Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy

Metropolis; New York (NY); On-site; USD 233,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

401(k) plan

Disability coverage (short/long-term)

Life insurance

Stock option plan

Bonus plans

Job summary

Metropolis is seeking a Director of Engineering Operations & Strategy in New York, NY. You will own technology strategy, operational leadership, and strategic problem‑solving across the engineering organization, managing a multi‑million dollar budget and partnering with senior leadership on critical decisions including M&A due diligence and vendor migrations.

The role demands high autonomy, a track record of delivering scalable solutions, and the ability to influence without formal authority.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in high-intensity, rigorous environments
• 2+ years hands-on working engineering experience in software or similar engineering roles
• Proven budget or resource management experience
• Experience with M&A due diligence or due diligence processes
• Ability to influence without authority and build trust with technical teams
• Experience using AI tools/frameworks to optimize operations and workflows

Responsibilities

• Own shared processes across the engineering department (hiring, onboarding, training) to scale practices
• Solve complex operational challenges with simple, actionable solutions
• Direct and manage a multi‑million dollar P&L budget and align resources with corporate objectives
• Forecast hardware/service spend with vendors (AWS, Twilio) and flag risks or opportunities
• Lead high-stakes decisions (M&A, vendor migrations) with senior execs
• Build alignment at leadership level and drive cross‑team collaboration
• Keep teams unblocked and moving fast even with incomplete information
• Translate business goals into concrete execution plans with broad impact
• Oversee vendor management from contracts to performance across engineering org

Skills

Strategic leadership

Budget management

M&A due diligence

Vendor management

Cross-functional influence

AI tooling usage

Tools

AWS

Twilio

Job description

Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy

New York, New York, United States

Who we are

The real world is the next frontier, and at Metropolis, we are creating the artificial intelligence to make it responsive. We are pioneering the Recognition Economy — a future where mundane repetition disappears and being known unlocks access, comfort, and belonging everywhere you go. From transforming parking into a seamless drive‑in, drive‑out experience for millions of Members to expanding our intelligence layer across retail and hospitality, we are building a world that feels instinctive and magical. The future isn’t coming; it’s here, and we need builders, innovators, and problem solvers to help us create it.

Who you are

Metropolis is seeking a Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy to own technology strategy, operational leadership, and strategic problem‑solving across our engineering organization. In this role, you will lead with high autonomy, managing a multi‑million dollar engineering budget, cutting through deeply complex problems, exhibiting exceptional leadership without authority, and defining simple, scalable solutions to challenging problems at a hyper growth company. You will partner directly with senior leadership to execute M&A due diligence, streamline shared technical processes, and navigate high‑stakes operational challenges. The ideal candidate thrives in uncertainty, takes full ownership of outcomes, and brings a unique blend of hands‑on technical grounding and high‑intensity strategic experience.

What you'll do

• Own shared processes across the engineering department, including hiring workflows, onboarding, and training, to keep practices consistent as the org scales.


• Cut through deeply complex, multifaceted operational challenges to deliver simple, actionable solutions without waiting for top‑down instruction


• Direct and manage a $50M a $100million+ P&L budget, coordinating resources to align with high‑level corporate objectives


• Own hardware and service forecasting for critical vendors (AWS, Twilio, and similar), maintaining ongoing visibility into spend trends and flagging risks or opportunities before they become urgent.


• Own emerging strategic decisions for the engineering organization — M&A due diligence, major vendor migrations, and similar high‑stakes calls — in close partnership with senior executives.


• Build alignment at the highest levels of leadership, navigating the nuances of multi‑stakeholder decisions on multifaceted or high‑risk initiatives


• Keep teams unblocked and moving forward rapidly, demonstrating comfort acting with incomplete information as long as directionally correct


• Leverage curiosity and formal methodologies to break down cross‑functional silos, challenge status‑quo assumptions, and drive cross‑team alignment


• Forecast operational trends and deliver strategic recommendations that favor proactive disruption over routine maintenance


• Own all vendor management across the engineering organization, from contract negotiation and renewals to performance accountability and day‑to‑day vendor relationships.

What we're looking for

• 6+ years in high‑intensity, rigorous environments 2+ years of hands‑on working engineering experience in software or similar engineering roles


• A demonstrated history of working relentlessly to get hard things done: someone who runs through walls rather than around them. This intensity often comes from backgrounds like top‑tier management consulting, investment banking, or strategic finance, but we care about the trait itself, not the pedigree: what matters is a track record of outworking a problem because you genuinely care about the outcome.


• Proven experience leading a strategic function with significant autonomy, managing resources, and taking full ownership of organizational outcomes


• Exceptional ability to build trust with technical teams and influence without authority


• Experience owning meaningful budget or resource decisions within a high‑growth or complex organization, with a bias toward action over waiting for perfect information.


• Track record of operating effectively in fast‑moving, high‑ambiguity environments, making sound decisions without complete data


• Exceptional ability to synthesize complex operational or technical concepts into clear rationale for senior and C‑level stakeholders


• Skilled at translating high‑level business goals into concrete plans of execution that account for broad organizational impact


• Proven excellence at leveraging AI tools and frameworks to optimize technology operations, technical evaluations, and cross‑functional workflows

While not required, these are a plus:

• MBA from a top‑tier business program


• Experience in high‑growth technology scale‑ups or pre‑IPO environments


• Direct involvement in M&A tech due diligence, corporate restructuring, or integration strategy


• Experience with modern engineering workflows, cloud platforms (AWS), or AI tooling

4 Days in Office: Metropolis values in‑person collaboration to drive innovation, strengthen culture, and enhance the Member experience. Our corporate team members hold to our office‑first model, which requires employees to be on‑site at least four days a week, fostering organic interactions that spark creativity and connection.

When you join Metropolis, you’ll join a team of world‑class product leaders and engineers, building an ecosystem of technologies at the intersection of parking, mobility, and real estate. Our goal is to build an inclusive culture where everyone has a voice and the best idea wins. You will play a key role in building and maintaining this culture as our organization grows. The anticipated base salary for this position is $233,000 USD to $270,000 USD annually. The actual base pay offered is determined by a number of variables, including, as appropriate, the applicant's qualifications for the position, years of relevant experience, distinctive skills, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and the location of residence and/or place of employment.

• healthcare benefits


• a 401(k) plan


• short-term and long-term disability coverage


• basic life insurance


• a lucrative stock option plan


• bonus plans


• and more.

#LI-LR1 #LI-Onsite

Metropolis may utilize an automated employment decision tool (AEDT) to assess or evaluate your candidacy for employment or promotion. AEDTs are used to assist in assessing a candidate’s application relative to the required job qualifications and responsibilities listed in the job posting.

As part of this process, Metropolis retains data relevant to your candidacy, including personal information, for a period that is reasonably necessary for the use of the tool. If you are hired for the position, your data may become part of your employee records.

Metropolis Technologies is an equal opportunity employer. We make all hiring decisions based on merit, qualifications, and business needs — without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic under federal, state, or local law. We are committed to providing a welcoming, accessible hiring experience. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or interview process, please reach out to us at [e-mail] .

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For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Metropolis’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three‑year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

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An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.