Vice President of Engineering

Punt; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 220,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Influence architectural design

Direct work with founders

Job summary

A fast-growing technology company in the United States is seeking a VP of Engineering. This senior technical leader will own the execution and ensure Punt’s platform scales reliably. Responsibilities include leading engineering teams, designing large-scale production systems, and ensuring software quality. The ideal candidate has over 12 years of experience, strong technical leadership, and a proven track record in fast-paced environments. Competitive compensation and significant growth potential are offered.

Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 5+ years leading senior engineers or engineering teams at scale.
• Proven experience designing and operating high-traffic, production platforms.
• Deep expertise in modern backend and frontend systems.
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and database architecture.

Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end technical architecture of Punt’s platform.
• Design scalable, secure, and resilient systems.
• Lead, mentor, and scale a team of senior engineers.
• Ensure platform can handle high concurrency and growth.
• Oversee cloud infrastructure and deployment strategy.

Skills

Technical leadership

Large-scale system design

Distributed systems knowledge

Hands-on engineering

Strong communication skills

Tools

Node.js

React

AWS

Job description

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Punt is a fast‑growing technology company behind a market‑leading online social gaming platform. Our mission is to build the most advanced, engaging, and scalable social gaming experiences in the world. We operate at high velocity, high scale, and high standards — and we’re building systems meant to last.

As we enter our next phase of growth, we are hiring a VP of Engineering — a senior technical leader who can own execution today as the company continues to scale.

This is not a “manager of managers” role and not a pure IC role. This is a hands‑on executive engineering leader role.

Role Overview

The VP of Engineering is responsible for technical execution, architectural integrity, and engineering excellence across the organization. You will work closely with the founders, product, design, data, and operations to ensure Punt’s platform scales reliably while continuing to move fast.

You are someone who has:

• Designed large‑scale, production systems
• Built and led senior engineering teams
• Held the technical bar extremely high
• Operated successfully in fast‑paced, ambiguous environments

You will be deeply involved in architecture and critical technical decisions while also building systems, processes, and leaders around you.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Vision & Architecture

• Own the end‑to‑end technical architecture of Punt’s platform (backend, frontend, infrastructure).
• Design systems that are scalable, secure, modular, and resilient under heavy load.
• Make forward‑looking architectural decisions that balance speed today with long‑term maintainability.
• Review and approve major technical designs and high‑impact changes.
• Ensure the engineering organization consistently delivers high‑quality, production‑ready software.
• Set and enforce standards for code quality, testing, documentation, and system reliability.
• Eliminate unnecessary technical debt while allowing the company to move fast where it matters.
• Lead critical projects hands‑on when required.

Leadership & Team Building

• Lead, mentor, and scale a team of senior engineers and technical leads.
• Build accountability, ownership, and strong engineering culture across the org.
• Hire and retain top‑tier engineering talent — raising the bar with every hire.
• Develop future leaders within the engineering team.

Scalability, Reliability & Security

• Ensure the platform can handle very high concurrency and growth without degradation.
• Own reliability, uptime, performance, and incident response standards.
• Ensure security best practices are built into every layer of the stack, especially for a high‑value platform.

DevOps, Infrastructure & CI/CD

• Oversee cloud infrastructure and deployment strategy (AWS preferred).
• Ensure mature CI/CD pipelines, testing automation, and safe deployment practices.
• Build systems that allow teams to ship confidently and frequently.

Cross‑Functional Leadership

• Partner closely with Product, Design, Data, and Operations.
• Translate business goals into technical execution plans.
• Communicate clearly with founders and non‑technical stakeholders.

Required Experience & Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 5+ years leading senior engineers or engineering teams at scale.
• Proven experience designing and operating high‑traffic, production platforms.
• Deep expertise in modern backend and frontend systems (Node.js, React/Next.js strongly preferred).
• Strong knowledge of distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and database architecture (SQL + NoSQL).
• Demonstrated ability to balance hands‑on technical work with executive‑level leadership.
• Experience owning large systems end‑to‑end, not just components.
• Strong judgment around tradeoffs, priorities, and risk.

Bonus (Nice to Have)

• Experience in gaming, fintech, payments, or other high‑volume transactional platforms.
• Exposure to blockchain, Web3, or real‑time systems.
• Prior experience working closely with founders or at high‑growth startups.

What We’re Specifically Looking For

• High Ownership: You take responsibility for outcomes, not just decisions.
• Startup Velocity: You’re comfortable operating with speed, pressure, and ambiguity.
• High Standards: You refuse to compromise on quality where it matters.
• Strong Communicator: You can explain complex technical concepts clearly.
• Builder Mentality: You’ve built things that people actually use at scale.

What This Role Is Not

• Not a middle manager role.
• Not a purely strategic role with no hands‑on involvement.
• Not a place to learn how to lead — this role requires proven leadership maturity.

Why Join Punt

• Build and scale a next‑generation social gaming platform with massive upside.
• Work directly with founders who value strong engineering leadership.
• Influence architecture, culture, and long‑term technical direction.
• Competitive compensation with meaningful long‑term growth potential.

Seniority Level

• Executive

Employment Type

• Full‑time

Job Function

• Engineering and Information Technology
• Computer Games

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