VP, Software Engineering

Optimizely•Austin, TX

About The Position

The VP, Software Engineering is responsible for realizing product vision across one or more of Optimizely's core product lines or broad cross-cutting horizontals, with a focus on how AI shapes how the company builds, operates, and continuously improves. The role drives personnel management, program management, engineering operations, technical excellence, and strategy development across its area of focus. This leader champions adoption of AI-assisted development practices, including code generation, automated testing, intelligent code review, and developer tooling, and owns Engineering's internal operating model: how teams operate, measure results, and improve over time. The role balances technical depth with execution, process, and delivery, while building cross-organizational consensus, negotiating priorities, sharing information, and leading initiatives that deliver business value and continuous improvement.

Requirements

Demonstrated history of implementing and managing significant software development programs.
Hands-on experience adopting and scaling AI coding and developer productivity tools within an engineering organization.
Familiarity with AI development tools and practices, including LLM-powered assistants, automated testing and review tools, and prompt engineering for software workflows.
At least 5 years of prior career experience as a software engineer.
At least 12 years of experience in engineering management.
Proven track record running or significantly improving engineering operations, including metrics programs, operating cadences, process design, and internal tooling.
Strong background in cross-functional collaboration, organizational design, and driving execution at scale.
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or engineering.

Responsibilities

Champion adoption of AI coding tools across engineering teams by establishing standards, enablement programs, and measurable impact metrics.
Drive evaluation, rollout, and governance of AI-assisted development practices, including code generation, automated code review, test generation, and documentation.
Partner with product and platform teams to identify ways AI can improve delivery quality, developer experience, and operational efficiency.
Monitor the AI development tooling landscape and shape Optimizely's internal perspective on what to adopt, build, or avoid.
Own Engineering's operating model, including team structure, delivery measurement, health monitoring, and continuous improvement.
Define and drive engineering-wide metrics for delivery velocity, quality, incident response, and system reliability, and create feedback loops that translate data into action.
Lead cross-team retrospectives, post-mortems, and process reviews that produce durable operational improvements.
Drive internal engineering improvement initiatives, including developer experience programs, productivity tooling, onboarding quality, and knowledge-sharing systems.
Partner with the CTO to improve the engineering team's structure, organization, and delivery of results.
Direct delivery, operational, and/or people management for one or more product verticals or broad platform horizontals.
Promote sound architecture, high-quality implementations, and secure systems as first-class product requirements.
Develop strategy to improve how software is built and delivered, informed by business and operational context.
Contribute to organizational and technical decisions that balance growth, cost, margin, time-to-market, quality, and future readiness.
Coach, mentor, and support experienced engineering leaders.
Lead engineering retention, recruiting, employer branding, and organizational strategy in a growth environment.
Amplify organizational initiatives and company-wide direction, and drive value initiatives that benefit the broader business.