Director, Software Engineering

ThriftBooks•Seattle, WA

12d•$150,000 - $190,000•Hybrid

About The Position

ThriftBooks is the world's largest used book retailer! We believe in a workplace where respect for our employees matters, where promoting from within is how we grow, and where safety comes first in all our decisions and planning. At ThriftBooks, your work will help get inexpensive books into the hands of people who need them instead of going into landfill. We strive to create a friendly work environment with high standards of performance and rewards for excellence. We started out small and remember that encouraging people to do their best is how we expanded to our current scale. If you want to learn about the intersection of technology, innovation, and good old-fashioned teamwork, we might be a good fit for you. Wherever you start in the company, our hope is that is a launching point to higher achievement. At ThriftBooks, your success is up to you. ThriftBooks is seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead a team of ten software engineers that run thriftbooks.com. Our ecommerce platform is built primarily in Azure with C# and React. This role will be instrumental in ensuring the scalability, reliability, and quality of our customer-facing platforms. The ideal candidate will combine strong previous hands-on technical expertise with proven leadership skills to guide the team in delivering high-quality features for our customers.

Requirements

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field, or equivalent experience
8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with at least 3 years in a leadership or management role
Strong technical background with expertise in C#, React, and scalable modern web application architectures
Experience with cloud infrastructure (preferably Azure), CI/CD pipelines, monitoring tools, and site reliability practices
Proven success managing cross-functional engineering teams in a fast-paced ecommerce or SaaS environment
Excellent communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution skills
Strong decision-making ability with a focus on balancing business goals with technical constraints

Responsibilities

Provide strategic leadership and direction to the engineering team, fostering a culture of collaboration, innovation, and accountability
Partner with product, design, and business stakeholders to align engineering priorities with company objectives
Oversee the design, development, and delivery of ecommerce platform features, ensuring high standards of performance, security, and maintainability
Manage and mentor a team of software engineers and site reliability engineers, supporting professional growth and career development
Establish and refine engineering best practices, coding standards, and development processes
Drive operational excellence through effective monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement of systems and infrastructure
Lead initiatives in architecture, scalability, and system reliability for a high-traffic ecommerce environment
Own and manage departmental KPIs such as uptime, velocity, and code quality metrics
Attract and retain top engineering talent