Vice President of Engineering

About Us

We are a startup in the life coaching industry focused on making personalized coaching accessible to everyone. Similar to how platforms like BetterHelp transformed therapy access, we're creating the definitive platform connecting individuals with certified life coaches who can help them achieve their goals, overcome obstacles, and lead more fulfilling lives.

Our mission is to democratize personal development by providing affordable, convenient, and effective life coaching through our tech-forward platform. We believe everyone deserves access to the guidance and support needed to reach their full potential.

Role Overview

As the Vice President of Engineering, you will be a pivotal leader responsible for building, scaling, and managing our entire engineering organization. You will drive the technical execution of our product roadmap, ensuring the development of a robust, scalable, and high-quality life coaching platform. You'll foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence within the engineering team.

This role requires a blend of strong technical depth, exceptional leadership skills, and strategic thinking. You will work closely with product leadership, design, and the executive team to translate vision into reality, architect resilient systems, and implement best-in-class engineering practices. You will be instrumental in defining our engineering culture, hiring top talent, and mentoring engineers to reach their full potential.

Key Responsibilities

Team Leadership & Development

• Build, lead, mentor, and inspire a high-performing engineering team, fostering a positive and inclusive culture.
• Oversee recruitment, onboarding, performance management, and professional development for all engineers.
• Champion engineering best practices, code quality, and a culture of continuous learning.
• Define and manage engineering team structure, roles, and responsibilities to optimize for growth and efficiency.

Technical Execution & Delivery

• Drive the execution of the product roadmap, ensuring timely and high-quality delivery of features and platform enhancements.
• Oversee the full software development lifecycle (SDLC), from planning and design through development, testing, deployment, and maintenance.
• Implement and refine agile development methodologies and CI/CD pipelines (e.g., using GitHub Actions).
• Ensure the platform's architecture (Next.js, Vercel, PostgreSQL) is scalable, reliable, secure, and maintainable.
• Manage technical debt and advocate for architectural improvements and refactoring where necessary.

Technology Strategy & Architecture

• Collaborate with product and executive leadership to define and refine the technical strategy and roadmap.
• Lead architectural decisions, ensuring alignment with business goals and long-term scalability. This includes leveraging cloud services (AWS/GCP) for features like message queues (SQS, Kafka), notifications (SNS), email (SES), and advanced search (semantic search).
• Evaluate and adopt new technologies, tools, and frameworks that can enhance developer productivity and platform capabilities.
• Oversee the technical aspects of communication systems, including transactional emails, text messaging, and support for marketing campaigns.
• Ensure robust security practices and data privacy compliance (e.g., GDPR, CCPA) are integrated into the development process.

Operational Excellence & Collaboration

• Establish and monitor key engineering metrics to track performance, quality, and delivery.
• Oversee system monitoring, incident response, and ensure high availability of the platform.
• Collaborate effectively with Product, Design, Operations, and other departments to ensure alignment and successful product outcomes.
• Communicate technical strategies, risks, and progress effectively to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Qualifications

Required

• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5+ years in engineering leadership roles (e.g., Engineering Manager, Director, VP).
• Proven track record of building, leading, and scaling high-performing, distributed engineering teams in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong technical background with hands-on experience in designing and developing complex, scalable web applications.
• Deep understanding of modern web technologies (e.g., Next.js/React, Node.js), database systems (e.g., PostgreSQL), and CI/CD practices.
• Significant experience with cloud platforms (AWS and/or GCP) and their services relevant to building scalable applications.
• Excellent understanding of software architecture principles, design patterns, and agile methodologies.
• Exceptional leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Strategic thinker with strong problem-solving abilities and a data-driven approach to decision-making.
• Proficiency in Mac or Linux development environments.

Preferred

• Direct experience with our specific tech stack: Next.js, Vercel, PostgreSQL, TypeScript.
• Hands-on experience or strong conceptual understanding of message queueing systems (e.g., AWS SQS, Apache Kafka) and their application.
• Experience with implementing or integrating semantic search technologies (e.g., vector databases, embedding models, AWS Kendra, Google Vertex AI Search).
• Familiarity with notification services (AWS SNS) and email delivery platforms (AWS SES), including considerations for deliverability and mass marketing.
• Experience integrating with text messaging services (e.g., Twilio, AWS SNS SMS).
• Experience in marketplace platforms, health-tech, wellness, or ed-tech industries.
• Demonstrated success in scaling technology organizations from early-stage to growth-stage.
• Understanding of AI/ML applications in personalization or matching.
• Experience managing engineering budgets and vendor relationships.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and significant equity stake in a high-potential startup.
• The opportunity to build and lead the engineering function from an early stage, shaping its culture and processes.
• A key leadership role with direct impact on product strategy and company success.
• Work with a modern and exciting tech stack, including Next.js, Vercel, PostgreSQL, and cutting-edge cloud services (AWS/GCP).
• Flexible, remote-first work environment.
• Unlimited access to our coaching platform for your personal development.
• Quarterly (or Annual) team retreats for strategic planning and team building.
• A chance to build a product that genuinely improves people's lives.

Our Values

Are you an inspiring engineering leader passionate about building exceptional teams and scalable, impactful technology? Do you thrive in dynamic startup environments and want to shape the future of personal development? Join us in building the technology that powers the future of life coaching!

We are an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse team. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates regardless of background.