Senior Director, Engineering (Head of Engineering)

Senior Director, Engineering (Head of Engineering)

Why This Role Is Exciting

At our client, engineering is at the center of how behavioral science is scaled into products and platforms that power smarter shopper decisions. As Senior Director, Engineering (Head of Engineering), you wont just manage execution — you'll shape how software is built, delivered, and evolved across a growing product ecosystem, while elevating engineering as a strategic driver of company growth.

Our client is a global market leader in digital shopper marketing, with decades of experience and deep category expertise. They apply a proprietary behavioral framework and a digital-first approach to help brands navigate an increasingly complex retail environment. Their work enables clients to make smarter shopper marketing decisions by defining and diagnosing the digital and physical behaviors that drive growth.

Role Overview

Our client is evolving from a traditional research- and services-led organization into a product-led, AI-enabled platform company. They are seeking a Senior Director, Engineering (Head of Engineering) to lead this transformation from an execution and technical leadership standpoint.

This role owns product engineering delivery, technical direction, and engineering culture, partnering closely with Product, Data Science, and executive leadership to translate behavioral science expertise into scalable software products and platforms.

The individual will be responsible for building a modern, high-trust engineering organization—one that delivers reliably, supports rapid learning, and enables AI-driven capabilities—while operating within environments that require strong client trust, data sensitivity, and regulatory awareness.

What You Will Do

Product Engineering Leadership

• Own end-to-end engineering delivery across product and platform initiatives

• Translate product strategy into executable engineering plans and milestones

• Establish delivery discipline without unnecessary process overhead

• Balance short-term client commitments with long-term product scalability

Organization & Team Development

• Build and scale a high-performing product engineering organization

• Lead and mentor engineering managers and senior technical leaders

• Define clear roles, expectations, and career paths for engineers

• Foster a culture of ownership, craftsmanship, and pragmatic problem-solving

• Effectively lead distributed and international teams, including offshore engineering

Architecture & Technical Direction

• Provide architectural oversight across data platforms, applications, and integrations

• Guide decisions around cloud infrastructure, data pipelines, and analytics tooling

• Ensure systems are AI-ready, automation-friendly, and built for iteration

• Manage technical debt intentionally while modernizing legacy components

AI & Data Enablement

• Partner with Data Science and Product to operationalize AI and advanced analytics

• Ensure engineering practices support experimentation, model integration, and iteration

• Translate AI capabilities into production-grade, client-ready features

• Balance innovation with reliability, explainability, and governance

Cross-Functional Partnership

• Act as the primary engineering partner to Product leadership

• Collaborate closely with IT, Security, and Compliance on infrastructure and risk

• Align engineering priorities with business, client, and regulatory needs

• Communicate clearly with executives on progress, tradeoffs, and risks

Operational Excellence

• Establish metrics for delivery health, quality, and team effectiveness

• Improve development workflows, tooling, and CI/CD practices

• Ensure strong documentation, observability, and operational readiness

• Support governance requirements without slowing innovation

Desired Skills and Experience

• 10+ years in software engineering, including leadership of product engineering teams

• Experience scaling engineering organizations in growth-stage or transforming companies

• Background in SaaS, data platforms, analytics products, or complex client-facing systems

• Experience operating in environments with data sensitivity, client trust, or regulation

Technical Strength

• Strong architectural instincts and hands-on technical credibility

• Deep understanding of modern software development practices and cloud platforms

• Experience integrating AI/ML, analytics, or automation into production systems

• Sound judgment around build vs. buy decisions

Leadership Style

• Calm, pragmatic, and low-ego leader

• Comfortable operating at both strategic and execution levels

• Trusted partner to Product, Data Science, and executive leadership

• Able to bring structure without bureaucracy and urgency without chaos

Leveling & Title

This role may be titled Senior Director, Engineering or Head of Engineering, depending on experience, scope, and organizational needs. Compensation and responsibilities will be aligned accordingly.