Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy

Metropolis; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 220,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare benefits

401(k) plan

Disability insurance

Life insurance

Stock options

Bonus plans

Job summary

Metropolis is hiring a Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy in Seattle, WA to lead technology strategy, operational leadership, and high-stakes decision making across the engineering org. You will manage a multi-million dollar budget, drive cross-functional initiatives, and partner with senior leadership on M&A due diligence.

The role requires 6+ years in rigorous environments, autonomous leadership, and a track record of translating business goals into concrete plans.

Qualifications

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

Responsibilities

• 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 to $100M+ 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.

Skills

Autonomy

Budget management

Vendor management

Strategic leadership

Influence without authority

Data-driven decision making

AI tooling

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

MBA

Tools

AWS

Job description

Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy

Seattle, Washington, 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 $220,000 USD to $260,000 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. Base pay is one component of Metropolis's total compensation package, which usually includes: 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] .