Nightfall AI

VP of Engineering

Nightfall AI$210K — $250K *
Information Technology
8 - 10 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's in Computer Science or related field; Master's or Ph.D. preferred.
  • 8+ years in software engineering, with 5+ years in leadership roles.
  • Experience as a founding engineer or early-stage hire at a B2B SaaS company, ideally over 5+ years at one organization.
  • Proven history of delivering high-quality software on time and within budget.
  • Strong technical skills in software development and architecture design.
  • Experience managing large engineering teams, especially with teams in India.
  • Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.
  • Strategic thinker with strong problem-solving abilities.
  • Startup experience preferred; comfortable in a fast-paced Series B environment.
  • Background in security and data-intensive systems is advantageous.

Responsibilities

  • Lead the engineering team to deliver high-quality software solutions.
  • Scale a distributed engineering org between the Bay Area and Bangalore.
  • Implement engineering processes for consistency and quality.
  • Collaborate with senior leaders to execute technology strategy.
  • Manage resources to ensure projects meet deadlines and budgets.
  • Mentor the engineering team with hands-on technical leadership.
  • Foster a strong engineering culture promoting innovation.
  • Stay updated on emerging trends and recommend new tools.
  • Work with Product to align engineering with product goals.
  • Champion secure SDLC practices through all development stages.
  • Ensure adherence to secure coding standards and design principles.
  • Lead the engineering response during security incidents.
  • Drive root cause analysis to prevent future issues.

Benefits

  • Strong engineering culture that fosters innovation and continuous improvement.
  • Hybrid work environment based in the Bay Area.
  • Opportunities for technical leadership and mentorship.
  • Involvement in shaping the technology strategy of the company.
  • Collaboration with a distributed team across global locations.
Full Job Description
About the role:

We're hiring a VP of Engineering to own our engineering organization end to end - architecture, delivery, and the day-to-day operating rhythm of a team split across the Bay Area and Bangalore. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who has grown up through engineering, not just managed it: we're looking for a builder who can still get into the weeds on hard technical problems while running the org.
Responsibilities
  • Lead the engineering team in designing and delivering high-quality software solutions that meet business requirements.
  • Lead and scale a distributed engineering org spanning Palo Alto and Bangalore, building the systems and trust that make a cross-continent team operate as one.
  • Develop and implement engineering processes and standards to ensure consistency and quality across projects.
  • Collaborate with the CEO and other senior leaders to define and execute the company's technology strategy.
  • Manage and allocate resources to ensure projects are delivered on time and within budget.
  • Provide technical leadership and mentorship to the engineering team, staying hands-on enough to review architecture decisions and unblock hard problems.
  • Build and maintain a strong engineering culture that fosters innovation and continuous improvement across both the US and India.
  • Stay current with emerging trends and technologies in software engineering and recommend new tools and methodologies to improve our development process.
  • Work closely with the Product team to define product roadmaps and ensure engineering resources are aligned with product priorities.
  • Champion secure software development lifecycle (SDLC) practices by ensuring the integration of security at every stage, from design to deployment.
  • Advocate for and ensure adherence to secure coding standards and design principles such as least privilege, defense in depth, and zero trust.
  • Ensure sensitive data is handled securely, leveraging encryption, tokenization, and data masking as appropriate.
  • Lead the engineering response during security incidents, ensuring timely containment, resolution, and communication to stakeholders.
  • Drive root cause analysis and implement lessons learned from incidents to prevent recurrence.
Qualifications
  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; Master's degree or Ph.D. preferred.
  • At least 8 years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in a leadership role.
  • A track record of growing from a hands-on technical role into engineering leadership - we're looking for someone who built the org, not just inherited one.
  • Experience joining a B2B SaaS company at an early stage (e.g., a founding engineer or one of the first engineering hires) and growing with it through significant scale - ideally 5+ years at one company, moving from IC through senior leadership.
  • Proven track record of delivering high-quality software solutions on time and within budget.
  • Strong technical skills in software development, architecture, and design.
  • Experience managing and mentoring large engineering teams, including demonstrated experience building or closely partnering with an engineering team based in India - someone who knows how to make a Bay Area / Bangalore org function as one team, not two.
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
  • Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams and senior leaders.
  • Strong strategic thinking and problem-solving skills.
  • Startup experience strongly preferred; comfortable operating in a lean, fast-moving Series B environment.
  • Background in security, infrastructure, or data-intensive systems; direct security engineering experience (data protection, authentication, auditing, threat detection) is a strong plus.
  • Based in Bay Area, with a hybrid work rhythm.
Nice to Have
  • Experience at a cybersecurity or data security SaaS company.
  • Experience with data infrastructure or large-scale data processing systems.
  • Track record shipping AI/ML-powered features in production.

Compensation

Employee compensation will be determined based on interview performance, level of experience, specialization of skills, and market rate. During the offer discussion, your recruiter will review the finalized base salary, bonus (for applicable roles), benefits & perks, and stock options as they'll be reflected in the offer letter.

About Nightfall AI

Nightfall AI is a cybersecurity company that uses AI to protect sensitive data. Their software can be integrated with cloud services like Slack, Google Drive, and Salesforce to automatically scan for and protect sensitive information. The company was founded in 2019 and is based in San Francisco, California.
Learn more about Nightfall AI
Size
50 employees
Industry
Founded
2019

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