Executive Director, Technology

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in United States.

📋 Description

• Lead and expand the technology team across engineering, delivery, and operations.

• Take ownership of hiring, performance management, employee development, and challenging personnel discussions.

• Manage a team through a manager as the function grows.

• Collaborate with the SVP to formulate technical strategy, encompassing architecture, build-versus-buy decisions, integrations, and platform direction.

• Convert product direction into delivered software through scoping, defining technical requirements, sequencing, and securing stakeholder commitments.

• Oversee delivery cadence, dependencies, and visibility within the technology function.

• Be accountable for the quality and results of team outputs.

• Establish technical standards, review architecture, and implement systems to catch production issues.

• Deliver production code weekly while engaging in hands-on technical work.

• Launch new products and enhance existing offerings related to news, subscriptions, identity, data, and events.

• Lead security efforts regarding systems, access, third-party risks, and incident responses.

• Manage the content and data infrastructure, including content modeling, CMS, APIs, and MCP services.

• Oversee environments, CI, previews, observability, and production operations.

• Supervise internal systems and tools across CRM, events, email, subscriptions, and business data.

• Direct contractors and vendors, ensuring their work meets company standards.

• Evaluate and initiate effective AI-assisted projects from non-engineers.

• Collaborate with editorial and business leadership to deliver features promptly in the newsroom environment.

• Report to the SVP of Design, Product, and Technology while partnering with them on the technical strategy.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 5 years in leadership roles for technical teams.

• Proven experience managing engineers directly as well as through other managers.

• Background in hiring, developing, and parting ways with employees.

• Experience in establishing team standards and accountability for deliverables.

• Consistently write and deploy production code.

• Proven track record in managing delivery, operations, vendor relationships, and stakeholder commitments.

• Ability to translate business objectives into technical scope, estimations, and impacts.

• Strong backend and infrastructure expertise.

• Proficiency in TypeScript, Node.js, and modern development tools.

• Experience with Payload CMS on PostgreSQL or similar proficiency in a headless, code-first CMS.

• Familiarity with content modeling and API design using GraphQL and REST.

• Knowledge of Next.js and Astro with React islands.

• Understanding of application security, including authentication, authorization, secrets management, dependency hygiene, and least privilege principles.

• Familiarity with LLM-native workflows and sound judgment regarding AI utilization.

• Knowledge of identity and payment systems: SSO/OIDC, Logto, Stripe, entitlements, and paywall logic.

• Experience with AWS services: Lambda via OpenNext, S3, CloudFront, IAM, and RDS.

• Knowledge of containers on Kubernetes.

• Experience in security operations, including attack surface management, asset inventory, decommissioning, access lifecycle, credential rotation, and forensic logging.

• Background in incident response involving containment, evidence collection, and reporting.

• Knowledge of privacy and compliance issues, including GDPR and CCPA, consent and tracking, and data retention policies.

• Proficiency in PHP, MySQL, Python/FastAPI, Elasticsearch, and message brokers.

• Experience in environments where designers write their own code.

• Experience in directing contractors and vendors.

• Strong communication skills with editorial and commercial leaders.

• A media or publishing background is a significant advantage, though not a requirement.

🏝️ Benefits

• Approximately $40k annual bonus opportunity.

• Fully remote work arrangement.

• Positive, supportive, and collaborative workplace culture.

• Generous annual paid time off.

• 12 company holidays.

• 2 floating holidays.

• Medical insurance with Endpoints covering 70% of premiums for employees, spouses, and/or dependents.

• Comprehensive dental and vision insurance at no cost.

• Short-Term and Long-Term Disability insurance.

• $50,000 Basic Life and AD&D Insurance.

• Access to an Employee Assistance Program.

• Optional additional Life, Hospital, Critical Illness, and Accident Insurance through Guardian.

• MDLIVE access to healthcare professionals, including doctors, mental health experts, nutritionists, and dermatologists.

• Fully-paid Primary or Secondary Caregiver Leave for birth or adoption.

• Paid volunteer days.

• 401(k) matching: 100% of the first 3% of employee contributions and 50% of the subsequent 2%.

• Provision of a laptop, monitor, and additional equipment.

• $75 monthly work-from-home stipend.

• $500 annual home office stipend.

• Discounts on products through Bennie, covering insurance, family planning and support, behavioral health, wellness, pet insurance, and financial wellness.

• Discounted MetLife Legal Services plan.