Director of Engineering

We're looking for a Director of Engineering to lead our engineering organization and scale our technology, teams, and execution as Arena grows. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll define and execute the engineering strategy, drive technical excellence, and build high-performing teams, while staying hands-on with architecture, technical decisions, complex problems, and critical initiatives.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop engineering managers and senior engineers across multiple teams; Partner directly with the CEO to define technical strategy, priorities, and execution plans; Drive engineering excellence across architecture, scalability, reliability, security, and development practices; Own engineering execution, ensuring teams deliver high-quality products on time; Build and improve engineering processes, standards, and team structures as the organization scales; Stay hands-on with architecture, technical decisions, and complex engineering problems; Foster a culture of ownership, technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement

Requirements

8+ years of software engineering experience, including significant engineering leadership experience; Proven experience leading engineering teams and developing engineering managers and senior engineers; Strong hands-on background in designing, building, and scaling SaaS, cloud-based, or API-driven products; Strong understanding of software architecture, scalability, reliability, security, and engineering best practices; Ability and willingness to dive deep into technical problems, architecture, and critical engineering decisions when needed; Proven track record of improving engineering execution, processes, and team performance; Strong ability to partner with Product, Design, and business leadership to balance technical and business priorities; Excellent communication and leadership skills, with experience working with distributed/global teams; Fluent English

Nice to have

Experience with AI, Generative AI, LLMs, or AI-powered products; Experience with modern cloud architectures, distributed systems, real-time applications, and technologies such as AWS, GraphQL, WebSockets, and serverless architectures; Experience scaling engineering organizations in startups or scale-ups; Experience with high-scale web applications and real-time systems; Strong technical depth with the ability to move between strategic leadership and hands-on technical problem solving; Experience working with global teams and enterprise customers

Benefits

Be a part of the team in Silicon Valley and join a global team; A team of exceptional engineers leading the cutting-edge AI Agents; Competitive salary package & benefits; 4 weeks of paid time-off; Learning and Development budget; Key moment to join Arena in terms of growth and opportunities; Ability to put your stamp on real-world AI applications that serve millions of users; Fast-learning environment, entrepreneurial and strong team spirit; Multiple nationalities: cosmopolite & multi-cultural mindset; Our people matter, work-life balance is important at Arena