Director, Engineering Operations

Order.co

7d•$200,000 - $230,000•Hybrid

About The Position

As Director, Engineering Operations, you will build and run the operating system that helps Product and Engineering translate strategy into measurable business and customer impact. You will create clarity across outcomes, priorities, capacity, delivery health, risks, and decisions, then turn that clarity into concise executive communication and disciplined organizational action. This high-leverage leadership role partners closely with Product, Engineering, Data, Operations, Finance, Go-to-Market, Customer Success, Security, and other business functions. You will play a critical role in ensuring all functions are aligned and understand the expected outcomes.

Requirements

Leadership experience in Engineering Operations, Product Operations, Technical Program Management, Business Operations, a technical Chief of Staff role, or a comparable function within a SaaS or product-led technology company
Exceptional executive communication skills and demonstrated success connecting Product and Engineering work to customer and business impact
Experience defining outcomes, OKRs, KPIs, scorecards, portfolio-planning processes, and operating-review cadences across multiple teams
Working knowledge of modern product development and software delivery lifecycles, including platform, reliability, security, and technical investment trade-offs
Experience with resource, headcount, budget, and capacity planning in partnership with Finance and functional leaders
Strong analytical judgment and the ability to build trustworthy reporting from product, engineering, financial, and customer data
Proven ability to facilitate difficult cross-functional decisions, manage material risks and dependencies, and bring structure to ambiguity
Pragmatic experience using AI-assisted tools to improve synthesis, planning, and analysis while verifying outputs and protecting sensitive information

Nice To Haves

Executive clarity - Product and Engineering impact, trade-offs, risks, and decisions are understood without leaders reconstructing the story themselves
Outcome accountability - initiatives begin with clear intended outcomes and are evaluated using credible evidence after delivery
A predictable, adaptable portfolio - commitments are realistic, priorities are explicit, and changes are deliberate and well communicated
A stronger operating system - coordination costs decline, risks surface earlier, data becomes more trustworthy, and accountability becomes clearer over time

Responsibilities

Create a clear, executive-ready narrative connecting Product, Engineering, and Data investments, delivery, and operational performance to customer and business outcomes
Own recurring executive updates, company communications, and board-level inputs, supported by a reliable source of truth for commitments, outcomes, and delivery health
Surface material changes, trade-offs, risks, and decisions early, with concise context and clear recommendations
Translate company and product strategy into measurable outcomes, objectives, key results, and operating KPIs with clear owners, baselines, targets, data sources, and review cadences
Develop a balanced view of customer and business impact, delivery effectiveness, quality, reliability, security, efficiency, and organizational health
Partner with Data, Finance, Product, and Engineering to improve instrumentation and use KPI trends to guide decisions and evaluate results
Design and operate annual, quarterly, and ongoing portfolio-planning cadences across Product and Engineering
Maintain a current portfolio view connecting strategic outcomes, initiatives, ownership, dependencies, milestones, capacity, and risk
Facilitate prioritization and sequencing decisions so assumptions, trade-offs, decision rights, and changes are explicit
Define and continuously improve a lightweight, consistent software delivery lifecycle from discovery through release, adoption, measurement, and learning
Establish operating reviews focused on outcomes, delivery confidence, quality, reliability, customer impact, constraints, risks, and decisions
Use operating data, retrospectives, automation, and appropriately governed AI-enabled practices to remove friction and improve delivery without adding unnecessary process
Build a practical capacity model connecting portfolio demand with available teams, critical skills, hiring plans, external partners, and operational obligations
Partner with Finance, Product, and Engineering leaders on headcount planning, allocation trade-offs, capability gaps, and investment choices
Model alternative portfolio and staffing scenarios and compare planned versus actual capacity to improve future decisions without creating false precision
Establish a clear system for identifying, owning, escalating, and resolving cross-functional risks, dependencies, and decisions
Facilitate difficult discussions where business goals, customer needs, technical constraints, security, compliance, cost, or timing compete
Close the loop by documenting decisions, updating plans, confirming accountable owners, and addressing recurring root causes
Serve as a trusted operating partner to the CTO, Engineering leadership, Product leadership, and the Engineering Leadership Team
Strengthen cross-functional relationships, ownership, and accountability through structured thinking, sound judgment, influence, and consistent follow-through