Director, Engineering

Navan; United States; Hybrid; USD 200,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

Navan is seeking a visionary Director of Engineering for Navan Edge, an AI-powered personal assistant for frequent business travelers. You will lead end-to-end engineering of a bleeding-edge, user-facing AI product on a global scale, owning architecture, performance, and cost considerations.

You will guide LangChain/Nest.js-based AI stack, attract top engineering talent, and partner across Product, Marketing, and Operations to drive disruptive business objectives.

Qualifications

• Requires 12+ years of software engineering experience with 4+ years in senior leadership roles.
• Proven experience building user-facing AI products and scalable chatbot architectures.
• Ability to own multiple tech domains (Backend, AI, Mobile, Data) end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Lead trajectory from ground zero to global scale with a lean, high-velocity approach.
• Own your domain end-to-end and optimize key business metrics (booking, conversions, latency).
• Provide hands-on AI technical leadership in modern stack (LangChain, Nest.js, Vector DBs, LLMs).
• Drive cross-functional execution with Product, Marketing, and Ops, presenting to executives.
• Build a world-class culture with recruiting, mentoring, and high-performance standards.

Skills

Senior leadership

AI & LLM expertise

End-to-end ownership

Executive communication

Talent mentoring

Strategy alignment

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or related field

Tools

LangChain

Nest.js

Vector DBs

RAG architectures

Job description

Welcome to Navan Edge: a highly disruptive, high-velocity \"startup within a startup\" rewriting the rules of corporate travel. Edge is an AI-powered personal assistant and concierge service built exclusively for the frequent business traveler. We are fusing always-on conversational AI, capable of learning preferences, executing complex bookings, and stacking high-value rewards like hotel loyalty and credit card multipliers, with a seamless handoff to a 24/7 VIP human concierge. We are looking for a visionary, execution-obsessed Director of Engineering to take the helm. This is your opportunity to lead the end-to-end engineering of a bleeding-edge, user-facing AI product on a global scale.

What You’ll Do

• Lead the Trajectory from Ground Zero to Global Scale: You will start with a lean, highly focused scope to deeply internalize our business, product, and operational DNA. From there, your growth is driven by your impact. As you prove your success, you will have the potential to scale your scope across a multi-disciplinary organization—with opportunities to also lead data science, model training, mobile, and data domains, while developing a top-tier team of EMs to help you lead your organization.
• Own Your Domain End-to-End: You will have absolute E2E ownership over your specific product area and technical domains within Navan Edge. You will be directly accountable for driving critical business metrics like booking volume, conversion rates, and system latency, while maintaining a strategic eye on optimizing our AI inference costs.
• Provide Hands-On AI Technical Leadership: Guide the architectural vision and execution of our modern AI stack. You will drive the implementation of LangChain, Nest.js, Vector DBs, and advanced RAG architectures, leveraging open-source LLMs and fine-tuning models to deliver an unmatched user experience.
• Drive Cross-Functional Execution: Act as the technical engine collaborating seamlessly across Product, Marketing, and Operations. You will partner with and present to senior Navan executives, ensuring technical roadmaps aggressively align with our disruptive business objectives.
• Build a World-Class Culture: Act as a talent magnet. You will recruit, mentor, and retain top-tier engineering and AI talent, fostering a culture of high velocity, intense empathy, and unyielding technical excellence.

What We’re Looking For

• Seasoned Leadership: 12+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 4+ years in senior leadership roles managing managers (Engineering Managers/Directors).
• Deep AI & LLM Expertise: Proven, battle-tested experience owning the development of user-facing AI products, conversational LLMs, and highly scalable chatbot architectures. You know what it takes to put AI directly into the hands of demanding consumers.
• End-to-End Ownership Mindset: You think holistically across the entire tech stack (Backend, AI, Mobile, Data) and the business funnel. You care as much about booking conversions and user experience as you do about system architecture.
• Execution Excellence: You thrive in highly ambiguous, fast-paced environments. You have a track record of cutting through noise, shipping high-impact products rapidly, and iterating based on real-world usage.
• Executive Presence & Stakeholder Influence: You can command a room. You possess the ability to articulate complex technical visions to non-technical executives and build deep partnerships across all business units.
• Empathy & EQ: You lead with high emotional intelligence, building psychological safety and trust while maintaining a relentlessly high bar for performance.
• TLV Hybrid Commitment: Willingness to work strictly 3 days a week from our vibrant Tel Aviv (TLV) office, scaling to 4-5 days depending on meeting schedules, critical launches, and business needs.

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