About
The ICs are staff and principal-level engineers. Managing them is the wrong frame — what they need is a technical counterpart who can engage with their architecture decisions, push back when the approach is wrong, and earn credibility by being close to the work.
This is a Series A AI cybersecurity startup applying LLMs and agents to vulnerability management, with an engineering team of ~15 today and growing, fully remote across European time zones.
The Engineering Director owns a set of high-output product teams — tech leads reporting in, no EM layer — in close partnership with the CTO.
What you'll do
- Own engineering leadership for a growing set of teams — clear accountability, unambiguous priorities, teams that move fast
- Stay genuinely close to the technical work: architecture decisions, code reviews, and design discussions across your teams
- Develop tech leads and senior engineers through performance management, coaching, and career development
- Keep cross-team coordination lightweight and decision-focused — velocity, not process
- Lead technical hiring end-to-end: define the bar, shape the process, close exceptional candidates
- Work closely with the CTO to design team structures and evolve how the org operates as it scales
- Uphold engineering standards across the org without letting process replace judgment
What you'll need
- Background as the most senior technical person in a fast-moving engineering team — CTO, VP, or Head of Engineering at a startup, or equivalent
- Technical credibility that engineers will respect: you engage meaningfully in architecture and code, not just status updates
- Proven track record of genuine people leadership — hard conversations, performance calls, growing engineers into leaders
- Experience running lean, high-output teams where small groups get a lot done
- Strong hiring instincts: you've defined the bar and closed exceptional candidates
- Business owner's mindset — you measure by customer outcomes, not internal metrics
Optional Bonus
- Experience in cybersecurity, AI, or security tooling
- Founder or early-stage startup background
- Familiarity with agentic AI systems or LLM-based engineering
Shortlisted candidates will be contacted within 48 hours.
