Director of Software Engineering

About Usercentrics

Usercentrics is a global pioneer in data privacy and marketing solutions focused on privacy compliance. Our mission centers around enabling businesses to balance data-driven growth with privacy regulations, fostering trust through transparency and user control while enhancing marketing effectiveness and monetization.

Role Overview

We are seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead multiple engineering teams within our Product & Engineering division. This role combines hands-on leadership with responsibility for delivery, system robustness, and personnel development. Collaborating closely with engineering leadership, this position is pivotal in advancing our AI-centric engineering culture.

Work Environment and Expectations

This position is hybrid, mandating a minimum presence of 2-3 days weekly from our Munich office. Embracing AI-native methodologies is a core expectation, with active promotion of AI-assisted development and informed usage within teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Take full accountability for your teams' deliverables, overseeing roadmap planning, estimation, execution, and final delivery.
• Maintain the technical integrity of your teams’ systems, managing technical debt and risks associated with scaling effectively over time.
• Foster growth and performance improvements for managers and engineers, cultivating leadership capabilities within management.
• Translate ambiguous problems or system challenges into concrete, prioritized action plans proactively.
• Identify root causes behind team performance issues, whether related to resources, skills, processes, or scope, and implement the appropriate solution.
• Manage realistic commitments balancing team capacity and stakeholder expectations, communicating transparently about trade-offs and discrepancies.
• Develop and empower your management team by focusing on decision-making and leadership skills rather than just task delegation.
• Collaborate seamlessly with Product teams, other engineering groups, and leadership on cross-functional priorities beyond direct authority.
• Apply engineering insight to roadmap prioritization, actively influencing what gets built and when.
• Remain technically informed to engage credibly in architecture, design debates, and incident assessment without necessarily writing production code daily.
• Align team objectives with the wider company goals to ensure visibility and organizational impact.

Required Qualifications

• At least 5 years' experience managing engineering teams with multi-team leadership responsibility, including managers.
• Proven ability to tackle systemic issues, scale underperforming or burdened systems, and reduce significant technical debt effectively.
• Strong cross-functional collaboration, particularly with Product leadership, influencing roadmaps and priorities strategically.
• Experience in mentoring engineering managers and enhancing leadership within teams.
• Technical expertise sufficient to participate thoughtfully in architecture and design decisions and assess trade-offs without daily coding.

Preferred Experience

• Familiarity with AdTech, MarTech, or domains involving privacy and consent management, such as CMPs or tracking infrastructure.
• Exposure to working within multi-product or multi-brand engineering setups.

Benefits and Culture

• Join an international, diverse, and entrepreneurial team passionate about tech and innovation.
• Experience a positive, dynamic workplace fostering personal and professional growth.
• Engage in various company initiatives and cross-department projects shaping our future.
• Enjoy flexible hours, hybrid work arrangements, and potential for workcations aligned with company policies.
• Participate in enjoyable team events both onsite and remotely across multiple global offices.
• We uphold equal opportunity principles, embracing diversity and inclusivity across all employee demographics.