Head of Engineering (m/f/x)

Our Guiding Stars are the values at the heart of our organization that drive everything we do. We are committed to creating meaningful change not only in our industry but also in the communities we engage with. If our Guiding Stars resonate with you, we encourage you to consider joining our team.

• Drive Results: We think big, work smart, and execute fast to transform the future of commerce
• Cultivate Belonging: We welcome diverse backgrounds and experiences, driving positive change through inclusion and teamwork
• Champion Customers: We go the extra mile for our customers to help them unlock their full potential
• Adapt Boldly: We’re curious and innovative, we take risks and grow from our failures

The Opportunity:

You will enhance our leadership team in our goal to run a performant engineering department while having a mindset of “tech is a people business”. Following our leadership culture, you will contribute to the product development strategy, guide your teams towards implementing this strategy with technical excellence. You will empower and mentor engineering managers to run their teams in a lean and efficient manner. Reporting directly to the VP Engineering you will drive and continuously grow the Experience & Extensibility group in a tandem with the Head of Product.

The Experience & Extensibility group consists of five teams that are taking care of foundational topics around our Business User Tooling (Design System, UI components, Developer Tooling as well as Account Management incl. SSO, Signup, Trials and Sample Data) and its extensibility through Custom Applications, our Audit Log, the Authentication and Authorisation of our APIs, the extensibility of our APIs, the technical foundation of our GraphQL APIs, as well as our SDKs and other Developer Experience topics.

Your Mission:

• Ensure company vision and department strategies are understood and cascaded into each team in close collaboration with your Head of Product
• Drive people and team topology planning (FTE, skills needed, depth of experience, internal and external staffing mix, team moves) consistent with the budget and needs of the group
• Be part of key technical decisions that will affect your group
• Support Engineering Managers to ensure software delivery by aligning teamwork toward the product vision and shared goals 
• Remove roadblocks and obstacles; manage interdependencies when needed
• Initiate and foster collaborative partnerships within the Experience & Extensibility group and with all relevant departments companywide
• Ensure Strategic Initiatives are scoped, estimated, resourced and scheduled
• Develop together with the Technical Leadership the technology vision, strategies, and operating plans for the Experience & Extensibility group
• Project Management for group-wide tech initiatives in close collaboration with Principal Engineers
• Ensure that Engineering Managers focus on engineering excellence, quality in all matters, and speed to market
• Lead, coach, and counsel Engineering Managers to apply the appropriate leadership techniques and enable them to address or escalate issues autonomously
• Support the implementation and improvement of department/company programs and practices in collaboration with other Head peers e.g. onboarding, performance management, and culture adaptations
• People management for Engineering Managers, conduct performance and development dialogs and accompany personal growth
• People management for the Staff Chapter Lead Frontend, conduct performance and development dialogs and accompany personal growth
• Monitor operational statistics, report trends, variances, and issues

What you need to succeed:

• A technical background and a proven track record as an individual contributor (5+ years)
• Management experience, including as a Manager of Managers (3+ years)
• Profound knowledge in strategy building and direction setting
• Passion for teamwork coming with excellent collaboration and communication skills
• Leading people in a tech environment by enabling your direct reports and mentoring managers in a servant leadership style
• Sharp analytical skills to have a bird eye view and attention to detail where necessary
• Great self-assessment mastery and mentality to share and the aspiration to constantly improve yourself
• Experience working within an Agile environment with a focus on the customer
• Hungry to learn more about leadership, new technologies, and concepts
• Fluent in English to work in an international environment

Nice to have:

• Experience with Business User Tooling, particularly with the building blocks for other teams to build upon (e.g. Design System, UI Components, Developer Tooling, Accounts + Permissions, APIs, Backend-for-a-Frontend)
• General experience within the e-commerce space
• General experience in the B2B SaaS space
• Familiarity leading Developer Experience around APIs (REST, GraphQL and Events) and SDKs
• General experience with managing in-house technical platforms that other teams build UIs or APIs on top on
• General experience with managing in-house technical platforms that build on top of the work of other teams, such as SDKs or an Audit log
• Experience managing teams across multiple time zones (Europe and US)

We care about your growth and well-being

💰 Competitive Compensation Package: Generous compensation structure consisting of salary, a competitive stock option package, and various benefits and perks

☀️ Workation: Work up to 60 days per year in a country different from your home country  

💻 Learning & Development Budget

📚 Academy: Regular training sessions, access to Coursera and Babbel training courses

🙌 Our Benefits: Check them out by office here

⌚️ Flexibility: Morning person or night owl? We believe in outcome and motivated employees

🚀 Mindset & Growth: A diverse workplace with an open, international culture, and learning environment

Come grow with us!

We are all different and that is what makes us stronger! We hire great people from a wide variety of backgrounds, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes our company better.

commercetools celebrates being a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. If your professional profile aligns with our specific hiring requirements and Guiding Stars, we encourage you to apply. We will assess your competencies, future potential, approach to learning and self-development and passion, and not your age, color, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, familial status, genetics, or disability.