Director, Engineering

Sprites; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Campfire in San Francisco is hiring a Director of Engineering to lead 25-40 engineers across 3-5 teams and report to the CTO. This manager-of-managers role focuses on hiring, developing leaders, and shaping team structure to deliver on the roadmap.

You will drive planning and delivery, maintain on-call and SLO rigor, and partner with product, security, and compliance to meet enterprise-scale requirements using Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Next.js, and AWS.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering with 5+ years managing engineers.
• Led a group of 20+ engineers with multiple managers reporting to you.
• Experience in fintech, accounting, payments, or ERP systems.
• Technically credible with senior ICs and architecture review.
• Collaborative, low-ego leader who works across org boundaries.
• Hands-on interest in running LLMs and agents in production.
• Clear, direct communicator who provides constructive feedback.

Responsibilities

• Own the org design for your area: team boundaries, charters, and staffing plans.
• Lead, coach, and hold accountable 3-5 engineering managers; develop first-time managers.
• Drive hiring for your teams: headcount planning, interviewer training, and closing senior candidates.
• Run planning and delivery for your area: roadmap alignment and quarterly commitments.
• Uphold operational rigor: on-call, incident response, SLOs, and release practices.
• Partner with peer Directors, security, and compliance on cross-cutting concerns.
• Set and uphold engineering standards across Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Next.js, and AWS.

Skills

People leadership

Engineering management

Hiring & recruiting

Systems architecture

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

Python

Django

PostgreSQL

Next.js

AWS

Job description

Campfire is building the AI-native ERP for modern finance teams, backed by a $65M Series B from Accel and Ribbit Capital. Our engineering org is ~30 people today and growing to ~100, and we're hiring Directors of Engineering to lead that scale-up. Each Director owns a segment of the org — roughly 25-40 engineers across 3-5 teams — and will report to the CTO alongside two peer Directors. This is a manager-of-managers role: you'll hire and develop engineering managers, shape team structure within your area, and own how your teams plan, ship, and operate.

Responsibilities

• Own the org design for your area: team boundaries, charters, and staffing plans
• Lead, coach, and hold accountable 3-5 engineering managers; develop first-time managers and grow future leaders from the IC ranks
• Drive hiring for your teams: headcount planning, recruiting, interviewer training, and closing senior candidates
• Run planning and delivery for your area: roadmap alignment with product, quarterly commitments, and predictable execution across teams
• Uphold operational rigor expected of a financial-systems company: on-call, incident response, SLOs, and release practices that hold up to enterprise and audit scrutiny
• Partner with peer Directors, security, and compliance on cross-cutting concerns - shared platform, SOC 2, enterprise security reviews, AI governance
• Set and uphold engineering standards - code review, testing, observability, architecture decisions — across a Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Next.js, and AWS stack

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering, including 5+ years managing engineers and 2+ years managing managers
• Led a group of 20+ engineers with multiple managers reporting to you, through a period of rapid growth
• Built or operated systems where correctness and auditability are non-negotiable: fintech, accounting, payments, or ERP
• Technically credible with senior ICs — able to review architecture and weigh in on data-model and infrastructure decisions
• Comfortable operating as one of several peer leaders: collaborative, low-ego, and effective at working across org boundaries
• Hands‑on interest in running LLMs and agents in production
• Clear, direct communicator who writes well and gives hard feedback kindly

Bonus

• Experience taking a product through enterprise security and compliance (SOC 2, SSO/SAML, vendor reviews)
• Familiarity with revenue recognition, GAAP close, or accounting integrations (Stripe, Deel, Rippling, banks, payroll)
• Experience with MCP or building integrations for AI platforms
• Depth in Python and relational databases