VP, Solutions & Innovation

Summary

Join Sauce, a leading restaurant technology platform, and lead a small team in developing high-impact technology using AI/LLM and low-code automation. You will be responsible for the entire innovation process, from idea generation to production deployment. This role requires hands-on full-stack development, rapid prototyping, and cross-functional team collaboration. You will demonstrate your ability to build and ship production-ready proofs of concept within a week. Success in this position involves stakeholder management, executive presentations, and seamless handoffs to core R&D teams. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in full-stack software engineering, rapid prototyping, and leading innovation teams.

Requirements

• 10 + years in full stack software engineering
• 3+ years leading innovation, “office of the CTO”, or rapid-prototype teams
• Experience working with remote / distributed teams in a matrix environment
• Rapid prototyping track-record of ≥ 3 shipped POCs that moved from whiteboard to live users in ≤ 2 weeks
• Hands-on with Gen-AI stacks (OpenAI / Claude / open-source LLMs) and automation platforms (Zapier, n8n, Retool, etc.)
• Proven record translating POCs into shipping SaaS features at scale
• Experience with people management of 5-10 people at least
• Strong architecture experience around API design, cloud infra and observability
• Change-agent mindset - skilled at stakeholder buy-in and executive storytelling
• Multi-hat execution - proven ability to play PM, tech lead, coder and QA simultaneously in a start-up setting
• Agile light-process evangelist - You’ve run kanban/shape-up or similar ultra-short-cycle frameworks; comfort with daily prod pushes

Responsibilities

• Hands-on Full-Stack “One-Week” Delivery – personally lead, scope, build, test and ship production-ready proofs of concept within 5–7 days, acting as PM, architect, developer and QA until a team is in place
• Idea-to-Outcome Ownership – run the entire innovation funnel (problem discovery → success metrics → rapid build → post-launch measurement) for every project
• Cross-Functional Team Formation – recruit and mentor a small tiger-team that can replicate the same end-to-end cadence (PM, Dev, QA) and rotate across initiatives
• AI & Non-AI Solution Prototyping – choose the fastest viable tech (Gen-AI, third-party APIs, low-code or native code) and integrate it cleanly with our .NET platform
• Time-to-Market Governance – enforce lightweight specs, story maps and Definition-of-Done that guarantee “feature in prod ≠ > 1 week”
• Stakeholder Demo & Handoff – run weekly show-and-tell sessions with the CEO / execs; package successful POCs with docs, tests and observability for core teams to scale

Preferred Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience in an engineering management role, leading multiple teams
• Proven ability to drive complex cross-team projects management and execution, and deliver high-quality software in a fast-paced environment
• Running internal innovation labs or “office-of-the-CTO” strike teams
• Deep knowledge of e-commerce payments, logistics or restaurant tech
• Standing up automated test-in-prod / feature-flag pipelines for instant rollback
• Previous success open-sourcing tools or publishing tech blogs that drove developer adoption
• Demonstrated experience with cloud platforms (Azure preferred)
• Demonstrated “AI-first mindset” experience by proactively integrating AI/ML and low-code solutions into product development. and operational workflows
• Solid grasp of system design, microservices, REST/GraphQL APIs, OAuth, webhooks and event‑driven design
• Experience with e-commerce / B2C platforms / payment processing systems
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills, capable of effectively collaborating across various stakeholders (Product, QA, other R&D teams)
• Ability to quickly learn and adapt to new technologies

Benefits

• Flexible work schedules
• Work from home for better life/work balance
• Strong Time Off Policy
• Strong Compensation Package