# VP of Engineering
Location: New York, NY (Hybrid - 3 days/week in office) · Employment Type: Full-time · Level: Executive
[Company] is a Series C enterprise software company helping organizations transform their data infrastructure. We serve 500+ enterprise customers across financial services, healthcare, and technology—powering mission-critical data pipelines that process billions of events daily.
We're a team of 350 people, including 120 engineers organized into 12 cross-functional teams. We're growing rapidly and need a VP of Engineering to lead our engineering organization through our next phase of scale.
Why join [Company]?
- Lead a talented engineering organization of 120+ engineers
- Join an executive team that values engineering as a strategic function
- Series C funded ($120M from Sequoia, Greylock) with strong unit economics
- Shape the engineering culture and organization at a critical growth stage
- Meaningful equity in a company with clear path to IPO or acquisition
We're hiring a VP of Engineering to lead our entire engineering organization. This is an executive leadership role—you'll report directly to the CEO and own engineering delivery, people development, and organizational health. You won't be writing code, but you'll need the technical depth to earn credibility with senior engineers, evaluate technical decisions, and partner effectively with our CTO.
This role focuses on engineering organization and delivery. You'll build and develop engineering leaders, ensure we ship high-quality products on time, and scale our engineering org from 120 to 200+ engineers. You'll own hiring strategy, engineering culture, and operational excellence.
Note: At [Company], the VP of Engineering and CTO are distinct roles. The CTO owns technical strategy, architecture, and technology vision. The VP of Engineering owns engineering organization, delivery, and people leadership. You'll partner closely with the CTO, but your focus is building and running a world-class engineering organization, not setting technical direction.
- Executive leadership: You'll be part of the executive team, reporting to the CEO and contributing to company strategy
- Organizational leadership: You'll lead 8 Engineering Managers and Directors who together manage 120+ engineers
- People-focused: Your primary job is developing engineering leaders, building culture, and ensuring team health
- Delivery-accountable: You'll own engineering execution—shipping products on time with high quality
- Hiring-strategic: You'll build recruiting pipelines, define hiring standards, and scale the org from 120 to 200+
- Cross-functional: You'll partner with Product, Sales, and other executives to align engineering with business goals
- Not a CTO role: You won't own technical strategy, architecture decisions, or technology vision. Our CTO owns those areas. You'll partner with the CTO, but your focus is organization and delivery, not technical direction.
- Not a coding role: You won't write production code. You'll stay technically informed through design reviews and architecture discussions, but your time goes to leadership, not implementation.
- Not a super-sized Engineering Manager: This is executive leadership with organizational scope. You'll manage managers who manage managers, not individual teams.
- Not a turnaround role: Our engineering organization is healthy. We need someone to scale and elevate, not fix fundamental problems.
- Not a "get hands dirty" role: If you want to be close to the code and technical details, this isn't the right fit. We need someone focused on organization, people, and delivery.
