Head of Engineering

DUDE CHEM; Berlin; Hybrid; EUR 120.000 - 180.000; Vollzeit

Benefits dieser Stelle

Lunch

BVG ticket

Urban Sports Club

L&D budget

German classes

Zusammenfassung

Kittl in Berlin is hiring a Head of Engineering to lead the people side of its engineering organization. You will own people leadership and delivery across multiple teams, report to the CTO, and grow engineers into strong leaders while ensuring delivery alignment with the company roadmap.

You will set standard practices, collaborate with Product and Marketing, and help steer architectural decisions, balancing speed and quality in a fast-growing, AI-driven product company.

Qualifikationen

• 8+ years in software engineering with at least 5+ years managing engineering teams.
• Experience growing senior engineers and team leads into managers.
• Strong ability to lead people, guide teams, and attract talent.

Aufgaben

• Lead engineers reporting directly and coach team leads.
• Audit and improve development processes to remove bottlenecks.
• Define fair performance, feedback, growth, and onboarding standards.
• Provide progress updates and translate strategy into team work.
• Contribute to architecture and technical direction while staying close to code.
• Collaborate with CTO to shape engineering strategy and execution.

Kenntnisse

Software engineering

Engineering management

People leadership

Architectural design

TypeScript

React/Node.js

Jobbeschreibung

A little about us

• AI-native design: Kittl is becoming the AI-native, operating system for creative businesses. We give small brands the creative firepower to look credible and get from idea to launch-ready, with no agency and no design team

• Rapid growth: 11 million users since 2022

• Diverse team: 120+ people from 30+ countries, with offices in Berlin and Düsseldorf and teammates working remotely

• Truly product-led company: Engineers, Product Managers and Designers sit at the core of what we build

• Strong backing: Raised ~$50M, led by IVP with Left Lane Capital and Speedinvest. IVP has also backed Figma, Slack, and Dropbox

Learn more: www.kittl.com/career

Your role at Kittl

As Head of Engineering, you’ll lead the people side of our engineering organization. You'll own people leadership and delivery across these teams, reporting to the CTO. Your reports are a group of engineers plus a couple of team leads. You'll manage the ICs directly, help growing the team leads into stronger leaders, and keep delivery moving across the board. You'll partner closely with Product and Marketing to manage engineering capacity and make sure what we build lines up with where the company is going.

What you'll do

• Lead the team: Manage the engineers reporting to you directly, and coach your team leads

• Streamline execution: Audit and improve development processes to eliminate bottlenecks, reduce waste, and increase team predictability and velocity

• Set people standards: Define consistent and fair approaches to performance, feedback, career growth, and onboarding, while ensuring teams are structured effectively and people are aligned to the highest-impact opportunities

• Connect up and across: Give leadership clear, regular updates on progress and risks, and translate company strategy into what your teams actually work on

• Stay technically sharp: Weigh in on architecture and technical direction with your teams, and keep close enough to the code to make good calls and earn trust

• Support the vision: Work with the CTO to shape and communicate engineering strategy, and help carry it through the org

What you’ll need

• Experience: 8+ years in software engineering, with at least 5+ years managing engineering teams

• Growing leaders: Experience developing senior engineers and team leads, and a readiness to grow them into managers over time

• People-first leadership: You get energy from growing people, and you've built teams others want to join

• Technical depth: Strong background in software development, architecture, and systems design. You can effectively steer technical strategy, uphold engineering standards, and empower teams to own execution

• Stack: Comfortable with TypeScript and a React / Node.js stack, familiar with modern frameworks

Interview process

• Recruiter interview (45 min)

• CTO interview (60 min)

• Product Lead interview (45 min)

• Meeting the team (back-to-back, 30 min + 30 min)

• Bar raiser interview with CEO (45 min)

Our core tech stack: TypeScript, Python, Node.js, React, Next.js, Postgres, Pulumi, k8s

You'll do well here if

• You pick up problems nobody assigned you. If something's broken and no one has stepped up, you're the person who does

• You’d rather make the call and adjust than wait until you’re certain. Velocity is the only advantage that can't be copied

• You want to own a domain deeply enough that people rely on your judgement in it, whether or not you manage anyone

• You'll argue for your position and commit fully when the call goes the other way

• You care about details other people would call excessive. Our standards are higher than most people think is reasonable, on purpose

• You use AI constantly and still own every word you ship

It's probably not the right fit if

• You need consensus before you move

• You'd rather specialise narrowly than own a whole problem end to end

• You find it draining to have your thinking challenged in the open. We do that a lot, and it's sometimes uncomfortable

Every new hire should raise the bar in some meaningful way, not just fill a seat. We hold to that, and it's why you'll be working with the most talented people from all over the world.

Benefits

• Maximise your impact: Real ownership of what you ship. Whether you lead a team or lead through craft, we back you to do the work that matters most

• Shape AI-native creative work: Kittl sits where AI, design, and commerce meet. You'll build the tools that decide what professional looks like for our next million users

• AI enablement: We use AI across the company, not just in the product

• Passionate team: Quarterly hackathons for experimenting with new concepts, pushing boundaries, and delivering the next big thing

• Kittl Week: Each year, our global team gathers for a whole week, to work, celebrate, get inspired, and have fun

• Work-life balance: 30 vacation days a year, plus public holidays

• Hybrid working style: 3 days a week in our office in the heart of Prenzlauer Berg, the rest of the week from home

• Remote work: On top of that, work from anywhere in the world for up to 50 days (10 weeks) a year, as long as you're reachable during core hours

• VESOP: Enrollment in our Virtual Employee Stock Option Plan. When Kittl grows in value, you share in it

• Lunch: Daily chef-prepared meals in the office

• Mobility: Your monthly BVG ticket, fully covered

• Health & fitness: Urban Sports Club M membership

• Learning & development: Annual L&D budget for your professional growth

• German classes: Online group courses at every level

At Kittl, we embrace diversity and value every team member's unique background, identity, and experience. We're all about respect, honesty, and inclusivity. Together, we create a safe and supportive work environment where everyone thrives. Join us on this exciting journey of making our company and product even better!