Director of Engineering - Core Product (USA)

Kalepa

10h•Hybrid

About The Position

Insurance is a $7T global industry built on professional labor: underwriting, claims, pricing, operations, and distribution. Kalepa is building AI that can perform that work. We create professional-grade AI systems for insurers: software that can read, reason, decide, and act inside real workflows and operate over long-time horizons. Kalepa begins by augmenting professionals with the tools to succeed at their jobs. That earns us the right to learn from real decisions, capture decision traces, and automate what can be automated successfully over time. Our products are already in production with leading insurers, driving measurable outcomes and expanding across functions. The opportunity is far broader than any single workflow: to build the AI operating system for decision-making across insurance. For people who want to work on AI that matters, in a sector where correctness, trust, and real-world impact count, Kalepa is just getting started. Kalepa is backed by leading investors such as IA Ventures and Inspired Capital, and our team brings experience from Facebook, Palantir, Google, Amazon, McKinsey, Mastercard, and Uber. Kalepa is looking for an exceptional Director of Engineering to lead and grow Kalepa’s Core Product team. We are looking for a deeply technical leader with extensive experience in full-stack engineering who is excited to partner closely with the executive team and cross-functional leaders to shape the future of Kalepa’s product. You will be responsible for defining the architectural roadmap, setting strategy, driving engineering operational excellence, and cultivating a high-performance, results-driven culture that consistently delivers exceptional value to Kalepa’s clients. As part of the Core Product team, you will establish the frameworks, engineering standards, and cross-functional cadences to power Kalepa’s cutting-edge platform which augments human underwriters and orchestrates AI underwriters to deliver rapid and profitable growth to the world’s largest insurers. You will bridge the gap between product vision and technical execution, ensuring our technology investments directly drive business impact and long-term business growth. This role is ideal for someone who cares deeply about quality, is actively rethinking the way that software is built and shipped, and wants to shape the way Kalepa impacts the most critical decisions made at the largest insurance companies.

Requirements

10+ years of relevant software engineering experience
At least 3 years of full-time engineering people management experience, ideally including experience managing managers and scaling organizations
Known for rethinking the way that engineering is done and feel right at home managing both human and AI agents, while ensuring quality and reliability
Proven track record of driving complex, large-scale engineering initiatives and aligning technical strategy with broader company objectives
Excellent recruiter of top-tier engineering talent and somebody who exceptional software engineers want to work with
Ability to make the tradeoffs required to ship high-quality code while working within the constraints of a fast-growing company
Drive operational excellence by championing metrics-driven decision-making and implementing robust engineering practices
Thrive on experimentation: comfortable testing ideas, measuring results, and iterating quickly on problems no one has solved before
Deep architectural expertise and a strong foundation in system design, distributed systems, and scalable infrastructure
Experience overseeing and scaling platforms utilizing serverless technologies (Lambda, EC2), asynchronous workflows, and modern cloud environments

Responsibilities

Lead and grow Kalepa’s Core Product team
Partner closely with the executive team and cross-functional leaders to shape the future of Kalepa’s product
Define the architectural roadmap
Set strategy
Drive engineering operational excellence
Cultivate a high-performance, results-driven culture that consistently delivers exceptional value to Kalepa’s clients
Establish the frameworks, engineering standards, and cross-functional cadences to power Kalepa’s cutting-edge platform which augments human underwriters and orchestrates AI underwriters
Bridge the gap between product vision and technical execution
Ensure technology investments directly drive business impact and long-term business growth

Benefits

Competitive salary (based on experience level)
Significant equity options package
401(k) plan with employer match (regardless of employee contribution)
Excellent benefits: 100% covered medical, 100% covered vision and dental for individuals and families, and others
Work with an ambitious, smart, global, and fun team to transform a $7T global industry
20 days of PTO a year
Global team offsites (2021 - Playa del Carmen, 2022 - Rome, 2023 - Buenos Aires, 2024 - Lisbon, 2025 - Cartagena)
Healthy living/gym stipend
Mobile phone bill stipend
Continuing education credits