Head of Engineering

Authorium

25d • $200,000 - $250,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Authorium is seeking a Head of Engineering to build and lead the team responsible for developing its platform, which is utilized by state and local governments for managing complex workflows such as procurement, contract management, and grant management. This is a senior leadership role reporting directly to executive leadership. The Head of Engineering will be responsible for the team, technical execution, and ensuring excellence on behalf of customers. The engineering team is small but growing, and the ideal candidate will be hands-on, able to engage directly in the work, execute key initiatives, and provide guidance. The role involves collaborating with on-shore and off-shore engineering squads to deliver a highly secure platform that meets stringent compliance requirements and offers an excellent user experience. The software is mission-critical, emphasizing the importance of reliability, performance, and user experience for government agency customers with strict deadlines and compliance obligations.

Requirements

• 7+ years building software, with at least 2–3 years leading engineers directly
• Still writing and reviewing code today
• Strong fundamentals in distributed systems and cloud architecture
• Demonstrable recent technical depth: ability to discuss a designed architecture, a diagnosed production incident, and a technical decision that was corrected
• Track record of maintaining predictable quality and delivery, with specifics on management and cost
• Experience leading a distributed team, maintaining quality and communication across time zones
• Fluency with modern AI-assisted development, with a clear point of view on human scrutiny of agent-generated code
• Comfortable in a growing startup environment where capacity and capabilities are being defined, refined, and operationalized
• Strong internal and external communication skills (written, calls, in-person)

Nice To Haves

• Experience at an early-to-mid-stage startup
• Experience in GovTech, public-sector SaaS, or another regulated, audited environment (FedRAMP, StateRAMP, SOC 2, HIPAA)
• Experience building or scaling an offshore engineering function
• Based in San Francisco Bay Area or Washington DC

Responsibilities

• Hands-On Technical Contribution: Engage directly in the codebase, investigate complex problems, and mentor engineering teams.
• Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and grow a blended team of full-time engineers, contractors, and an offshore agency partner across multiple time zones. Manage 1:1s, career coaching, expectations, capacity, and foster a culture of collaboration and ownership.
• Delivery Accountability: Own engineering commitments, set priorities, unblock the team, set realistic dates, surface slippage proactively, and course-correct. Delivery predictability is a key metric.
• Technical Execution & Architecture: Own architecture and technical debt decisions, interface with security and compliance leaders, and create documented plans with tradeoffs to guide executive decisions. Drive the platform vision forward.
• Engineering Quality: Set standards for code review, testing, deployment safety, and delivery/reliability metrics.
• Production Reliability & Security: Own uptime, incident response, and on-call structure. Partner with InfoSec and Compliance on security and compliance posture.
• AI-Native Engineering Practice: Champion AI tools like Claude and Cursor, define their usage, review processes, quality standards, and output measurement.
• Cross-Functional Partnership: Collaborate with Product, Delivery/Implementation, Customer Experience, and Solutions. Translate business priorities into engineering plans and communicate engineering constraints to non-technical colleagues and customers. Engage with customers when necessary.
• Hiring: Interview, assess, and set the technical bar for engineering hires. Plan, forecast, and manage team capacity.

Benefits

• Salary Range: $200,000–$250,000
• Stock options
• 100% benefits coverage for employee
• 401K Profit Share plan
• Flexible PTO
• Home office stipend
• Comprehensive wellness benefits
• Commuter stipend for hybrid roles
• Direct executive engagement
• Genuine ownership of the platform's technical execution and team direction
• Experience working for a mission-forward organization, operating as a public benefit corporation

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed