Director of Software Engineering

Simplex•Austin, TX

2d•Onsite

About The Position

This role is in-office in Austin, TX. You must be local or willing to re-locate. Our client is a well-funded multi-site services / technology company however your industry background, while a consideration isn't as important as your overall leadership and technology skills. This role will include base salary + equity. Our client is hiring its first Engineering Leader (Director of VP level) to lead and scale the engineering function alongside Product. This is a hands-on, in-office leadership role for a senior engineer who thrives working closely with Product, Operations, and executive leadership in real time. You will be a true player-coach , setting technical direction, designing long-term architecture from user and operational requirements, and contributing code on a lean team. We believe this role requires daily, in-person collaboration to move quickly and make high-quality decisions. This role reports directly to the CEO and is a member of the executive leadership team.

Requirements

10+ years of software engineering experience, including experience in a lead / player coach role. This role will manage a small team of 3-4 people. Prior experience as a first or early engineer / engineering leader at a growth-stage company. Demonstrated success operating as a player-coach on small, co-located teams.
Our stack is Python / Django and React frameworks (Next.js). Proven ability to design and evolve system architectures over time. Experience building systems that support real-world operations, not purely abstract SaaS platforms.
High ownership mentality; treats the business as their own. Pragmatic, decisive, and comfortable with ambiguity. Low-ego, high-standards leader who enjoys mentoring and building in person. Able to set and meet ambitious timelines while communicating constructively when technical realities conflict with target launch dates.

Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture Own the overall technical architecture and engineering roadmap, balancing near-term execution with long-term scalability. Design systems starting from user and operational requirements, not abstract technical ideals. Ensure the platform remains reliable, secure, and performant as the business grows. Own and evolve the platform’s server and infrastructure architecture (currently Heroku on AWS), including scalability, cost efficiency, and long-term platform evolution. Make pragmatic technology decisions appropriate for a growth-stage, tech-enabled services company. Own production reliability and incident response for customer-facing systems, communicating clearly with stakeholders during issues. Partner with Product and leadership to support enterprise partner requirements, including accessibility and information security.
Hands-On Development Actively contribute code across the stack (Python/Django backend, React frameworks: Next.js, some legacy Vue.js). Review code, improve engineering standards, and raise overall code quality. Step into complex or time-sensitive problems to unblock the team.
Team Leadership & Execution Lead, mentor, and grow a small, high-caliber, in-office engineering team. Establish lightweight engineering processes that improve velocity without bureaucracy. Partner closely with Product to translate roadmap priorities into execution plans. Hire deliberately as the team scales.
Cross-Functional Collaboration Work in person with Product and leadership to rapidly align on priorities. Work with Product to support data and AI initiatives that leverage PreFix’s proprietary operational data ensuring they are production-ready, explainable and operationally integrated. Communicate clearly with executives on tradeoffs, risks, and delivery timelines. Work with product leaders to help prioritize ideas based on their business impact and relative difficulty.