VP, Software Engineering

The Knot Worldwide•New York, NY

19d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Knot Worldwide is seeking a seasoned and strategic VP of Engineering to lead our Consumer Growth and Lifecycle engineering teams in NYC or Austin. This critical role is centered on expanding our user base, driving core engagement metrics, and maximizing customer lifetime value through innovative technology and data utilization. You will lead teams responsible for the engineering systems that power our direct-to-consumer growth loops, personalization, marketing technology (MarTech), customer relationship management (CRM), and organic search visibility. This is a high-impact role requiring a leader who can blend engineering excellence with a deep understanding of business drivers like activation, retention, conversion, and organic acquisition. The successful candidate will have a proven track record of creating scalable, world-class consumer experiences within an agile, data-driven environment. You will lead a combination of full-stack web and platform teams, actively partnering with Product, Design, Data Science, and Marketing leaders to define and execute a winning strategy.

Requirements

Experience: 10+ years of progressive engineering experience, including 5+ years managing multiple teams and engineering leaders.
Growth Domain Expertise: Proven success in leading engineering teams focused on consumer growth, engagement, experimentation (A/B testing), personalization, or retention.
SEO/AEO: Deep practical experience with the technical requirements and strategic execution of large-scale SEO (Search Engine Optimization), particularly for high-traffic consumer homepages and core flows. Strategic awareness and focus on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and the technical implementation required for AI-driven search visibility is essential.
MarTech/CRM Acumen: Deep understanding and experience with the engineering challenges and technical requirements of CRM platforms and Marketing Technology stacks (e.g., CDPs, ESPs, Mobile Messaging SDKs).
Technical Proficiency: Proficiency in modern development technologies and architectures for consumer-facing web or mobile products (e.g., TypeScript, Node.js, React, modern data pipelines).
Scaling Systems: Demonstrated experience scaling complex software systems and engineering organizations in a high-traffic consumer environment.
Data & Analytics: Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities; adept at leveraging data to inform decisions, define metrics, and guide feature optimization.
Leadership & Collaboration: Excels in a collaborative, distributed work environment; highly skilled at navigating complexity and influencing technical and business leaders.
Results-Oriented: Driven, results-oriented, and motivated by delivering measurable business impact and exceptional user value.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience integrating and leveraging modern Customer Engagement platforms such as Braze, Iterable, or similar systems.

Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership & Execution: Lead and mentor multiple engineering teams and engineering managers to deliver high-impact, outcome-driven results focused on core business growth metrics.
Strategy & Planning: Collaborate closely with Product, Design, Data, and Marketing leadership to define technical and product strategy, set ambitious OKRs, and align execution across multiple teams to meet company objectives.
Organic Search & Content Visibility: Drive the technical strategy and execution for Home Page and core site-wide SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) to maximize organic discovery, authority, and traffic.
Growth & Engagement Systems Ownership: Own the technical vision and delivery for key growth systems, including A/B testing frameworks, personalization engines, experimentation platforms, and the MarTech/CRM ecosystem that powers our user lifecycle communications (email, push, in-app messaging, etc.).
Technical Excellence & Scalability: Champion engineering excellence through robust practices (e.g., code reviews, automated testing, incident management) and ensure the quality, performance, and scalability of all growth and engagement systems.
Talent Development: Coach and mentor engineering managers and senior individual contributors, fostering a culture of technical excellence, continuous improvement, and career growth.
Data-Informed Culture: Instill a strong data-informed approach, leveraging analytics and experimentation to optimize feature development, operational efficiency, and drive impactful business outcomes.
Cross-Functional Alignment: Manage complex, cross-functional initiatives, ensuring tight alignment between engineering and marketing teams on critical consumer communication and segmentation strategies.