Senior Director, Engineering

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

📋 Description

• Collaborate closely with the CTO and engineering leaders to define engineering strategy and technical direction.

• Lead and nurture engineering managers and senior technical leaders, fostering accountability and a healthy workplace culture.

• Cultivate and retain top talent while hiring strategically as organizational needs evolve.

• Enhance planning, delivery, quality, and reliability within teams.

• Assist teams in making swift decisions, transforming ideas into products, identifying risks, and escalating issues promptly.

• Collaborate with Product, Design, Newsroom, and business leaders to translate priorities into technical plans and align engineering capacity with critical initiatives.

• Provide guidance on architecture, platforms, and reliability decisions, particularly across various teams.

• Own the operating standards, guidelines, and practices for planning, building, testing, releasing, operating, and learning.

• Establish shared benchmarks and baselines to assess engineering health.

• Lead the evaluation and selection of vendors for engineering tools, platforms, and services.

• Help define the role of engineering leadership and how Axios approaches building, learning, and delivering as an AI-native media organization.

⛳️ Requirements

• Proven experience in leading and developing engineering managers and senior technical leaders.

• Demonstrated ability to set clear expectations and directly address performance issues.

• Experience assisting teams in utilizing AI to enhance software development, testing, and operations while experimenting with new product capabilities.

• Capability to communicate technical details effectively to executives and non-technical partners.

• Proficiency in engaging deeply with engineers on technical and architectural challenges.

• Quick to grasp unfamiliar areas, ask pertinent questions, and determine when to seek expertise, invest in platforms, simplify systems, or accept short-term trade-offs.

• Ideally, experience leading teams responsible for high-traffic digital products and their underlying platforms.

• Strong vision regarding the impact of AI and technology on engineering practices, product development, platforms, and internal workflows.

• Commitment to actively developing AI literacy and utilizing AI tools to boost productivity, creativity, and efficiency.

🏝️ Benefits

• 401(k) plan with employer matching.

• Comprehensive PPO and high-deductible health insurance options available through the Blue Cross Blue Shield network.

• Employer contribution to a Health Savings Account (HSA) for the high-deductible health plan option.

• Dental and vision insurance coverage.

• Paid leave of 12 weeks for primary caregivers.

• Generous vacation policy, in addition to holidays.

• One mental health day provided each quarter.

• Annual stipend for learning and development opportunities.

• Monthly work-from-home stipend of $100.

• Access to tele-mental health services through Headspace.

• Membership with OneMedical, including telehealth services.

• Personal health advocacy resources available through HealthAdvocate.

• Inclusive benefits for fertility, hormonal health, and family planning through Carrot Fertility.

• Access to the Axios “Family Fund,” designed to provide financial support to employees facing financial hardship or emergencies.

• Enhanced work flexibility for parents and caregivers.

• Virtual social events sponsored by the company.

• A positive and strong work environment.

• A commitment to fostering an open, inclusive, and diverse workplace culture.

• Ongoing opportunities for learning to develop AI literacy and responsibly integrate AI tools into daily workflows.