Director of Engineering

Fuel Talent LLC; Seattle, Northern (WA, KY); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Equity

Flexible vacation

Healthcare support

Long-term upside

Job summary

Fuel Talent LLC is seeking a Director of Engineering to lead an engineering org of about 20 developers, owning technical strategy, architecture, reliability, and security across a multi-product SaaS platform.

You will partner with Product, QA, and executive leadership to translate priorities into engineering plans, drive execution, and maintain high standards in a fast-growing startup environment.

Qualifications

• Led a SaaS engineering organization of 10–30 engineers.
• Experience hiring, developing, and managing engineers and leaders.
• Strong background in modern SaaS architecture, delivery, and operations.
• Proven track record of improving velocity while maintaining reliability.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction and architecture for a multi-product platform.
• Oversee delivery, planning, releases, and incident response.
• Collaborate with Product, QA, and Security to ensure quality and compliance.
• Foster ownership, accountability, and high engineering standards.

Skills

Engineering leadership

SaaS architecture

People management

Security practices

Tools

Cloud architecture

Security engineering

Job description

## Director of Engineering### About the CompanyWe’re partnering with an early-stage, venture-backed software company building a modern, AI-enabled platform for a large industry undergoing significant digital transformation.The company is growing quickly and building a unified SaaS platform designed to replace fragmented, legacy systems with modern workflows, automation, and AI. This is an opportunity to join at an early stage and have meaningful influence over the technology, team, and direction of the business.### Role OverviewWe’re looking for a **Director of Engineering** to lead an engineering organization of approximately 20 developers. This person will own engineering execution, technical strategy, architecture, reliability, and security across the platform.Reporting directly to the CEO, you’ll work closely with Product, QA, and other business leaders to translate company priorities into clear engineering plans and consistently shipped software. The ideal candidate combines strong technical depth with hands-on organizational leadership and knows how to create accountability without introducing unnecessary process.### Key Responsibilities**Engineering Leadership*** Lead and develop an engineering organization of approximately 20 developers.* Own team structure, hiring, performance management, accountability, and professional growth.* Establish a high-performing engineering culture focused on ownership, quality, and execution.* Improve engineering velocity while maintaining strong technical standards.**Technical Strategy & Architecture*** Set technical direction for a growing, multi-product SaaS platform.* Own major architecture and platform decisions across applications, integrations, infrastructure, and new product capabilities.* Balance rapid product development with scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability.* Ensure technical investments support both immediate business priorities and longer-term growth.**Delivery & Execution*** Own day-to-day engineering execution and ensure roadmap priorities translate into shipped software.* Partner closely with Product and QA on planning, estimation, development, testing, releases, and deployment.* Establish and improve engineering operating rhythms without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.* Identify blocked or slipping initiatives early and remove bottlenecks quickly.* Oversee customer-specific development alongside the core product roadmap.* Establish standards for scoping, estimation, delivery, and ongoing maintenance.**Reliability, Security & Compliance*** Own production reliability and engineering security practices.* Oversee on-call coverage, incident response, monitoring, vulnerability remediation, deployment safety, and post-incident processes.* Ensure engineering practices support SOC 2 Type II and other security and data-handling requirements appropriate for sensitive business software.**Cross-Functional Leadership*** Work closely with the CEO and leadership team to align engineering capacity and priorities with company strategy.* Partner with Product, QA, Support, and Operations to ensure features are clearly defined, tested, and efficiently released.* Communicate engineering priorities, tradeoffs, risks, and timelines clearly across the organization.### Required Qualifications* Experience leading a SaaS engineering organization, ideally **10–30 engineers**.* Experience hiring, developing, and managing engineers and engineering leaders.* Strong technical background with a deep understanding of modern SaaS architecture, software delivery, production operations, and the full development lifecycle.* Track record of improving engineering velocity and execution while maintaining reliability and quality.* Experience owning architecture and technical strategy for a growing platform with multiple products, services, or integrations.* Experience managing engineering delivery across Product and QA, including planning, releases, incident response, and cross-team dependencies.* Experience leading distributed engineering teams across multiple countries or time zones.* Comfortable operating in an early-stage environment with evolving priorities, incomplete information, and a strong bias toward action.### Preferred Qualifications* Experience in fintech, financial software, enterprise SaaS, or another security- and data-sensitive software environment.* Experience scaling engineering teams and processes during periods of rapid growth.* Familiarity with SOC 2, incident management, on-call programs, observability, security remediation, or related compliance requirements.* Experience building or scaling AI-enabled SaaS products is a plus.### Why Join* Join an early-stage company tackling a large market with significant opportunity for disruption.* Take ownership of an established engineering organization while helping shape its next phase of growth.* Work directly with the CEO and leadership team with significant influence over technical and organizational strategy.* Build and scale a modern platform incorporating automation and AI.* Operate in a fast-moving environment that values ownership, curiosity, execution, and high standards.* Competitive compensation, equity, flexible vacation, healthcare support, and meaningful long-term upside.