- Scale the engineering organization from 120 to 200+ engineers while maintaining culture and quality
- Develop the next generation of engineering leaders (Directors, Senior Managers)
- Achieve consistent on-time delivery with high quality across all engineering teams
- Build a world-class engineering hiring function with a sustainable pipeline of senior talent
- Establish engineering as a strategic function that drives business outcomes
- Create an inclusive engineering culture where diverse engineers thrive and grow
- Lead 8 Engineering Managers and Directors, conducting regular 1:1s and developing their leadership capabilities
- Own engineering hiring strategy: define standards, build pipelines, interview senior candidates, and close key hires
- Partner with the CEO and executive team on company strategy, representing engineering's perspective
- Collaborate with the CTO to ensure engineering execution aligns with technical vision
- Work with Product leadership to plan roadmaps, allocate resources, and manage commitments
- Drive engineering processes and operational excellence: delivery cadence, incident response, quality standards
- Manage engineering budget and headcount planning, making resource allocation decisions
- Build and maintain engineering culture: values, rituals, recognition, and team health
- Communicate engineering progress, risks, and needs to the board and investors
- Address organizational challenges: restructuring teams, resolving conflicts, managing underperformance
- Represent [Company] engineering externally: conferences, recruiting events, employer branding
- 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years in VP or Senior Director roles
- Proven experience managing managers: have led organizations of 50+ engineers through multiple levels of management
- Track record of scaling engineering organizations through significant growth (e.g., 50 to 200+ engineers)
- Experience building and developing engineering leaders (promoting EMs to Directors, growing leadership bench)
- Strong hiring track record: have built engineering hiring functions and recruiting pipelines at scale
- Executive presence: can communicate effectively with board members, investors, and C-suite peers
- Cross-functional leadership experience: partnering with Product, Sales, Marketing at the executive level
- Demonstrated ability to drive delivery at scale while maintaining engineering quality and team health
- Experience with engineering budgets, headcount planning, and resource allocation
- Technical credibility: can evaluate technical decisions and earn respect from senior engineers (even if not coding)
- Experience at high-growth companies (Series B-D or similar growth stages)
- Background in enterprise software, B2B SaaS, or data infrastructure
- Experience working alongside a CTO in a split VP Eng/CTO structure
- Track record of building diverse, inclusive engineering organizations
- Experience with engineering metrics and data-driven organizational improvements
- Public company or IPO-readiness experience
- Background in distributed or remote-first engineering organizations
- Experience with M&A integration (acquiring engineering teams)
Salary: $250,000 - $350,000 (based on experience)
Equity: 0.3% - 0.6% (4-year vest, 1-year cliff)
Benefits:
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance (100% covered for employees and dependents)
- Unlimited PTO with 20-day minimum encouraged
- $5,000 annual professional development budget
- $2,500 home office setup allowance
- 401(k) with 6% company match
- 16 weeks paid parental leave
- Flexible hybrid schedule (3 days in NYC office, 2 days remote)
- Executive coaching and leadership development
- Monthly executive team dinners and quarterly leadership offsites
- Life and disability insurance
Location: New York, NY (Hybrid). Executive presence in the office is important for leadership visibility and cross-functional collaboration.
Our VP of Engineering interview process is thorough and designed to assess leadership depth. We respect your time and provide detailed feedback at every stage.
- Step 1: Recruiter Screen (30 min) - Initial conversation about your background, career goals, and what you're looking for in a VP role.
- Step 2: CEO Conversation (60 min) - Meet with our CEO to discuss leadership philosophy, organizational challenges, and strategic alignment.
- Step 3: CTO Partnership Discussion (60 min) - Meet with our CTO to explore how you'd partner on technical strategy vs. organizational leadership.
- Step 4: Leadership Deep-Dive (90 min) - A structured discussion about how you've scaled organizations, developed leaders, and navigated complex organizational challenges.
- Step 5: Executive Team Interviews (2 hours) - Meet with CPO, CFO, and other executives to assess cross-functional collaboration and executive presence.
- Step 6: Engineering Leadership Panel (90 min) - Meet with Engineering Directors and Senior Managers who would report to you.
- Step 7: Reference Checks - We'll speak with former colleagues, reports, and executives who've worked with you.
- Step 8: Board Member Conversation (45 min) - Optional conversation with a board member for final alignment.
We aim to complete the process in 4-6 weeks and make decisions quickly for strong candidates.
Submit your resume and a brief note about your experience scaling engineering organizations and what draws you to this role. We review every application and respond within 5 business days.
---
*[Company] is an equal opportunity employer. We're committed to building a diverse executive team and inclusive engineering culture. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.*
*Executive leadership benefits from diverse perspectives. If you're excited about this role but don't meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We value leadership experience across different company stages, industries, and backgrounds.*
# VP of Engineering
**Location:** New York, NY (Hybrid - 3 days/week in office) · **Employment Type:** Full-time · **Level:** Executive
## About [Company]
[Company] is a Series C enterprise software company helping organizations transform their data infrastructure. We serve 500+ enterprise customers across financial services, healthcare, and technology—powering mission-critical data pipelines that process billions of events daily.
