VP of Engineering

Summary

Join Stairwell, a leading cybersecurity firm recognized by Fast Company as one of the most innovative companies of 2023, as their VP of Engineering. Lead the engineering team in building and scaling a complex distributed system processing petabytes of data daily for malware discovery and analysis. This role demands deep technical expertise in designing and evolving system architecture while simultaneously building a high-performing engineering organization. You will collaborate closely with the CTO and other teams to align technical vision with product and company strategy. The ideal candidate possesses extensive experience in software engineering leadership, building complex distributed systems, and leveraging AI/ML in applied contexts. This is an opportunity to shape the future of cybersecurity and build infrastructure that will be copied for years to come.

Requirements

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ in senior leadership roles (VP, Director, or similar)
• Proven track record building and scaling complex distributed systems - including architecture, execution, and operations
• Experience leading cross-functional teams across backend, platform, and infrastructure - with a strong bias for shipping
• Deep familiarity with cloud-native systems (ideally GCP), Go, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines
• Experience integrating AI/ML into product features or infrastructure — ideally in applied contexts like detection logic, enrichment, anomaly analysis, or automation workflows
• Strong grasp of how to apply AI tools to modern software development — from internal copilots to code quality checks, testing, and build acceleration
• Demonstrated ability to set and enforce high standards across hiring, code quality, technical design, and delivery
• Strong communication and planning skills - with a willingness to roll up your sleeves when needed

Responsibilities

• Drive execution across core platform, infrastructure, detection pipelines, artifact ingestion, and customer integrations
• Translate product direction and threat research into system architecture, engineering plans, and shipped software
• Balance speed with quality. Prioritize ruthlessly. Deliver predictably
• Build a high-performance engineering org - sharp, low-ego engineers who care about the work and the mission
• Hire experienced, accountable engineers who thrive with autonomy. Set high standards early, make expectations explicit, and raise the bar as the company grows
• Create a culture of ownership, curiosity, and continuous improvement - where everyone knows what good looks like
• Work shoulder-to-shoulder with the CTO to align technical vision with product and company strategy
• Partner with Threat Research to turn detection insights into capabilities
• Partner with Sales Engineering and Customer Success to ensure we’re building solutions that matter in the field
• Represent engineering in executive discussions. Drive alignment across teams
• Define and evolve the system architecture to support petabyte-scale data, real-time analysis, and continuous reprocessing of historical artifacts
• Champion engineering quality: secure-by-default design, strong review culture, automated testing, and reliable releases

Preferred Qualifications

• Background in security infrastructure, malware analysis, threat detection, or high-scale telemetry systems
• Experience with large-scale data pipelines, ETL, or continuous scanning infrastructure
• Familiarity with detection logic (YARA, Sigma), binary analysis, or reverse engineering workflows
• Track record of building customer-facing APIs or developer platforms with high adoption and integration complexity
• Comfortable balancing short-term wins with long-term architectural decisions - and communicating those tradeoffs clearly