🚀 Director of Engineering

Location: Hybrid / Rochester Hills, MI (Local or relocatable candidates strongly preferred)
Reports To: CEO
Compensation: $150K–$160K base + equity + up to 10% bonus

💼 The Opportunity

Our client — a fast-growing software product company operating at the intersection of cloud, data, and industrial integration — is hiring a Director of Engineering to help build structure, scale leadership, and drive performance across its engineering teams.

As the business scales, this role will take ownership of engineering operations from the current Head of Engineering, who is moving into a VP-level position. The team is ~15 engineers strong and organized into five cross-functional product teams — and this role will be key to taking that team from good to great.

🧭 What You’ll Do

• Lead and support five agile product teams, each with a team lead and 3–5 engineers.

• Standardize and improve delivery processes across teams: sprint planning, task tracking, point estimation, and Agile rituals.

• Present monthly performance metrics (velocity, completion, rework) to the leadership team.

• Coach and grow team leads into stronger people managers — or identify external talent when needed.

• Drive strategic hiring into specialist roles (e.g., QA, DevOps, documentation) while keeping core headcount lean.

• Collaborate cross-functionally with product, operations, and commercial leadership.

• Contribute to departmental budgeting, forecasting, and P&L ownership.

• Continuously evolve engineering processes, policies, and practices.

🧠 What You Bring

• A proven track record leading software engineering teams in product-focused companies (SaaS or enterprise software).

• Familiarity with full-stack environments and Agile/Scrum frameworks.

• Strong understanding of delivery KPIs: team velocity, sprint completion, quality tracking.

• Experience building leadership capacity within teams and creating scalable management structures.

• A hands-off leadership style focused on people, process, and performance — not day-to-day coding.

• A high degree of emotional intelligence, cultural awareness, and ability to earn trust.

• Experience with industrial, MES, or manufacturing software is a nice-to-have, not a must.

🧩 Team & Tech Snapshot

• Team Size: ~15 engineers across five product-aligned teams

• Key Areas: Orchestration, Data, Integration, UI, Core Applications

• Stack: Node.js microservices, GraphQL, internal UI libraries

• Tools: JIRA, Agile delivery, Scrum metrics (velocity, completion)

• Location: Strong preference for candidates within 50 miles of Rochester Hills, MI — hybrid presence expected (on-site every 2–3 weeks minimum)

📈 Compensation & Benefits

• Base Salary: $140,000 – $160,000

• Equity: 0.25% – 0.33% (250,000 – 300,000 shares, 4-year vesting, 12-month cliff)

• Bonus: Up to 10% (split between company and personal performance)

• Annual Merit Increase: Up to 7% based on performance

🧭 The Interview Process

1. Pre-screening and assessment conducted by our search team

2. Interview with the Head of Engineering (future VP of Technology)

3. Technical leadership panel with team leads and product stakeholders

4. Executive leadership meeting with business and operations heads

5. In-person final stage for cultural and leadership alignment

🔎 About the Business

Our client is a privately held, product-led software company helping industrial and enterprise clients solve real-world operational challenges through modern cloud, integration, and data platforms. The culture is lean, collaborative, and highly technical — with a strong commitment to building the right processes before scaling headcount.

CLICK HERE – For video description about the company and opportunity.