Director of Engineering, Data Platform

As Director of Engineering, Data Platform, you will define and execute Liftoff’s long-term data engineering strategy, leading the teams that build the scalable, reliable foundations behind our products and ML systems. You will partner with R&D, Product, and ML leaders to translate company goals into clear priorities while setting a high bar for technical excellence and engineering culture. This role requires a leader who can operate at multiple altitudes—diving deep, driving complex initiatives, and growing strong leaders—while ensuring our data platforms power Liftoff’s AI-driven core, where advanced neural networks and massive datasets fuel smarter decisions and better ROI.

With our success over the past 10 years, we are ready to move beyond our current technologies and push our Data Platform towards the state-of-the-art. In this dynamic environment, we have found the need for a Director of Engineering that will clarify the vision for Data at Liftoff.

Key Responsibilities:

• Define, shape, and clearly communicate our long-term Data engineering strategy, vision, and roadmap
• Translate R&D and Product goals into Data engineering group- and team-level goals, working closely with cross-functional leaders.
• Work closely with ML and Product stakeholders at Liftoff, ensuring our Data infrastructure meets their needs with a consistently high quality bar.
• Balance short-term and long-term velocity, ensuring a steady stream of improvements as your team builds for the long term.
• Set the bar for our engineering culture, encouraging the development of best practices, holding teams accountable for slippage, and improving processes.
• Provide deep technical feedback on key projects as necessary.
• Grow the next generation of data engineers and leaders.

Requirements:

• 10+ years in data/engineering leadership; 3+ leading managers/leads
• Proven track record of building and scaling data platforms and leading data engineering teams required.
• Excellent technical judgment; able to dive deep, review designs, navigate complex code bases, and give substantive feedback
• Deep understanding of state-of-the-art data technologies and relevant SaaS offerings, in particular related to data reliability and quality, observability/monitoring, lineage/catalog, data contracts, and schema evolution.
• Experience with managing petabyte-scale event-stream data.
• Crisp communication and collaboration skills, particularly async written communication.
• Superb management skills and a keen eye for talent.
• B.S. or higher in Computer Science (or equivalent work experience).

Bonus:

• Experience with programmatic advertising is a big plus.
• Experience with ML is a big plus.
• Experience leading a global distributed team is a big plus.

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Location:

This role is eligible for full-time remote work in one of our entities/states and Canada: CA, CO, ID, IL, FL, GA, MA, MI, MN, MO, NJ, NV, NY, OR, PA, TX, UT, and WA.

We are a remote-first company with US hubs in Redwood City, Los Angeles, and New York City.

Travel Expectations:

We offer several opportunities for in-person team gatherings, including but not limited to project meetings, regional meetups, and company-wide events. We expect our employees to attend these gatherings at least once per quarter. These gatherings provide essential opportunities for collaboration, communication, and team building. 

Compensation:

Liftoff offers all employees a full compensation package that includes equity and health/vision/dental benefits associated with your country of residence. Base compensation will vary based on candidate's location and experience. The following are the base salaries. 

• California, NYC, Seattle: $390,000 to $430,000
• All other cities and towns in our approved states: $360,000 to $400,000

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