We're a team of 350 people, including 120 engineers organized into 12 cross-functional teams. We're growing rapidly and need a VP of Engineering to lead our engineering organization through our next phase of scale.
**Why join [Company]?**
- Lead a talented engineering organization of 120+ engineers
- Join an executive team that values engineering as a strategic function
- Series C funded ($120M from Sequoia, Greylock) with strong unit economics
- Shape the engineering culture and organization at a critical growth stage
- Meaningful equity in a company with clear path to IPO or acquisition
## The Role
We're hiring a VP of Engineering to lead our entire engineering organization. This is an executive leadership role—you'll report directly to the CEO and own engineering delivery, people development, and organizational health. You won't be writing code, but you'll need the technical depth to earn credibility with senior engineers, evaluate technical decisions, and partner effectively with our CTO.
This role focuses on engineering organization and delivery. You'll build and develop engineering leaders, ensure we ship high-quality products on time, and scale our engineering org from 120 to 200+ engineers. You'll own hiring strategy, engineering culture, and operational excellence.
**Note:** At [Company], the VP of Engineering and CTO are distinct roles. The CTO owns technical strategy, architecture, and technology vision. The VP of Engineering owns engineering organization, delivery, and people leadership. You'll partner closely with the CTO, but your focus is building and running a world-class engineering organization, not setting technical direction.
## What This Role IS
- **Executive leadership:** You'll be part of the executive team, reporting to the CEO and contributing to company strategy
- **Organizational leadership:** You'll lead 8 Engineering Managers and Directors who together manage 120+ engineers
- **People-focused:** Your primary job is developing engineering leaders, building culture, and ensuring team health
- **Delivery-accountable:** You'll own engineering execution—shipping products on time with high quality
- **Hiring-strategic:** You'll build recruiting pipelines, define hiring standards, and scale the org from 120 to 200+
- **Cross-functional:** You'll partner with Product, Sales, and other executives to align engineering with business goals
## What This Role is NOT
- **Not a CTO role:** You won't own technical strategy, architecture decisions, or technology vision. Our CTO owns those areas. You'll partner with the CTO, but your focus is organization and delivery, not technical direction.
- **Not a coding role:** You won't write production code. You'll stay technically informed through design reviews and architecture discussions, but your time goes to leadership, not implementation.
- **Not a super-sized Engineering Manager:** This is executive leadership with organizational scope. You'll manage managers who manage managers, not individual teams.
- **Not a turnaround role:** Our engineering organization is healthy. We need someone to scale and elevate, not fix fundamental problems.
- **Not a "get hands dirty" role:** If you want to be close to the code and technical details, this isn't the right fit. We need someone focused on organization, people, and delivery.
