Director of Engineering, Digital Experience

Mission Pet Health; United States; On-site; USD 170,000 - 260,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, Dental, Vision insurance

401k retirement options

Life Insurance & Disability

Job summary

Mission Pet Health is seeking a Director of Engineering to guide a growing Digital Experience organization of 21+ engineers. You will shape strategy, process, and people, partnering with Product to drive multi-squad initiatives across a shared codebase.

You’ll coach a layer of squad leads, own release and development processes, and ensure high-quality delivery while maintaining squad independence. This role emphasizes leadership development and organizational health within a veterinary network.

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering organizations of 15–40 people during growth.
• Ability to manage a leadership layer and develop leads rather than micromanage engineers.
• Track record building scalable processes that preserve squad independence.

Responsibilities

• Lead through squad leads and oversee health of the engineering org.
• Define and drive engineering strategy, architecture direction, and release processes.
• Partner with Product leadership to align engineering plans with business goals.
• Build consistent management practices across squads and develop talent.

Skills

People management

Strategic thinking

Delivery metrics

Cross-functional partner

Organizational leadership

Job description

Our Digital Experience engineering organization is growing from 16 to more than 21 engineers across multiple squads — including three squads working in a shared codebase — while delivering the most consequential initiatives on our roadmap. We're looking for a Director of Engineering to lead this organization through its next stage of growth: its strategy, its processes, its people, and its partnership with Product.

You’ll lead through a layer of squad leads who own the day-to-day and performance of their squads (engineers and QA). Your job is to manage, coach, and develop those leads, inspect team-level outcomes, and own the health of the engineering organization as a whole.

The measure of this role is not individual output. It is whether the teams around you deliver faster, more predictably, and with fewer things in their way.

What You'll Own

Engineering Strategy

• Be the engineering voice in strategic conversations about what we build and how we build it — participating from the first conversation on new initiatives, not after decisions are made.
• Shape how the engineering organization is structured — squad composition, roles, and skill mix — to meet current-year objectives while planning for a multi-year horizon.
• Own the point of view on our tech stack and architecture direction: whether what we have today supports where the product is going, and what needs to change before it becomes a constraint.
• Partner with Product leadership as a peer when planning future years — Product brings the business perspective, you bring the engineering perspective, and together you organize the squads and the plans.

Engineering Leadership — Process and Tone

• Set the process and tone for how engineering runs — the “how” (development and release processes) and the “what” (team functions and responsibilities) — without removing squad independence.
• Establish and steward a release process appropriate for an organization of this size: who does what and why, checklists, rollback plans, and cross-team notification.
• Define the development process end to end: how PRs move through the system, what the delivery pipeline looks like, how AI is incorporated into engineering work, and what happens when problems arise.
• Be the leader engineers look to for expectations. When something isn't clear, work with the leads to make it clear.
• Provide stewardship for the squads sharing a codebase as the organization grows — alignment on standards, coordination, and shared ownership.
• Bring a clear point of view to Product leadership on what Product should bring to the table for engineering teams to work effectively — and expect the same in return.

Leadership Development & Organizational Health

• Manage, coach, and develop the squad leads — your direct reports and the primary lever for everything else.
• Build a consistent management practice across squads: how leads run their teams, coach their people, handle performance, and grow their engineers — so an engineer's experience doesn't depend on which squad they're on.
• Maintain an accurate talent picture across the organization through the leads: who is growing, who needs support, who is ready for more complex work, and whether people are progressing at the pace we'd expect.
• Own engineering throughput at the organizational level: how stories move through development, where they get stuck, and what to change. Find bottlenecks and work with leads to fix them.
• Plan capacity and hiring ahead of need as the team scales, so process and staffing don't become the reasons delivery slows down.

Thought Partnership

• Come to the table with thinking not just on how tasks get completed, but on how we organize and enable teams to complete them. Removing what's in the teams' way matters more than doing the work yourself.
• Be a genuine peer to Product and business leadership — someone who strengthens strategic conversations rather than just executing their outcomes.

What Success Looks Like

• First 90 days: A clear diagnosis of current delivery bottlenecks with a recommended plan, and established expectations with leads on how teams run.
• First year: Release and development processes that scale to 21+ engineers; throughput measurably improved; a lead layer that is managing well and consistently; a talent picture leadership trusts; engineering fully represented in next-year planning.
• Ongoing: Product and engineering leadership operating like sections of the same orchestra — aligned on expectations in both directions, planning the future together.

Responsibilities and Benefits

What We're Looking For

• Experience leading engineering organizations of 15–40 people through a growth phase, ideally with multiple squads in a shared codebase.
• Experience managing through a leadership layer — developing leads rather than managing every engineer directly.
• A track record of building right-sized process — enough structure to scale, not so much that squads lose independence.
• Strong people-management instincts: coaching, performance development, and the judgment to make talent recommendations backed by direct inspection.
• Fluency with delivery metrics and workflow data; comfort diagnosing bottlenecks and acting on them.
• Strategic range: able to contribute to multi-year product and organizational planning, not just current-quarter execution.
• A collaborative operating style with Product — a peer partner, not a service provider.

How You're Supported

As part of the Mission Pet Health family, you get the stability of a local practice backed by the comprehensive benefits and resources of a larger network. The focus is on investing in you, so you can focus on what you love.
Note: Our comprehensive benefits package is designed to support you at every stage. Eligibility for specific benefits varies based on your role and hours worked.

Competitive Compensation

A competitive hourly rate or salary based on your experience and role.

We offer comprehensive coverage options including Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance, along with access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for all teammates.

Plan for your future with our 401k retirement options and additional financial protection benefits like Life Insurance and Disability coverage.

Commitment to Growth

We support your career goals with opportunities for professional development, including educational assistance for qualified teammates to enroll in AVMA-accredited veterinary technician programs.

The Power of a Network

Join a nationwide community of over 20,000 veterinary professionals who share a passion for collaboration, career growth, and sharing best practices.

Enjoy discounted veterinary care for your own pets, access to an online discount platform, and free 24/7 access to doctors through Teladoc.

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