Director of Engineering

Note: as one progresses along a career path, one should possess and show all qualities of levels below.

Years of Experience: 8+

Knowledge & Technical Skill

• Has at least a senior-level software engineering background, sufficient to understand and discuss complex technical concepts with engineers, as well as significant management experience

• Balance of time is weighted heavily towards management. Technical contributions are highly bounded and chosen specifically to (a) contribute R&D in a new area, (b) model engineering principles, (c) gain or maintain context necessary to manage in a particular technical area, or (d) unblock an initiative or team (can also include helping in an emergency)

• Has extremely valuable pattern-recognition skills: trends in technology strategy, the impact of org strategy on our technology choices, patterns in people dynamics and team structures, hiring and other marketplace trends

• Has deep experience in technical implementation and project management

Impact & Output

• Purview is all engineers, or engineers and engineering managers across a discipline (e.g., application development). This will depend on the management structure supporting the director

• Has a deep understanding of the organization and core processes

• Is responsible for determining team structures, reviewing team competencies and identifying/addressing existing gaps, resourcing, leveraging technical specialties, supporting engineer career development, and fostering positive team dynamics across managed teams

• Is accountable for managed team's goals and deliverables as well as metrics such as product development cycle time, operational health, hiring and retention

• Coordinates engineering teams to deliver big-ticket initiatives. The Director of Engineering is a master project manager, and actively contributes to project planning and implementation

• Builds healthy engineering culture through constant iteration and feedback

• Owns most or all contractor/consultant relationships

• May own vendor relationships

Communication

• Serves as a model of clear communications, both within the engineering staff and to the rest of the organization

• Communicates the organization message and brand values effortlessly, and weighs in from the perspective of the organization's values and approach

• Is an experienced and dynamic public speaker. The Director of Engineering can represent the organization to external audiences (at, e.g., Meetups, conferences, and panels). This is important for developing the brand of the engineering team, and thus for recruiting

• Coordinates regularly with peers across the organization to unblock teams, incorporate changing business conditions, and balance strategic objectives

Leadership

• Priority and focus is on peers: other directors and product managers. While the Director of Engineering advocates for the engineers they manage, primary duty is to ensure the engineering capacity under them is best positioned to serve the strategic needs of the organization

• Viewed as a leader within the organization

• Sets and executes a vision beyond the short term for success for engineering, beyond what is dictated by their manager and beyond the immediate challenge at hand

• Maximizes the resources at their disposal (direct reports, stakeholders, tools) within the organization to hit their goals

• Builds the technical capacity of engineering through individual and team training, conferences, and individual coaching

• Mentors engineering managers, tech leads, and other engineers

• Builds the management capacity of the eng organization through grooming tech leads, manager training, conferences, 1:1s, and modeling excellent management practices

• Actively researches and implements improvements to our team structures, planning process, and management practices

• Owns recruiting for the teams they manage, and/or support Engineering Managers in their recruiting efforts. Is both an opener and a closer. “Openers” develop and maintain pipelines for quality candidates, and keep track of funding and other trends in our target market (e.g., the Director of Engineering should know when Startup XYZ has lost funding and laid off 75% of their engineering staff). “Closers” can sell the position and the organization’s mission to seal the deal with a qualified candidate

• Develops own career and gains industry insights by growing a robust peer network (HOTS NY, NY CTO Meetup, etc)