ABOUT THE JOB As the Director of Software Engineering you will be the engineering leader for our team of 10-12 engineers reporting directly to our President and serving as a key partner to our product leader This is a role for a player-coach who is excited to get their hands dirty drive a high-performance culture and have an outsized tangible impact on the business You will be eager and ready to make key strategic and architectural decisions We are looking for a leader who is motivated by the opportunity to increase team velocity and deliver customer value You will have the autonomy to make key decisions and do what is needed to get results and be expected to bring your perspective to challenge us and make the company better You ll be responsible for the output of the engineering team championing a progress over perfection mindset to quickly deliver prototypes and iterate based on customer feedback This is a pivotal role in our company s transformation and you ll be at the forefront of adopting AI tools and modern engineering practices to accelerate our growth Requirements RESPONSIBILITIES Lead and Mentor Manage the engineering team with a focus on performance and output Mentor engineers foster a culture of ownership and accountability and guide the team through technical challenges Drive Velocity Implement and refine processes to increase engineering velocity and throughput Champion the adoption of AI-assisted development tools and other modern technologies to boost efficiency Player-Coach Remain hands-on with the codebase ReactJS Python to guide architectural decisions and lead by example dedicating approximately 10-20 of your time to direct contribution as needed Business Impact Partner with the product leader and President to align engineering efforts with business goals Shape strategy and clearly articulate the business impact of your team s work tying it to metrics like NRR NPS and customer adoption Data-Driven Decisions Use metrics like cycle time uptime and delivery ratios to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions fostering a culture of continuous improvement not blame Cross-functional Partnership Work in lockstep with product management and design You will build technical and product roadmaps together ensuring both teams are in sync - and you will make important architectural decisions and recommendations Together you will work to influence key business outcomes WITHIN 30 DAYS YOU LL Understand and Build Trust Establish rapport and credibility with the engineering team product managers and designers Assess and Diagnose Evaluate the current team structure processes technical debt and delivery metrics presenting an initial diagnostic report to the President Deliver a Quick Win Identify and implement at least one technical or process improvement that demonstrates a progress over perfection mindset Get Hands-On Begin contributing to the codebase to model the player-coach approach and gain a deep understanding of our technology WITHIN 60 DAYS YOU LL Implement Improvements Roll out process changes that measurably improve velocity predictability or our say-do ratio Pilot Current Tools Launch a pilot of AI-assisted development tools with the team tracking adoption and productivity outcomes Strengthen Partnerships Improve collaboration between engineering product and design resulting in smoother sprint planning and faster decision-making Deliver Customer Value Ship a meaningful feature or release that is tied to our business impact metrics NRR NPS etc WITHIN 90 DAYS YOU LL Drive Measurable Impact Demonstrate clear improvements in engineering KPIs e g reduced cycle time improved uptime Link Output to Business Metrics Present a clear connection between engineering output and improvements in our key business metrics Scale AI Adoption Drive the adoption of AI-assisted development across the team with all engineers regularly using valuable tools Encourage experimentation and innovation time Shape the Future Formalize a 6-12 month engineering roadmap in partnership with product balancing technical debt innovation and customer needs MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS 5 years experience as a senior staff software engineer History of leading technical projects mentoring junior engineers and being a go-to technical leader on a team Experience in teams responsible for KPIs like cycle time uptime and or delivery ratios Ability to articulate how engineering work directly impacts business metrics Experience working in a cross-functional team environment Strong verbal and written communication skills Fluency in ReactJS and Python PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS Experience managing a team of 8-12 engineers A natural change agent who is not a defender of the status quo Experience being a strong partner to product managers and designers Hands-on experience with AI-assisted development tools e g Cursor Claude Code Resilient and optimistic with the ability to see ambiguity as an opportunity and motivate a team through uncertainty Benefits Unlimited Paid Time Off after 3 months probation Permanent WFH

📌 Director - Software Engineering (India)
🏢 Pearl
📍 India