive work environment
• Opportunities for professional development and continued learning
• Flexible work hours