Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering

Background

Our client is building the next-generation operating system for commercial HVAC suppliers and contractors. In just five months, they launched V1 of their first product and grew revenue 10x. Backed by Founder’s Collective and leading HVAC industry angels, they’re focused on refining their product and scaling rapidly through 2026.

They’re looking for a Head of Engineering to lead their engineering organization through the next phase of rapid growth. You’ll partner closely with product and leadership to define technical strategy, grow a world-class engineering team, and ensure systems remain robust, scalable, and developer-friendly as they expand.

This role is ideal for a seasoned technical leader who can balance strategic direction with hands-on oversight. The right person has scaled teams from early-stage to growth-stage, built complex distributed systems, and cultivated strong engineering cultures. As an early technical leader, you’ll play a defining role in shaping the company’s engineering organization and long-term technology direction.

Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership & Strategy – Define the long-term technical roadmap, architecture, and infrastructure vision for the platform.
• Team Building & Management – Recruit, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of engineers and engineering leads.
• Execution Excellence – Establish processes for architecture reviews, code quality, testing, and performance monitoring across the org.
• Hands-On Guidance – Stay close to the codebase when needed, providing technical guidance, reviewing critical PRs, and unblocking teams.
• Scale & Reliability – Make system design decisions that impact scalability, availability, and developer productivity.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration – Partner with Product, Design, and AI/ML leadership to ensure alignment on priorities and resource allocation.

What We’re Looking For

You should feel equally comfortable designing distributed systems and scaling teams. You’ve built and scaled engineering teams, translating ambitious product goals into clear, executable technical plans.

Required Qualifications

• 7 years of software engineering experience, with 2 years in a leadership role (Head, Director, or EM managing multiple teams).
• Proven success building and scaling engineering teams (8–25 engineers).
• Expertise in TypeScript, React/Next.js, Node.js, and Python, with strong backend architecture experience.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, real-time collaboration, and cloud infrastructure (AWS or GCP).
• Experience establishing CI/CD pipelines, observability, and DevOps best practices.
• Experience guiding cross-functional execution in high-growth startup environments.
• Ability to balance short-term shipping velocity with long-term architectural integrity.

Nice to Have

• Experience with Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, Pulumi).
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, microservice orchestration, and multi-tenant scaling.
• Background in real-time collaborative systems (WebSockets, CRDTs, Yjs).
• Previous experience as a founding engineer or early technical leader in a fast-scaling startup.
• Experience mentoring or growing staff and principal-level engineers.
• Strong understanding of product-driven engineering culture.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary: $250K–$400K, dependent on experience
• Equity: Meaningful equity package, commensurate with experience
• Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Perks: Free lunches and dinners provided

This is a full-time, onsite leadership role based in New York City’s Flatiron district. Working onsite fosters the close collaboration, rapid iteration, and high-context communication essential to success as the company scales.