Vice President of Engineering
Project:
Fractional SVP Engineering
Technologies:
Generative AI
Seniority:
Senior
Role Overview
The Fractional SVP Engineering will serve as the de facto head of engineering during a critical transitional window, with a strong likelihood of transitioning to a full-time permanent role for the right candidate.
This person reports to the CEO and works closely with the Chief Product Officer and Head of Data/AI.
They will be the senior technical voice in the room — able to speak credibly to the board, to engineers, and to external vendors.
Core Responsibilities
• Establish engineering leadership, cadence, and accountability from day one.
• Own the technical vision and execution roadmap across both product platforms (landing page builder and CRM).
• Drive adoption of structured engineering processes (Scrum/Agile done properly) — lead by example, not committee.
• Manage and align relationships with external vendors:
Kaylent (AWS/AI partner), Tech Jays (agentic dev), and any future partners.
• Evaluate and shape the post-restructuring engineering team — retain, develop, and recruit AI-forward talent.
• Provide technical credibility with engineers: this person must be respected for what they know and have built, not just their title.
• Bridge business strategy and technical execution — translate customer impact and commercial goals into engineering priorities.
• Cover the full CTO remit where needed:
Dev Ops/infrastructure, data, security awareness, regulatory compliance context.
Must-Have Background (Non-Negotiables)
• High-tech industry experience at a senior leadership level - CTO o VP
Engineering track record owning architecture, defining strategy and leading and retained 30 or more engineers
• Proven track record leading engineering organizations through transformation
— not just steady-state management.
- Post-restructuring transformation experience required
• Deep, current fluency in AI-first development: has built with LLMs, agentic systems, or AI
tooling in the last 12–18 months.
- hands-on experience using modern LLM frameworks such as Lang Chain, Lang Graph, RAG pipelines, agentic workflows.
• Experience in SaaS environments, ideally having led or witnessed a product org redefine itself around AI.
• Ability to command technical respect from senior engineers — can speak architecture, review code credibly, demonstrate street cred.
What they must bring
• Bias for Action — moves fast, decides with incomplete information, doesn't wait for consensus.
• Results Focus — outcome-oriented; cares about what ships and what impact it has on the business.
• Customer First — understands that engineering decisions exist in service of the customer and the business.
• High-Velocity Decision Making — can cut through ambiguity and commit.
• Individuality — brings a distinct point of view; not a follower of the room.
• Ability to build buy-in — earns trust with engineers by being credible, not by being popular.
Context & Situation
Understanding this context is critical for assessing candidate fit.
This is not a stable, steady-state role.
The right person will thrive in it precisely because of the challenge.
Where the organization is today
• The Head of Engineering departed end of March 2026 after a planned transition.
• The engineering org (~55 people) has been operating below velocity expectations for 18+ months.
• A restructuring is underway: approximately 20 engineers will be released; high performers and AI-forward builders are being retained with stay bonuses.
• The incoming SVP will not be expected to lead the layoffs — the CEO will manage that directly — but they will walk into the post-restructuring environment and must be equipped to rebuild trust, morale, and momentum quickly.
Deal breakers — what will disqualify a candidate
• No sense of urgency. This role requires a Driver.
• Ego that prevents collaboration or creates friction with leadership peers.
• Strategic blindness — must understand the commercial and operational impact
of engineering decisions.
• Avoidance of accountability or difficult conversations.
• Unfamiliarity with AI-first development as a practice, not just a talking point.
Areas of Flexibility
The client is open on specific vertical/domain experience, exact company size, and
whether the candidate comes from a pure engineering or engineering-adjacent background
— provided they can demonstrate the non-negotiables above.
To Search, View & Apply for jobs on this site that accept applications from your location or country, tap here to make a Search: