VP of Engineering

No Longer Taking Applications

Job Description

We’re setting out to level the playing field for job seekers by building a truly consumer-first platform that equips people with the tools, technology, and resources they need to feel empowered to achieve career growth on their terms. With over 1 million registered users, our goal is to help people make confident career decisions from the day they start working to the day they retire—and that starts with the job search.

From tracking your applications in 1 place, to customizing resumes with the click of a button, to leveraging AI to make your entire application stand out, everything we build at Teal is aimed at improving the careers of our users.

As our V.P. of Engineering , your mission is to steer us into the future with AI and emerging technologies that keep us at the industry's forefront. You'll be building a team not just focused on what now, but on what’s next. You will build and manage a technical team focused on practical innovation and delivering real value to our customers to set the stage for our company's growth.

The Salary Range for this role is $240,000-280,000 + Equity

Responsibilities

  • Craft and execute a forward-thinking technology strategy that integrates the latest advancements in AI and emerging tech and provide technical leadership for the engineering team, ensuring alignment with company goals and product roadmap.
  • Partner with CEO and Director of Talent to recruit, hire, and onboard top engineering talent as the team grows. Build a team of passionate engineers who want to build a great product that helps millions of users.
  • Direct the company's technical vision, incorporating scalable architectures that can rapidly adapt to new technologies and market demands, with a strong emphasis on AI-driven products and services.
  • Establish and guide engineering best practices, coding standards, and quality assurance processes. Lead code reviews and ensure the delivery of high-quality, maintainable code.
  • Manage the engineering budget and allocate resources effectively to support the company's strategic priorities.
  • Stay abreast of emerging technologies and industry trends, and evaluate their potential impact on the company's products and engineering processes. Drive the adoption of new technologies where appropriate.
  • Identify and mitigate technical risks that could impact the delivery of key milestones or the stability of the platform.

Requirements

  • Proven track record of leading engineering teams in early-stage startups and scaling them through multiple growth stages
  • Experience directly managing and developing employees across a full range of technical functions including software engineering, DevOps, data science, data analytics and machine learning. 
  • Strong technical background with hands-on experience in software engineering
  • Prior experience building B2C SAAS products with a deep focus on creating a great experience for individual users is a must.
  • Demonstrated success in leading the development of mobile applications or mobile-optimized versions of existing B2C SAAS platforms, ensuring seamless user experience across devices.

Nice-to-Haves

  • Experience building subscription based and “freemium” products
  • Prior experience working in the AI industry, with a deep understanding of AI technologies and their applications
  • Experience with our current tech stack of Ruby on Rails, React and Typescript is nice but not a requirement

Skills & Tools You Will Use And Learn

Our Stack:

  • Ruby on Rails, Redis, Sidekiq, Postgres, Heroku, Typescript, React, OpenAI API,

Nice to Know:

  • Amplitude, LaunchDarkly, Experimentation, ChatGPT, Linear, OSS LLMs, Claude API, Google Gemini API, Mobile Development

What Great Looks Like

At 1 Day:

  • You will have become familiar with Teal's tools, member profiles, and overall technical architecture.
  • You will have met with key stakeholders including the CEO, Director of Talent, and the engineering team to understand immediate priorities and team dynamics.
  • You will have set up on all tooling and systems at Teal, ensuring a seamless integration into our workflow.
  • You will have participated in a detailed walkthrough of our current AI initiatives and product roadmaps.

At 1 Week:

  • You will have conducted a thorough analysis of our technical infrastructure, identifying any immediate issues or areas for improvement.
  • You will have reviewed our existing AI and machine learning initiatives, evaluating their current performance and potential for future development.
  • You will have started to establish relationships with cross-functional teams, understanding their needs and how engineering can best support them.
  • You will have begun formulating a high-level strategy for integrating scalable architectures that can adapt to new technologies and market demands.

