Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy

Metropolis•Seattle, WA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

Metropolis is seeking a Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy to own technology strategy, operational leadership, and strategic problem-solving across its engineering organization. The role operates with high autonomy, manages a multi-million-dollar engineering budget, and defines simple, scalable solutions to complex challenges in a high-growth company. The Director partners directly with senior leadership on M&A due diligence, shared technical processes, and high-stakes operational decisions. The position owns engineering-wide processes, budget and resource planning, vendor management, forecasting, and strategic initiatives. The ideal candidate combines hands-on technical experience with strategic and operational leadership, thrives amid uncertainty, takes ownership of outcomes, and builds alignment across technical and executive stakeholders. Metropolis follows an office-first model: corporate team members must work onsite at least four days per week. The anticipated base salary is $220,000 to $260,000 USD annually. Total compensation usually includes healthcare benefits, a 401(k) plan, short- and long-term disability coverage, basic life insurance, stock options, bonus plans, and more.

Requirements

At least 6 years of experience in high-intensity, rigorous environments.
At least 2 years of hands-on engineering experience in software or similar engineering roles.
A demonstrated record of working relentlessly to achieve challenging outcomes.
Experience leading a strategic function with significant autonomy, managing resources, and taking ownership of organizational outcomes.
Ability to build trust with technical teams and influence without authority.
Experience owning meaningful budget or resource decisions in a high-growth or complex organization, with a bias toward action.
Ability to operate effectively in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and make sound decisions without complete data.
Ability to synthesize complex operational or technical concepts into clear rationale for senior and C-level stakeholders.
Skill translating high-level business goals into concrete execution plans that account for broad organizational impact.
Demonstrated excellence using AI tools and frameworks to optimize technology operations, technical evaluations, and cross-functional workflows.

Nice To Haves

MBA from a top-tier business program.
Engineering degree.
Experience in high-growth technology scale-ups or pre-IPO environments.
Direct involvement in M&A technology due diligence, corporate restructuring, or integration strategy.
Experience with modern engineering workflows, cloud platforms such as AWS, or AI tooling.

Responsibilities

Own shared engineering processes, including hiring workflows, onboarding, and training, to maintain consistent practices as the organization scales.
Resolve complex operational challenges by developing simple, actionable solutions without waiting for top-down instruction.
Direct and manage a $50 million to $100 million-plus P&L budget, coordinating resources with corporate objectives.
Own hardware and service forecasting for critical vendors, including AWS and Twilio; monitor spending trends and identify risks or opportunities.
Lead strategic decisions for the engineering organization, including M&A due diligence and major vendor migrations, in partnership with senior executives.
Build alignment among senior leaders on complex or high-risk initiatives.
Keep teams unblocked and moving forward, making directionally sound decisions with incomplete information.
Use curiosity and formal methodologies to break down cross-functional silos, challenge assumptions, and drive alignment across teams.
Forecast operational trends and provide strategic recommendations that favor proactive disruption over routine maintenance.
Own engineering vendor management, including contract negotiations, renewals, performance accountability, and day-to-day relationships.