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nTop is a design software that helps engineers iterate faster, generate insights, and deliver high-performance designs.
The Role
Leads the engineering organization responsible for modeling, rendering, simulation, distributed computing, and quality. Owns platform roadmap execution, manages engineering managers, accelerates AI-assisted software development, improves delivery and testing processes, and balances zero-to-one product development with ongoing releases. Partners with Product and represents platform engineering to company leadership. Requires deep technical credibility and a proven record of organizational transformation, product delivery, and engineering leadership.
Summary Generated by Built In
About nTop
The Role
What You'll Do
What Success Looks Like
Who You Are
Why This Role
nTop builds parametric design software for the hardest geometry problems in aerospace, defense, propulsion, and industrial energy. Our platform lets engineers define a design as a parametric program — not one aircraft or turbine, but every variant a program might need — and explore design spaces that were previously too large to search. Our product platform spans implicit modeling, GPU-accelerated physics simulation, optimization, and distributed computing. It is the engine inside everything nTop ships.
We're hiring a Director of Engineering to lead the engineering organization behind nTop's product platform: the teams that build our modeling and rendering engine, our simulation capabilities, our distributed computing platform, and the quality function that spans all three. You will report to the CTO, lead a team of engineering managers, and own how the platform roadmap gets executed.
This is a newly created role at an inflection point for the company. Alongside the products our customers rely on today, we are building the next generation of nTop: a deeply collaborative engineering environment where teams of engineers and AI agents work together on the same design at the same time. It is a zero-to-one product with a demanding timeline, and delivering it while continuing to ship for existing customers is the central challenge of this job.
Meeting that challenge means changing how we build software. nTop is moving to an AI-assisted software development lifecycle, working with leading AI and hardware partners, with the goal of improving our operating tempo by an order of magnitude. The Director of Engineering will lead that transformation across the platform teams — not as a side project, but as the way the roadmap gets delivered.
The CTO sets direction. This role makes it real: translating strategy into plans, plans into shipped software, and an ambitious vision into an organization that can execute on it.
Own execution of the product platform roadmap. Turn the direction set by the CTO and our platform Product Managers into engineering plans with clear ownership and sequencing, and hold the organization to them. When plans meet reality, decide, communicate, and adjust.
Lead and grow the engineering management team. Hire, develop, and coach the engineering managers who run the platform teams, and build them into a leadership team that operates with clear expectations, individualized coaching, and disciplined project management.
Drive the shift to AI-assisted development. Lead the adoption of an AI-native software development lifecycle across the platform organization: define what it looks like in practice, measure its impact, and partner with our external AI and hardware partners to accelerate it.
Make the engineering process faster end to end. Own the path from idea to shipped software — planning, development, review, quality, release — and systematically remove the delays between steps. Automate what can be automated, including how we test and validate what we ship.
Deliver zero-to-one and one-to-n at once. Stand up the next-generation product while keeping current products shipping and improving, and make the staffing and sequencing calls that let both succeed.
Partner with Product. Work as a peer with the Director of Product Management for the platform and the platform PMs. Bring grounded technical judgment on feasibility, sequencing, and risk, and propose alternatives when plans don't account for real constraints.
Represent platform engineering. Be the voice of the platform engineering organization with the CTO, the broader R&D leadership team, and the company.
In your first months, you have a clear read on each team and each manager, a working relationship with your Product counterparts, and a map of where the engineering process is fastest and where it slows down.
In your first year, the platform organization has a full and effective management team, ships measurably faster and with substantially more automation than it does today, and has delivered the first release of the next-generation product to early customers — without letting the existing products fall behind.
Required
- Significant experience leading engineering organizations, including managing engineering managers across multiple teams.
- A record of making an engineering organization faster — you've changed how a team plans, builds, tests, or ships, and you can point to the result.
- You've delivered a new product from zero to one while keeping existing products healthy.
- Hands-on experience leading the adoption of AI-assisted development in an engineering organization, and a clear point of view on how it changes process, staffing, and quality.
- Enough technical depth to be credible with expert engineers in geometry, GPU computing, physics simulation, or distributed systems.
- Exceptional at prioritization and decision-making under an ambitious timeline, and creative about how work gets done.
Preferred
- Experience in CAD, CAE, PLM, or other engineering software, or another domain where mistakes are costly and customers move deliberately.
- Experience building real-time collaborative or multi-user systems.
- Experience modernizing quality engineering toward automated, continuous testing.
- Experience leading distributed teams across US and European time zones.
- Familiarity with C++ and Python codebases and GPU-accelerated computing.
Engineering software is moving from a single engineer at a screen to teams of humans and AI agents designing together, and nTop intends to lead that shift. You will run the engineering organization that builds it, report directly to the CTO, and be measured on whether an ambitious vision actually ships.
nTop is an equal opportunity employer committed to building a diverse and inclusive team.
Please note that nTop may use AI products to assist in the recruiting process. All resumes are reviewed by, and all employment decisions are made by, nTop's Hiring Team.
If you require a reasonable accommodation during the interview process, please don't hesitate to email us directly.
Skills Required
- Significant experience leading engineering organizations and managing engineering managers across multiple teams
- A record of making an engineering organization faster by improving planning, development, testing, or shipping processes
- Experience delivering a new product from zero to one while maintaining existing products
- Hands-on experience leading AI-assisted development adoption in an engineering organization
- Technical depth in geometry, GPU computing, physics simulation, or distributed systems
- Exceptional prioritization and decision-making under ambitious timelines
- Experience in CAD, CAE, PLM, engineering software, or another high-consequence domain
- Experience building real-time collaborative or multi-user systems
- Experience modernizing quality engineering through automated, continuous testing
- Experience leading distributed teams across US and European time zones
- Familiarity with C++ and Python codebases and GPU-accelerated computing
nTop Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about nTop and has not been reviewed or approved by nTop.
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage alongside FSA and disability insurance are prominently described, signaling a solid core health package. Company and third‑party materials consistently include healthcare as part of the standard offering.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO, paid holidays, and paid sick time are highlighted, with company language emphasizing a “fantastic vacation plan.” Parental and family leave further expands the overall time‑off support.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Company equity is a standard component and some listings also mention an ESPP, creating ownership potential beyond base pay. These elements complement core salary and benefits to enhance total compensation.
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The Company
What We Do
nTop (formerly nTopology) was founded in 2015 with the belief that engineers’ ability to innovate shouldn’t be limited by their design software. We’re bringing additive manufacturing to mainstream production by enabling engineers to create complex geometries, optimize instantaneously, and automate workflows to create groundbreaking products in record time.
Why Work With Us
At nTop , we are team-oriented and believe everyone matters. With easy access to leadership and cross-team collaborations, we encourage a space where everyone is valued and empowered. Our culture ensures every employee has the opportunity to learn and grow.
