Engineering Director

Who are we?

Place Exchange is on a mission to transform the entire OOH channel to be truly programmatic for buyers and sellers. We're rethinking how media works in public space, and building the technology to make it happen. Join us as we apply our vision and technology to reshape advertising and content in the physical world around us. 

What is the role?

As a Senior Director of Engineering, you will join and lead a growing team focused on transforming the way out-of-home (OOH) advertising assets are connected with programmatic ad tech platforms across the broader digital advertising ecosystem. You will be leading ~4 full-stack teams (full-time employees, and offshore) supporting growth across 2 business pillars.

This role requires the leadership skills and vision to build and optimize engineering practices and manage and mentor a team of engineers, with an eye for scale and continuous improvement. Additionally, this role requires excellence across the technical spectrum and the desire to contribute hands-on to building products, dive deep into advertising and the ad tech ecosystem, and creative thinking.

You will be expected to span a number of different roles, with your time roughly focused on:

50% Product Delivery & Technical Implementation

• Work with Product and executive stakeholders to build market-leading products

• Implement product features, driving technical and quality practices

• Implement and/or build tools to improve Testing, Deployment, Automation

• Develop and evangelize standards for coding, data, tooling, operations

25% Staff & Organizational Development

• Recruit, retain, and grow outstanding engineering talent

• Proactively identify skill and experience needs, recruiting or developing staff to fill

• Work with each engineer, to provide continuous feedback, and support growth

25% Partner Management

• Partner Evangelism, Integration, Testing, and Support

• Drive creation of appropriate technical documentation

• Drive processes for discovering, managing, and resolving issues and incidents

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

• 10+ years of full-stack software engineering experience with a track record of building and operating distributed systems at scale

• 4+ years of experience managing multiple teams and individuals

• Experience managing products and teams across multiple locations/timezones

• Experience working with offshore teams is a plus

• Strong capabilities of observation, analysis, synthesis

• Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Experience shepherding early-stage products through multiple iterations

• Passion and expertise in agile engineering practices and building DevOps culture

• Proven experience working with customers and stakeholders at the highest level

• Experience working with demand side platforms (DSP) and supply side platforms (SSP)

• BA/BS in Computer Science/Engineering, Mathematics, or related fields

Some technology and tools we use:

• Python, Django, Javascript, React, gRPC as the main languages and frameworks of choice

• AWS Lambda, Kubernetes for running our applications 

• Postgres, S3, Elasticsearch, Dynamo, Snowflake as data stores

• Spark, Airflow, and Iceberg for data processing

Your first 30 days:

• Learn and understand Place Exchange’s corporate, departmental and team goals

• Gain a good understanding of the Place Exchange career ladder and resources available for a manager

• Work with the Product team to have a clear understanding of the product roadmap

• Identify and incorporate tools needed for working on the transaction processing platform

• Diagnose and troubleshoot production application issues

• Meet the team and schedule 1:1s with direct reports

• Meet the stakeholders and schedule 1:1s with business counterparts

Your first 60 days

• Gain a good understanding of the Place Exchange landscape

• Create/manage lightweight processes to help the teams function better

• Pair with team members on committed initiatives

• Work collaboratively with other engineering teams and incorporate best practices

• Work with stakeholders and formulate delivery plans for key initiatives

Your first 90 days:

• Provide technical leadership in the development team.

• Promote and drive innovation in technologies, processes, and tools.

• Deliver projects on time and budget, ensuring quality standards are met

• Mentor and develop team members, provide constructive feedback on design and code quality and build an inclusive culture with high performing teams.

• Baseline career status and trajectory for direct reports and start thinking about avenues of career growth

• Help define and enforce development practices, including unit tests and code reviews.

• Develop a deep understanding of the business environment and strategy

Interview Process

• 1 or 2 preliminary phone screens of 45 min each meeting:

  • Hiring Manager / VP of Engineering

  • Development team (to gauge problem solving skills)

• Virtual onsite that consists of 4-5 rounds (45 mins each) spread across 1 or 2 days meeting:

  • Stakeholders (like Operations & Partnerships)

  • Product Team

  • Engineering Team (to gauge technical architectural skills)

  • Hiring Manager / Director of Engineering

• Final Round:

  • Executive Round (optional)

Benefits of working at Place Exchange:

• Startup culture, focused on developing innovative solutions at a fast pace 

• Opportunity to own meaningful work streams and drive real impact for the business

• Comprehensive health benefits

• Commuter benefits

• 401k with match

• Equity incentives

• Generous time off: 20 PTO days, sick days, and Summer Fridays 

• Monthly cell phone and annual work-from-home stipends

• Place Exchange Gives Back program with charity donation matching

• Flexible hybrid work environment (2 days in office, 3 days remote/from home, though we are currently completely remote) 

• Opportunity to grow, have fun and be part of a fast-growing company changing the face of an industry

• Direct access to work with and learn from an experienced management team, passionate about the business and the development of our employees

Who Are We?

Place Exchange is on a mission to transform the entire OOH channel to be truly programmatic for buyers and sellers. We're rethinking how media works in public space, and building the technology to make it happen. The average American spends 70% of their time outside of the home, and thanks to the rapid proliferation of digital displays in cities, on roads, and in venues around the world, Digital OOH is one of the fastest-growing media channels 

Join our growing team as we apply our unique vision and patented technology to reshape media and advertising in the physical world around us. When you join Place Exchange, you will become a member of an industry-leading team, with a proven track record of success, that is working on the transformation of an entire category. You will work directly with and learn from experienced leaders who will empower you to own initiatives, solve problems, and deliver real impact. This is a chance for you to be a part of an innovative, dynamic environment while also being a part of a team that cares about its community and employees.

At Place Exchange, we celebrate diversity because we believe differences drive learning, growth, and success. We strive to create an environment with equitable experiences and inclusive opportunities for all, where everyone can show up with their true self knowing they will be valued. Our products shape the experience of the physical world, and we want our culture and organization to mirror what we would like that world to be. We encourage applications from all qualified individuals without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, marital status, disability, and veteran status.