At 1 Month:

  • You will have audited our current engineering processes, coding standards, and quality assurance practices, providing a comprehensive report with recommendations for improvement.
  • You will have developed a deep understanding of our existing data sets, growth platforms, and user journeys, identifying key areas for technical enhancements.
  • You will have proposed and begun implementing a forward-thinking technology strategy that integrates AI and emerging tech, aligning with our company goals and product roadmap.
  • You will have started recruiting and onboarding top engineering talent, building a passionate team focused on innovation and delivering real value to our users.

At 3 Months:

  • You will have led the successful launch of several key engineering initiatives, including enhancements to our AI-driven products and services.
  • You will have established engineering best practices, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, maintainable code through regular code reviews and adherence to coding standards.
  • You will have identified and mitigated technical risks, ensuring the stability and scalability of our platform.
  • You will have a strong command of our engineering budget, effectively allocating resources to support the company's strategic priorities.
  • You will have developed a roadmap for future technology integrations, keeping Teal at the industry's forefront and continuously driving innovation.

What We Offer

  • Salary Range of $240,000-280,000
  • Incentive Stock Options proportionate to salary
  • Fully remote work & remote office stipend (coworking, laptop, etc.)
  • No company wide meetings on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Fridays
  • Career development stipend
  • Unlimited vacation and sick days
  • Up to 12 weeks paid parental leave, earned 1 week for each month of tenure
  • 80 - 100% coverage of health insurance (depending on chosen plan) & 401K Benefits with up to 4% company matching
  • Guaranteed 1-month severance if Teal decides the role is not working out. You are trusting us with your career, and we want you to know we take it seriously.
  • As mentioned we are fully remote, however once per year we pay for the entire company to fly to the same city for a week of fun projects and general team building, think hackathons, boat rides and great food.

About Teal & Our Hiring Practices

Who We Are

A small team of innovative, collaborative, and dedicated individuals passionate about helping people build meaningful careers.  Our backgrounds range from Architecture to Digital Design and from Human Resources to Software Engineering.  We are travelers, pet lovers, musicians, parents, scuba divers, podcasters, readers, gamers, croquet players, and puzzle masters.  We focus on aligning intentions, resulting in fewer miscommunications, fewer meetings, and better outcomes.  We adhere to a “what-by-when” mentality, which means the hours you keep are up to you, and we value your ability to set expectations and do your best to meet them.

Our Hiring Process

While we try ensure you always know what is next in the process, given the seniority of this role the interview process - including order of each step- may change slightly based on schedules.

Apply

  • We read every application and make our best effort to reply to everyone.
  • Please read the job description. We love when people strive but if you do not meet the core  requirements, we are less likely to move forward.

Interview With The CEO

  • Goal: High level qualifications, understanding of the role & mutual fit
  • 45 minute Zoom

Interview with The Director of Talent

  • Goal: Discussion about recruiting and hiring technical teams and career development
  • 45 minute Zoom

Interview with the Engineering Team

  • Goals: Deeper understanding of your technical skills and leadership style
  • 1-hour Zoom with Dave Fano and 2 members of the software engineering team
  • This is a realistic interview and discussiong around your technical vision and leadership. No abstract puzzles or coding quizzes

Interview with Leadership

  • Goal: Meet more of the leadership team at Teal and gain an understanding of the expectations of the role
  • 3 individual Zoom interviews with leadership team members

Reference Interviews

  • We will ask for 2 references from your most recent experience that you are comfortable providing

Interview with Board Members

  • Goal: Learn more about the long term vision for Teal and this role
  • 45 minute Zoom interview with 2 board members you will be interacting with regularly in the position

Commitment to Equal Employment Opportunity: (Come as you are. Feel welcome. Feel safe.) We are committed to safeguarding our workplace from all forms of discrimination and harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, disability, military status, or family status. This commitment extends to all aspects of the employment relationship, including recruiting, interviewing, selection, hiring, transfers, promotions, training, terminations, working conditions, compensation, and benefits.