Director of Engineering

PactFi

$150K — $200K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 8+ years of software engineering experience
  • 3+ years leadership experience managing managers
  • Experience scaling engineering teams in high-growth environments
  • Demonstrated ability to introduce structure without over-engineering
  • Strong judgment in balancing process with speed

Responsibilities

  • Own end-to-end delivery of critical product initiatives across teams
  • Drive predictable execution as the organization grows in size
  • Balance speed, scope, and quality in a fast-paced setting
  • Build and evolve team structures during scaling efforts
  • Hire and develop Engineering Managers and engineers
  • Evolve engineering processes to ensure scalability
  • Drive adoption and implementation of AI-assisted development tools

Benefits

  • Competitive salary and equity
  • Healthcare coverage
  • 401k plan
Full Job Description
About the Role

We're looking for a Director of Engineering to lead high-performing teams and drive predictable, high-quality delivery as we scale beyond Series A. This role is critical in evolving our engineering organization from early-stage execution to a more structured, scalable system-without losing speed.

You'll bring experience building and scaling engineering teams in a high-growth environment, while helping us become an AI-first engineering organization-leveraging modern AI tooling and workflows to accelerate development, improve quality, and rethink how software is built.

What You'll Do:

Lead Delivery Through Growth
- Own end-to-end delivery of critical product initiatives across multiple teams
- Drive predictable execution as the organization scales in size and complexity
- Introduce the right level of structure without slowing teams down
- Balance speed, scope, and quality in a fast-moving environment

Scale the Engineering Organization
- Build and evolve team structures as we grow from Series A into later stages
- Hire, develop, and lead Engineering Managers and engineers
- Establish clear ownership boundaries, accountability, and team autonomy
- Coach emerging leaders and help level up management across the org

Build Scalable Systems for Execution
- Evolve engineering processes from early-stage to scalable
- Introduce delivery metrics (predictability, cycle time, throughput)
- Ensure strong engineering fundamentals: testing, reliability, production readiness

Build an AI-First Engineering Culture
- Drive adoption of AI-assisted development tools
- Identify and implement opportunities to improve velocity and quality through AI workflows
- Establish best practices for safe, effective AI usage
- Evaluate and integrate tools based on measurable impact

Partner Cross-Functionally During Scale
- Work closely with Product and Design to translate priorities into plans
- Bring clarity and structure to roadmap planning
- Communicate tradeoffs, risks, and progress clearly

Collaborate on Technical & Platform Evolution
- Partner with senior technical leadership on architecture and platform
- Ensure teams adopt shared infrastructure effectively
- Balance near-term delivery with long-term scalability

What We're Looking For:

Stage-Specific Experience (Critical)
- Experience scaling an engineering org from Series A through growth
- Experience growing from few teams to multiple teams/org layers
- Ability to introduce structure without over-engineering
- Experience transitioning to distributed ownership

Experience
- 8+ years software engineering
- 3+ years leadership (including managing managers)
- Proven track record in high-growth environments

Leadership & Execution
- Strong operator with consistent delivery
- Experience building teams, not just inheriting
- Strong judgment on process vs speed
- Ability to manage increasing complexity

AI & Modern Engineering Mindset
- Experience integrating tools that measurably improve productivity
- Practical understanding of AI-assisted development tools in production
- Ability to evaluate and operationalize tools pragmatically

Collaboration & Communication
- Strong cross-functional partnership
- Ability to bring clarity in ambiguity
- Excellent communication

Technical Fluency
- Solid technical foundation
- Ability to engage in architectural discussions

What Success Looks Like

- Engineering scales into a predictable multi-team system
- Teams deliver consistently without heavy process
- AI workflows measurably improve velocity, quality, or efficiency
- Strong leadership bench develops
- Clear ownership and improved velocity

Why This Role Matters

We're at a pivotal stage of growth. The systems and teams we build now will define how we scale over the next several years. This role will shape how we deliver and how we build in an AI-native world.

What We Offer
  • Competitive salary + equity.
  • Healthcare coverage.
  • 401k

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