Director of Engineering

Director of Engineering Full-Time · Hybrid · New York City, NY or London, UK Annual Base Compensation: $385,000–$550,000 Target OTE: $750,000–$800,000 Performance Bounty: Approximately $57,800–$82,500 Equity: Competitive equity Visa Sponsorship: H-1B, O-1, OPT About the Role A high-growth AI technology company is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the next phase of its engineering organization and scale the team from approximately 25 engineers toward a significantly larger, globally distributed organization. This is an executive-level engineering leadership role with direct responsibility for engineering hiring, organizational design, leadership development, operating cadence, technical culture, and cross-functional coordination across AI engineering and deployment engineering. You will work closely with the founders on organizational strategy, headcount planning, engineering execution, and the decisions that shape how the company builds and scales its technology platform. What You’ll Do • Lead the engineering organization through a period of rapid growth while maintaining execution quality, technical standards, and operating discipline. • Scale the engineering organization from approximately 25 people toward 100+ employees. • Own engineering hiring, organizational structure, team design, onboarding, and leadership development. • Build and develop engineering leaders capable of managing teams across multiple regions. • Establish planning rhythms, prioritization frameworks, performance expectations, and operating processes for a globally distributed engineering organization. • Lead cross-regional coordination across AI engineering and deployment engineering teams. • Maintain technical credibility across AI engineering, applied machine learning, production infrastructure, and deployment systems. • Partner with engineering leaders to establish strong technical culture, development practices, and execution standards. • Represent the engineering organization externally with customers, partners, and the broader technical community. • Serve as a credible public-facing technical leader and communicate engineering capabilities to technical and commercial audiences. • Work directly with founders on organizational strategy, headcount planning, engineering priorities, and company-wide growth decisions. • Help shape how engineering capabilities support product development and go-to-market objectives. What We’re Looking For • Demonstrated experience scaling an engineering organization from approximately 25 to 100+ people with direct accountability for hiring, organizational structure, and leadership development. • Proven experience leading globally distributed engineering teams. • Experience building and managing engineering leaders across multiple regions. • Strong technical credibility across both AI engineering and deployment or production infrastructure. • Ability to engage substantively with AI research, applied machine learning, software engineering, infrastructure, and production deployment. • Experience operating within a post-Series B, high-growth technology environment. • Strong understanding of the organizational challenges involved in scaling engineering teams beyond the early-stage phase. • Strong public-facing communication skills and the ability to represent engineering capabilities with customers, partners, and technical communities. • Strong organizational judgment, leadership capability, and strategic decision-making skills. • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional caliber; education from a highly regarded technical university is advantageous. • Based in or willing to relocate to New York City or London. • Willingness to work in person four days per week, with one remote day. Preferred Experience • Experience scaling engineering organizations at Series D/E or comparable growth-stage companies. • Experience building teams spanning AI research, applied machine learning, and production deployment. • Experience as a founding or early engineering leader followed by successful organizational scaling. • Experience working in enterprise AI, machine learning infrastructure, developer platforms, cybersecurity, or other technically complex technology environments. • Experience working closely with founders and executive leadership on organizational strategy. Key Areas of Responsibility • Engineering Leadership • Organizational Design • Engineering Hiring • Leadership Development • AI Engineering • Applied Machine Learning • Production Infrastructure • Deployment Engineering • Global Engineering Operations • Technical Strategy • Engineering Culture • Performance Management • Headcount Planning • Executive Stakeholder Management • Public-Facing Technical Leadership Work Environment • Full-time executive-level leadership position. • Hybrid working model. • Location: New York City or London. • Four days per week in person, with one remote day. • Direct partnership with founders and executive leadership. • Global engineering organization with significant planned growth. • High level of ownership over engineering organization design, hiring, leadership development, and operating standards. Compensation & Benefits • Base salary: $385,000–$550,000 per year. • Target OTE: $750,000–$800,000. • Performance bounty of approximately $57,800–$82,500. • Competitive equity package. • Visa sponsorship available for H-1B, O-1, and OPT candidates. Ideal Background This role is designed for an engineering executive who has already demonstrated the ability to scale a substantial engineering organization, build strong engineering leaders, and operate effectively across both technical and organizational dimensions. The strongest background combines large-scale engineering leadership with credible technical depth across AI and production infrastructure, experience in a high-growth environment, and the ability to work directly with founders while building the organizational systems required for global scale.