## Objectives of This Role
- Scale the engineering organization from 120 to 200+ engineers while maintaining culture and quality
- Develop the next generation of engineering leaders (Directors, Senior Managers)
- Achieve consistent on-time delivery with high quality across all engineering teams
- Build a world-class engineering hiring function with a sustainable pipeline of senior talent
- Establish engineering as a strategic function that drives business outcomes
- Create an inclusive engineering culture where diverse engineers thrive and grow
## Responsibilities
- Lead 8 Engineering Managers and Directors, conducting regular 1:1s and developing their leadership capabilities
- Own engineering hiring strategy: define standards, build pipelines, interview senior candidates, and close key hires
- Partner with the CEO and executive team on company strategy, representing engineering's perspective
- Collaborate with the CTO to ensure engineering execution aligns with technical vision
- Work with Product leadership to plan roadmaps, allocate resources, and manage commitments
- Drive engineering processes and operational excellence: delivery cadence, incident response, quality standards
- Manage engineering budget and headcount planning, making resource allocation decisions
- Build and maintain engineering culture: values, rituals, recognition, and team health
- Communicate engineering progress, risks, and needs to the board and investors
- Address organizational challenges: restructuring teams, resolving conflicts, managing underperformance
- Represent [Company] engineering externally: conferences, recruiting events, employer branding
## Required Skills and Qualifications
- 15+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years in VP or Senior Director roles
- Proven experience managing managers: have led organizations of 50+ engineers through multiple levels of management
- Track record of scaling engineering organizations through significant growth (e.g., 50 to 200+ engineers)
- Experience building and developing engineering leaders (promoting EMs to Directors, growing leadership bench)
- Strong hiring track record: have built engineering hiring functions and recruiting pipelines at scale
- Executive presence: can communicate effectively with board members, investors, and C-suite peers
- Cross-functional leadership experience: partnering with Product, Sales, Marketing at the executive level
- Demonstrated ability to drive delivery at scale while maintaining engineering quality and team health
- Experience with engineering budgets, headcount planning, and resource allocation
- Technical credibility: can evaluate technical decisions and earn respect from senior engineers (even if not coding)
## Preferred Skills and Qualifications
- Experience at high-growth companies (Series B-D or similar growth stages)
- Background in enterprise software, B2B SaaS, or data infrastructure
- Experience working alongside a CTO in a split VP Eng/CTO structure
- Track record of building diverse, inclusive engineering organizations
- Experience with engineering metrics and data-driven organizational improvements
- Public company or IPO-readiness experience
- Background in distributed or remote-first engineering organizations
- Experience with M&A integration (acquiring engineering teams)
## Compensation and Benefits
**Salary:** $250,000 - $350,000 (based on experience)
**Equity:** 0.3% - 0.6% (4-year vest, 1-year cliff)
**Benefits:**
- Medical, dental, and vision insurance (100% covered for employees and dependents)
- Unlimited PTO with 20-day minimum encouraged
- $5,000 annual professional development budget
- $2,500 home office setup allowance
- 401(k) with 6% company match
- 16 weeks paid parental leave
- Flexible hybrid schedule (3 days in NYC office, 2 days remote)
- Executive coaching and leadership development
- Monthly executive team dinners and quarterly leadership offsites
- Life and disability insurance
**Location:** New York, NY (Hybrid). Executive presence in the office is important for leadership visibility and cross-functional collaboration.
## Interview Process
Our VP of Engineering interview process is thorough and designed to assess leadership depth. We respect your time and provide detailed feedback at every stage.
- **Step 1: Recruiter Screen** (30 min) - Initial conversation about your background, career goals, and what you're looking for in a VP role.
- **Step 2: CEO Conversation** (60 min) - Meet with our CEO to discuss leadership philosophy, organizational challenges, and strategic alignment.
- **Step 3: CTO Partnership Discussion** (60 min) - Meet with our CTO to explore how you'd partner on technical strategy vs. organizational leadership.
- **Step 4: Leadership Deep-Dive** (90 min) - A structured discussion about how you've scaled organizations, developed leaders, and navigated complex organizational challenges.
- **Step 5: Executive Team Interviews** (2 hours) - Meet with CPO, CFO, and other executives to assess cross-functional collaboration and executive presence.
- **Step 6: Engineering Leadership Panel** (90 min) - Meet with Engineering Directors and Senior Managers who would report to you.
- **Step 7: Reference Checks** - We'll speak with former colleagues, reports, and executives who've worked with you.
- **Step 8: Board Member Conversation** (45 min) - Optional conversation with a board member for final alignment.
We aim to complete the process in 4-6 weeks and make decisions quickly for strong candidates.
## How to Apply
Submit your resume and a brief note about your experience scaling engineering organizations and what draws you to this role. We review every application and respond within 5 business days.
---
*[Company] is an equal opportunity employer. We're committed to building a diverse executive team and inclusive engineering culture. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.*
*Executive leadership benefits from diverse perspectives. If you're excited about this role but don't meet every qualification, we encourage you to apply. We value leadership experience across different company stages, industries, and backgrounds.*