Head of Engineering, Teen Voice

THE ROLE:

Head of Engineering - Teen Voice, Inc

Teen Voice is a fast-growing, well-funded, for-profit startup in the insights space and a wholly owned subsidiary of Britebound. Our platforms are established, revenue-generating, and serve clients across education, marketing, and advertising. We operate with a startup mindset and agile development practices - fast, collaborative, and highly customer-focused.

Overview:

We are expanding our Teen Voice and Evolve Me product platforms and are seeking a Head of Engineering to scale our technology and engineering capabilities. This leader will:

* Own end-to-end software delivery across products

* Build and scale a high-performing engineering function

* Improve delivery speed, reliability, and cost efficiency

* Establish strong technical processes and governance

This role combines strategic leadership and hands-on engineering and will report to the Chief Operating Officer. You will define technical vision and architecture while actively contributing to development. You will oversee architecture, QA, release processes, monitoring, incident response, vendor management, and security. You will also develop and execute a plan to bring work in-house and/or offshore to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

The ideal candidate also has deep practical knowledge of AI, large language models (LLMs), and machine learning, with a strong focus on using AI to accelerate development and reduce operating expenses.

What You'll Do:

* Technical Leadership & Architecture

* Own and evolve the full-stack architecture across frontend, backend, infrastructure, integrations, and data systems

* Architect scalable solutions using modern front end and backend technologies and cloud platforms (AWS or Azure)

* Establish and enforce engineering best practices (code reviews, CI/CD, Dev Ops, testing, security reviews)

* Improve performance, scalability, reliability, and time to recovery

* Own maintenance, dependency upgrades, and technical debt reduction

* Establish AI governance for security, privacy, quality, and IP protection

* Hands-On Development

* Actively contribute high-quality, maintainable production code

* Help design and build scalable digital platforms from the ground up

* Implement AI-enabled engineering workflows (code assistance, automated testing, documentation generation, debugging, incident triage)

* Team Building & Management

* Hire, manage, coach, and retain a high-performing engineering team

* Build internal capability and reduce dependency on agencies over time

* Develop and manage offshore resources where appropriate

* Partner with leadership on headcount planning, budgets, and organizational design

* Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement

* Delivery & Execution

* Manage the full software development lifecycle

* Build predictable delivery systems (backlog hygiene, sprint management, release planning, quality gates, post-release reviews)

* Implement structured vendor operating rhythms (weekly status updates, risk tracking, change control, acceptance criteria). Ensure milestones, scope, and budgets are met

* Vendor & Partner Management

* Manage external development and design agencies

* Oversee contracts, negotiations, scope, timelines, and quality standards

* Improve cost efficiency and predictability

* Orchestrate integration efforts across partners

* Cross-Functional Collaboration

* Partner closely with product, UX, design, business stakeholders, and vendors

* Translate user needs into intuitive, high-performing solutions

* Advocate for modern UX and user-centered design

* Strategic Technology Direction

* Evaluate and select frameworks, tools, and third-party services

* Identify AI/ML opportunities that drive measurable product or operational value

* Establish documentation standards (architecture, deployment runbooks, incident response)

About You:

Personal Attributes

* High ownership and autonomy

* Organized and process-oriented without being bureaucratic

* Strong communication skills and cross-functional collaboration ability

* Ability to align technical decisions with business goals

* Self-driven, versatile technical leader who thrives at the intersection of engineering, product, and people.

* Lead from the front - actively coding while driving technical direction

* Build clean, scalable systems and modern applications

* Hire, mentor, and grow high-performing teams

* Operate comfortably in ambiguity and fast-moving environments

* Balance speed and quality without sacrificing technical excellence

Leadership & Experience

* Bachelors degree in computer science, engineering, or data science.

* 3+ years of people management experience in a technical environment

* 7+ years of full-stack development experience building web platforms

* Demonstrated ability to hire, manage, and scale engineering teams

* Experience managing agencies and transitioning to in-house and/or offshore teams

* Strong project and program management skills

Technical Expertise

* Strong knowledge of modern SDLC and engineering best…