VP of Engineering

Optimal Dynamics; Oregon; Hybrid; USD 240,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Optimal Dynamics is seeking a VP of Engineering to lead our growing engineering org, champion architecture and scalable systems, and partner with Product, AI, and Analytics.

You will stay hands-on while setting technical direction, recruiting leaders, and ensuring security, reliability, and rapid delivery as we scale our SaaS platform for enterprise logistics.

The role reports to the COO and requires 10+ years of engineering leadership and experience building production-grade systems.

Qualifications

• :

Responsibilities

• Oversee and enable Engineering Managers, build a cohesive, connected engineering organization.
• Recruit, develop, and retain great engineers, building a team that can scale.
• Strengthen a low-ego, high-ownership culture that delivers rapid and exceptional products.
• Own engineering vision, architecture, and technology strategy with focus on reliability, security, and scalability.
• Implement policy on CI/CD and QA, ensure production-grade delivery.
• Partner with AI/Analytics leadership and Product leadership to align roadmaps and tradeoffs.
• Represent engineering to the C-Suite: report progress, flag risks, and set realistic timelines.
• Enable the organization through lightweight processes, metrics, and cost governance.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Scaling teams

B2B SaaS

Security mindset

Tools

AWS

DynamoDB

Aurora

Python

Java

JavaScript

TypeScript

Terraform

Spacelift

GitHub

CodePipeline

CodeBuild

Dagster

dbt

DuckDB

Trino

Job description

About Our Company

Built on over four decades of pioneering research at Princeton University, our platform represents the leading edge of innovation in freight and transportation planning. We help customers unlock double-digit revenue gains and drive smarter, data-driven operations at scale.Today, Optimal Dynamics is a Series C company of ~70 employees, backed by top-tier investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, The Westly Group, Activate Capital, and Koch. We're on a mission to redefine the way logistics decisions are made—and we’re just getting started.

About Our Team

We are a team of bright, kind, and solution-oriented people focused on creating value for our customers. We can solve problems individually, but understand that the best solutions are found when the team brainstorms ideas together. We are excited about balancing the need to deploy new solutions quickly and designing solutions that are secured, reliable, maintainable, and scalable for the long run.

About the Role

Optimal Dynamics is searching for a VP of Engineering who is a builder at their core. As our senior engineering leader, the VP of Engineering reports directly to our COO, leads our engineering organization, oversees engineering team managers, and serves as Engineering’s voice to executive leadership.You’ll set technical direction, turn business priorities into executable plans, and build strong, connected teams, all while staying hands-on in architecture and code. You’ll work closely and cross-functionally with Product, Design, AI, and Analytics leadership.If you see yourself as both an architect and a connector who has successfully directed fast-moving, scaling technical teams, this could be the role for you.

What You’ll Do

Lead and Steward

Oversee and enable Engineering Managers, understand their priorities, and build a cohesive, connected engineering organizationRecruit, develop, and retain great engineers, building a team that can scaleStrengthen a low-ego, high-ownership engineering culture that delivers rapid and exceptional product

Set Technical Direction

Own engineering vision, architecture, and technology strategy with a focus on reliability, security, and scalabilityImplement best CI/CD and QA practices–setting and defining policy on how we build, test, and deploy to productionIdentify blockers and execute plans that create efficiency and excellence with a willingness to not only delegate, but step in on critical needsMake pragmatic decisions that fit our stage, and know when to move fast and when to invest for the long term

Be the Glue

Partner with AI and Analytics leadership so our AI and optimization work turns into reliable, production-grade softwareFoster agreement and collaboration - clear ownership where your teams’ work overlaps and interminglesWork with Product leadership on vision, roadmap, prioritization, and tradeoffsRepresent engineering to the C-Suite: advocate for the team, provide progress reports, flag risks early, and set realistic timelinesJoin and contribute to key customer, partner, and investor conversations, providing technical credibilityEnable the Organization

Enable the Organization

Implement lightweight processes, metrics, and operating rhythms that improve how fast and how predictably we deliverOwn engineering career pathing, headcount, vendors, and cloud spendEnsure security, data privacy, and compliance standards meet enterprise customer expectations.

Who You Are

Experienced

: Our ideal candidate has 10+ years of engineering experience and 3+ years of managing managers. Your work history showcases significant time designing and building production systems.

Leader

: You’ve led a dynamic engineering organization in a scaling technical or startup environment. Ambiguity energizes you. (Bonus points if you’ve grown a technical organization in a research-born company).

Technical

:

You’re a problem-solver and architect; you stay current with emerging tools and your experience showcases a history of technical decisions that have guided engineering organizations into the future.You see what’s coming on the horizon and are the SME on all technical decisions, building a stack and platform that stays ahead of the technical curve.You've built and scaled B2B SaaS, ideally with enterprise customers.

Security Focused

: You treat security as a business-level priority: continually hardening infrastructure, data, and access against external attacks and insider threats as we scale. You’ve directed ongoing SOC 2 compliance standards.

Collaborator and Connector

: You excel in communicating and advocating as the go-between for engineering, product, AI/analytics, and leadership; it's part of the job that fuels you, not a chore. You connect engineers, executives, and customers alike. You can both push back with conviction and admit when you’re wrong.

Trust Builder

:You’ve stepped into teams with existing managers and history before, and you know how to earn trust and build consensus. You care about the real-world impact of technical products and see the value in the optimization our product brings to the logistics and transportation landscape.

Bonus Points

You’re well-versed and up to date on our tech stack (see below)Experience with logistics, transportation systems, or similar complex operational domains

Our Tech Stack and Development Practices

At Optimal Dynamics, our entire infrastructure runs on AWS, leveraging a wide range of services including DynamoDB, Aurora, SSM, and SQS to power our intelligent logistics platform.

Our tech stack includes:Backend & AI: Python 3 and JavaFrontend: JavaScript/TypeScript for our web-based SPAData Stack: Trino, Dagster, dbt, DuckDB, and PresetIaC: Terraform and SpaceliftCloud: AWS (ECS/RDS/S3/etc)CI/CD: Bazel, Github, AWS CodePipeline/CodeBuildGenAI: Anthropic Claude, OpenAI Codex, GitHub CopilotWe follow modern development best practices with all code stored on GitHub. Every pull request undergoes thorough code reviews, is fully unit tested, and deployed through our CI/CD pipeline for continuous quality assurance.

Pay Range

Pay Range$240,000—$280,000 USD

Benefits

Competitive compensation, including Series C level equityHealth / Dental / Vision 100% covered for employee and 50% for dependentsLife Insurance, with optional supplemental insuranceFlexible Spending Account (FSA)Health Spending Account (HSA)401(k) with matchUnlimited PTO (vacation, personal days, sick days, jury duty, military leave, bereavement)11 HolidaysPaid Parental Leave for all employeesShort-term and Long-term Disability Insurances, and AD&D InsuranceFitness membership reimbursementCommuter benefits

Optimal Dynamics is proud to be an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive workplace with equal opportunity for all applicants and employees. Our goal is to recruit the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool regardless of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex (including pregnancy), age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.Optimal Dynamics is committed to working with and providing access and reasonable accommodation to applicants. If you require an accommodation, please reach out to once you've begun the interview process. All requests for accommodations are treated discreetly and confidentially, as practical and permitted by law.