Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy

Metropolis•Los Angeles, CA

2d•$220,000 - $260,000•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 and manages a multi-million-dollar engineering budget, addressing complex operational challenges and defining scalable solutions in a high-growth company. The Director partners with senior leadership on M&A due diligence, shared technical processes, and high-stakes operational decisions. The position owns engineering-wide processes and vendor relationships, including hiring workflows, onboarding, training, budgeting, forecasting, contract negotiations, renewals, and vendor performance. It also supports organizational alignment, strategic recommendations, technical evaluations, and cross-functional workflows. Metropolis follows an office-first model requiring corporate team members to work onsite at least four days per week.

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.
Demonstrated ability and determination to deliver difficult outcomes.
Experience leading a strategic function with significant autonomy, managing resources, and owning organizational outcomes.
Ability to build trust with technical teams and influence without authority.
Experience owning significant budget or resource decisions in a high-growth or complex organization.
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.
Proven ability to use AI tools and frameworks to improve 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.
Resolve complex operational challenges by developing simple, actionable solutions independently.
Direct and manage a $50M–$100M+ P&L budget and coordinate resources with corporate objectives.
Own hardware and service forecasting for critical vendors, including AWS and Twilio, monitor spending trends, and flag risks or opportunities.
Lead emerging strategic decisions for engineering, including M&A due diligence and major vendor migrations, in partnership with senior executives.
Build alignment among senior leaders on multi-stakeholder and high-risk initiatives.
Keep teams unblocked and moving forward while making directionally sound decisions with incomplete information.
Use curiosity and formal methodologies to break down cross-functional silos, challenge assumptions, and drive alignment.
Forecast operational trends and provide strategic recommendations that favor proactive disruption over routine maintenance.
Own engineering vendor management, including contract negotiation, renewals, performance accountability, and ongoing relationships.
Use AI tools and frameworks to optimize technology operations, technical evaluations, and cross-functional workflows.
Help build and maintain an inclusive culture as the organization grows.