Director, Engineering

Details

Customer.io is seeking an experienced engineering leader to own several product development engineering teams across the Americas. The role focuses on driving business impact through clear goals, accountability, complex initiative execution, and hands-on technical leadership. The initial mandate is a high-priority, executive-visible billing platform initiative spanning Engineering, Product, and Finance.

Customer.io's platform is used by more than 9,000 companies to send emails, push notifications, in-app messages, and SMS. The technology stack includes Go, React, AI, real-time behavioral data, SaaS architecture, and cloud-native infrastructure.

Responsibilities

• Own the vision, roadmap, and execution for major platform initiatives, beginning with the delivery of a new billing platform.
• Set clear goals and delivery milestones, hold teams accountable, and communicate progress to executive stakeholders.
• Make build-versus-buy and sequencing decisions and lead teams through implementation.
• Mentor and develop engineering managers and senior technical leaders.
• Build a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
• Leverage AI tools to accelerate team velocity and establish an AI-native approach to development.
• Stay close to technical work, including reading code, participating in incident response, and understanding delivery challenges.

Requirements

• 12 or more years of software engineering experience, including significant engineering leadership experience.
• Experience managing engineering managers and/or senior technical leaders.
• Proven ability to drive ambiguous, complex, cross-functional initiatives through to completion.
• Deep understanding of SaaS software architecture, cloud-native infrastructure, and the tradeoffs between building in-house and buying and integrating solutions.
• Ability to translate technical complexity into clear strategy and communicate effectively with engineers and executives.
• Demonstrated AI-native leadership, including introducing AI-first development practices into team operations.
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and making difficult tradeoffs between competing priorities.
• Ability to articulate specific accomplishments from previous roles and the impact achieved.

Bonus Qualifications

• Experience with self-service and growth, audience segmentation, or customer data platforms (CDPs).
• Exposure to billing, subscriptions, or monetization systems.
• Experience at high-growth SaaS companies or startups.
• A track record of shipping in high-velocity product organizations where engineering is treated as a first-class concern.

Benefits

• Starting salary of $230,000-$270,000 USD, or equivalent in local currency, depending on experience and market rates.
• 100% coverage of medical, dental, vision, mental health, and supplemental insurance premiums for employees and their families.
• 16 weeks of paid parental leave.
• Unlimited paid time off.
• Remote work and wellness stipends.
• Professional development budget.

Hiring Process

1. Application review.
2. 30-minute recruiter call.
3. 60-minute hiring manager interview.
4. 60-minute People Partner interview.
5. 60-minute technical interview focused on collaborative system design and scaling challenges.
6. Take-home assignment consisting of a written retrospective on a project led as an Engineering Manager.
7. 60-minute retrospective review call.

Final candidates must complete a background check and employment verifications.