Head of Software Engineering

Head of Software Engineering

Full time

Location: Brooklyn, New York (Brooklyn Navy Yard)

Company Stage of Funding: Seed Stage — $55M Raised

Office Type: Onsite — 5 Days/Week

Salary: $237k–$340k base + equity

Employment Type: Full-Time

Company Description

Our client is an ambitious, venture-backed deep technology company transforming how new materials are discovered.

The company is building autonomous laboratories that combine software, automation, hardware, and scientific research to accelerate materials discovery from years or decades to weeks.

Backed by $55 million in seed funding, the company is scaling its engineering organization and preparing for significant customer deployments.

The team operates at the intersection of distributed software systems, physical automation, scientific experimentation, and advanced engineering.

Our client is looking for a Head of Software Engineering to lead its growing software organization while remaining deeply involved in architecture and hands-on development.

This is a rare opportunity to shape the engineering culture, technical direction, and software foundation of a company building technology with real-world scientific impact.

What You Will Do

• Build, lead, and scale a high-performing software engineering organization.
• Hire, develop, mentor, and retain exceptional engineers across core and platform engineering.
• Remain hands-on by reviewing code daily and shipping production code every week.
• Lead architectural decisions involving complex distributed systems, scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Establish engineering processes, including planning, standups, retrospectives, and code review practices.
• Develop an engineering culture that prioritizes speed, ownership, collaboration, and high-quality execution.
• Partner directly with founders to define the long-term software engineering roadmap.
• Translate ambiguous scientific, product, and business requirements into actionable engineering priorities.
• Collaborate closely with hardware, science, product, and design teams.
• Make pragmatic technical decisions while balancing development speed, correctness, and scalability.
• Lead the engineering organization through rapid hiring, architectural evolution, and customer deployments.
• Act as a senior technical voice in company leadership discussions.

Ideal Candidate Background

• 8–15 years of professional software engineering experience, including several years of senior engineering leadership.
• Previous experience leading software engineering teams at a startup.
• Demonstrated success personally building an engineering team from fewer than approximately 15 people within the last five years.
• Prior people management experience at a Head of Engineering or comparable senior leadership level.
• Strong hands-on software engineering experience with Go and/or Python.
• Currently writes or ships production code rather than exclusively managing or reviewing engineering work.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, system design, and software architecture.
• Experience making technical decisions under ambiguity and operational constraints.
• Proven ability to establish engineering processes that improve execution without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Strong communication and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Comfortable working closely with founders and multidisciplinary technical teams.
• Willing to work onsite in Brooklyn five days per week.

Preferred

• Previous Head of Engineering, VP Engineering, Director of Engineering, or equivalent startup leadership experience.
• Experience scaling software teams during periods of rapid company growth.
• Background in complex distributed systems, infrastructure, or backend platforms.
• Experience working in deep technology, robotics, industrial automation, scientific computing, or hardware-integrated software environments.
• Strong experience with Go, Python, and production software architecture.
• Experience leading teams through demanding customer deployments.
• Demonstrated ability to balance technical excellence with rapid product delivery.
• Experience collaborating with scientists, hardware engineers, or other highly specialized technical stakeholders.

Compensation & Benefits

• Compensation details available through the hiring team.
• Relocation assistance of approximately $5,000–$10,000, reimbursed against receipts.
• O-1, H-1B transfers, and TN visa support available.
• Opportunity to lead a growing software engineering organization.
• Direct collaboration with company founders and senior technical leadership.
• Significant influence over engineering culture, architecture, and technical strategy.
• Hands-on involvement in advanced software and autonomous laboratory technology.
• Onsite work environment at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

This opportunity is ideal for an experienced engineering leader who wants to remain technically hands-on while building a world-class software organization from an early stage.

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