VP, Engineering
5 days ago
New York
Job DescriptionAbout Ladders Celebrating 20 years, Ladders delivers more $100K+ job interviews to our 8M members. As a leader in applying AI to the job search, we’re always innovating better ways to make your job search shorter and more productive. We're a profitable, small, collaborative, venture-backed business based in New York City. VP, Engineering The VP, Engineering will own the end-to-end engineering function for a New York–based product and platform team. This leader will be responsible for building and scaling the technology organization that powers a high-traffic consumer marketplace, an employer/recruiter platform, and a rapidly expanding suite of Generative AI–driven career tools. This is a New York, NY-based hybrid role.What You'll Do • Lead a NYC-based engineering team (and distributed collaborators) responsible for the core job marketplace, user experience, personalization, and internal platforms., • Architect and deliver an ambitious product roadmap that includes; dynamic resume and cover letter generation, deep, structured company and job data to power search and matching and agentic, AI-powered “career coaching” experiences for job seekers, • Build and scale world-class engineering teams, processes, and systems that allow the company to ship quickly, safely, and with high quality., • Technical Leadership & Strategy, • Define and own the engineering vision, strategy, and operating model in partnership with the executive team., • Drive the technical roadmap for a modern, cloud-native, high-scale web and mobile platform., • Champion the design and implementation of Generative AI and ML systems into user-facing experiences and internal tools., • Team Building & People Leadership, • Build, lead, and mentor a high-performing NYC-based engineering organization, including engineering managers and senior ICs., • Attract and retain top engineering talent; establish a strong recruiting brand and a rigorous hiring bar., • Foster a culture of ownership, psychological safety, and high performance with clear standards and accountability., • Execution & Delivery, • Ensure the engineering organization consistently delivers against the product roadmap with predictable velocity and quality., • Implement best-in-class practices for architecture, testing, observability, incident management, and reliability., • Balance short-term product delivery with long-term platform investments (data, infrastructure, and shared services)., • Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Collaboration, • Work closely with Product, Design, Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success to align on priorities and tradeoffs., • Translate complex technical concepts into clear language for non-technical stakeholders and the board., • Represent engineering in company-wide planning, forecasting, and strategic initiatives.Requirements, • Experience, • 10+ years of progressive engineering experience, including 5+ years leading engineering teams at the Director/VP level or equivalent., • Proven track record scaling engineering organizations supporting consumer web/mobile products or marketplaces; experience with two-sided platforms is a plus., • Hands-on experience building or integrating AI/ML products, ideally including Generative AI (LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, recommendation systems, or similar)., • Strong background working in high-growth environments where speed, experimentation, and iteration are critical., • Technical & Leadership Skills, • Deep understanding of modern web architectures, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure., • Strong opinions on engineering best practices: testing strategy, CI/CD, observability, performance, and security., • Demonstrated success hiring, developing, and retaining top engineering talent in competitive markets like NYC or similar hubs., • Ability to build and manage a multi-level org (ICs, tech leads, EMs) and evolve structure as the company scales., • Leadership Qualities, • Ruthless prioritization skills; capable of making tradeoffs between speed, quality, and scope., • Data-driven and product-oriented mindset, comfortable using metrics to guide strategy and decision-making., • Strong communication and executive presence; comfortable working closely with founders, C-suite, and external stakeholders., • Low ego, high ownership mentality with a bias toward action and “win together” mentality., • Location, • Based in (or willing to relocate to) the New York City area, with regular in-office collaboration with the engineering and product teams.Benefits & Why Join, • Own the Engineering Function, • Step into a true VP seat with broad scope and autonomy, reporting at the executive level and shaping both technology and product direction., • Build the Next Generation of Career Tools, • Work on an ambitious roadmap made possible by Generative AI: dynamic resume/cover letter generation, rich job and company intelligence, and agentic career coaching that can support millions of professionals., • Massive, Timely Market Opportunity, • Help professionals navigate peak job insecurity at a time when demand for smart, AI-powered career tools is surging. Your work will have direct, tangible impact on people’s financial and professional lives., • World-Class Talent & Culture, • Lead a high-caliber engineering team in NYC, set the bar for excellence, and build a culture that is fast, thoughtful, and deeply collaborative., • Growth & Upside