Director of Engineering – Shared Services

About the Role

Core Services is the shared engineering layer between Hinge's product features and infrastructure. The pillar is responsible for the product platforms and backend capabilities that multiple teams should be able to build on directly.

We are looking for a Director of Engineering to lead the Core Services pillar within Platform. This role owns the long‑range direction of the pillar while ensuring the teams and leaders within it are effective, aligned, and executing well. You will help Hinge identify which cross‑team needs should become shared platforms, drive adoption of the platforms we build, and raise the bar for backend engineering across the company.

This is a platform leadership role with broad cross‑functional reach. You will contribute at the Platform group level, coordinate closely with adjacent pillars, and help shape a more coherent approach to shared product and backend capabilities across Hinge.

• Lead the Core Services pillar strategy: define what we build, what we extract into shared platforms, what stays with product teams, and how the work ladders up to Hinge’s broader platform strategy.
• Own team health and execution across the pillar: ensure teams have clear charters, strong roadmaps, healthy backlogs, visible tradeoffs, and reliable operating rhythms.
• Coach engineering managers and senior technical leaders across the pillar, helping them raise the quality of strategy, execution, and people leadership.
• Drive measurable outcomes from the platforms the pillar owns, with a focus on adoption, internal customer value, and long‑term leverage rather than launches alone.
• Identify cross‑feature patterns worth turning into durable shared capabilities, especially in backend and product‑platform areas where standardization creates outsized leverage.
• Strengthen the shared backend platform by improving the libraries, patterns, and platform contracts that product teams rely on.
• Partner across Platform and with product engineering leaders to make ownership clear, reduce coordination tax, and keep cross‑team work moving.
• Contribute to Platform group strategy and investment decisions by surfacing emerging patterns, friction, and opportunities across the org.
• Raise the backend engineering bar through practical systems, technical judgment, and strong examples rather than governance alone.

• 8+ years in software engineering, including experience leading managers and senior engineers across backend, platform, or infrastructure domains.
• A strong track record building internal platforms or shared services that other engineering teams depend on.
• Excellent judgment about what should become a platform, what should remain local to a team, and when standardization creates more value than flexibility.
• Experience leading through influence in multi‑team environments where success depends on trust, clarity, and strong cross‑functional partnership.
• Strong technical depth in backend systems and distributed architecture, with the ability to guide direction and pressure‑test designs at a system level.
• A history of improving how teams build: through shared abstractions, better engineering practices, stronger platform contracts, or more durable operating models.
• Strong people leadership, including coaching leaders, developing talent, and building healthy, high‑accountability teams.
• Clear communication and a practical, low‑ego approach to coordination and decision‑making.

401(k) Matching:
We match 100% of the first 10% of pre‑tax 401(k) contributions you make, up to a maximum of $10,000 per year.

Professional Growth:
Get an annual Learning & Development stipend once you've been with us for three months. You also get free access to Udemy, an online learning and teaching marketplace with over 6000 courses, starting your first day.

Parental Leave & Planning:
When you become a new parent, you're eligible for 100% paid parental leave (20 paid weeks for both birth and non‑birth parents).

Fertility Support:
You'll get easy access to fertility care through Carrot, from basic treatments to fertility preservation. We also provide a stipend towards fertility preservation. You and your…