Director, Engineering

Hi, I'm Paul, VP of Engineering at Customer.io. I'm looking for an experienced engineering leader to own several of Customer.io's product development engineering teams. This is a role for someone whose primary job is business impact: you set clear goals, hold teams accountable to schedules, and personally drive complex initiatives to done. Your first mandate is a high-priority, executive-visible platform initiative — the kind of project where you'll set the direction, align the org, and carry it across the finish line yourself. If you're energized by making things happen inside an organization — not just managing the people who do — this role is for you.

Over 9,000 companies — from scrappy startups to global brands — use our platform to send billions of emails, push notifications, in-app messages, and SMS every day. Customer.io powers automated communication that people actually want to receive.

We help teams send smarter, more relevant messages using real-time behavioral data. Under the hood: Go, React and AI help us ship fast and scale with confidence.

Execution above all
Leading a team and driving impact are not the same job — yours is the second one, and the team is how you do it. You set direction, create accountability, and see initiatives through across an organization. When something must ship, you put it on your back.

Engineering leaders who go deep and wide
You operate at the strategic level and stay close to the technical work. You can align executives on a roadmap and earn an engineering team's respect in the same day. You still read the code, join the incident channel, and know why the thing is late. You don't choose between vision and execution — you hold both.

A healthy skepticism for "the way things are done"
You bring rigor and pragmatism. Best practices matter — but never more than forward motion. You know when to build, when to buy, and when to wait.

An AI-first engineering mindset
AI is central to how you build and how you lead your team to build. You've developed a real point of view on AI-native development, you can speak to it concretely, and you bring it into how your org operates.

• Own the vision, roadmap, and execution for major platform initiatives — starting with the delivery of our new billing platform, a high-visibility integration program spanning Engineering, Product, and Finance
• Set clear goals and delivery milestones, hold teams accountable to them, and communicate progress crisply to executive stakeholders
• Make build-vs-buy and sequencing decisions with conviction, and lead the team through them
• Mentor and develop engineering managers and senior technical leaders — with the bar that everyone on the team can articulate the impact they're driving
• Drive a culture of accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement across the org
• Leverage AI tools to accelerate team velocity and bring an AI-native perspective to how the team builds

• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with significant time leading engineering teams
• Experience managing engineering managers and/or senior technical leaders
• A track record of driving complex, cross-functional initiatives to completion — you've taken something ambiguous and org-spanning and personally made it ship
• Deep understanding of SaaS software architecture, cloud-native infrastructure, and the tradeoffs that come with building in-house vs. buying and integrating
• Ability to translate technical complexity into clear strategy and communicate effectively with both engineers and executives
• Demonstrated AI-native leadership — not just personal fluency, but a track record of bringing AI-first development practices into how your team works
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and making difficult tradeoffs between competing priorities
• You can articulate, specifically, what you made happen in your last role that wouldn't have happened without you

Bonus points for:

• Experience in the domains of self-service and growth, audience segmentation, or customer data platforms (CDPs)
• Exposure to billing, subscriptions, or monetization systems — useful context for your first mandate, not a requirement
• Experience at high-growth SaaS companies; you have delivered results at a startup
• Track record of shipping in high-velocity product orgs where your domain was treated as a first-class engineering concern

We believe in transparency. Starting salary for this role is $230,000-$270,000 USD (or equivalent in local currency) depending on experience and subject to market rate adjustment.

We know our people are what make us great, and we're committed to taking great care of them. Our inclusive benefits package supports your well-being and growth, including 100% coverage of medical, dental, vision, mental health, and supplemental insurance premiums for you and your family. We also offer 16 weeks paid parental leave, unlimited PTO, stipends for remote work and wellness, a professional development budget, and more.

See full benefits here →

No gotchas, no trick questions - just a clear, human process designed to help both of us make an informed decision.

1. Application - We review everyone with care.
2. Recruiter Call (30 mins) - Let's chat about what you're looking for, your leadership style, and how we work.
3. Hiring Manager Interview (60 mins) - Deep dive into your experience leading teams, your technical philosophy, and how you think about building organizations.
4. People Partner Interview (60 mins) - Explore your leadership style, management philosophy, and approach to supporting high-performing teams with our engineering people partner.
5. Technical Interview (60 mins) - Engage in a collaborative system design conversation focused on scaling challenges.
6. Take-Home Assignment - Submit a short written retrospective on a project you’ve led as an Engineering Manager.
7. Retrospective Review Call (60 mins) - We’ll use your written submission as the foundation for a deeper conversation.

All final candidates will be asked to complete a background check and employment verifications as part of our pre-employment process.