Director of Engineering

<h2><strong>About Arena:</strong></h2> <p>Arena is a Series A company backed by top-tier investors such as CRV, Redpoint and Craft Ventures. Arena offers a unique work environment and the chance to collaborate with diverse teammates across multiple countries, with a culture of ownership (autonomy, growth, and responsibility).</p> <p>We are a startup created in Silicon Valley with a mission to build communities for creators, publishers and brands with the power of AI. Companies using Arena include Disney, Reuters, Fox, Red Bull and NFL. We have +2,000 customers in 150 countries, with +50M users engaging and having conversations on Arena every month, including through our AI Agents.</p> <p>Arena is expanding its AI product portfolio with MyAvatar.AI, a new multimodal platform that enables users to create intelligent, personalized AI avatars through voice, video, and conversational interfaces.</p> <p>Sometimes you're stuck in an engineering role where you're solving the same problems over and over. If you enjoy building great teams, solving complex technical challenges, and scaling technology — then Arena is the company you're looking for.</p> <h2><strong>About the Role:</strong></h2> <p>We’re looking for a Director of Engineering to lead our engineering organization and scale our technology, teams, and execution as Arena grows.</p> <p>Reporting directly to the CEO, you’ll define and execute the engineering strategy, drive technical excellence, and build high-performing teams delivering reliable and scalable AI products.</p> <h2><strong></strong></h2> <h2><strong>What you will be doing:</strong></h2> <p><strong></strong></p> <ul> <li>Lead, coach, and develop engineering managers and senior engineers across multiple teams.</li> <li>Partner directly with the CEO to define technical strategy, priorities, and execution plans.</li> <li>Drive engineering excellence across architecture, scalability, reliability, security, and development practices.</li> <li>Own engineering execution, ensuring teams deliver high-quality products on time.</li> <li>Build and improve engineering processes, standards, and team structures as the organization scales.</li> <li>Foster a culture of ownership, technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement.</li> </ul> <p><strong></strong></p> <h2><strong></strong></h2> <h2><strong>Must-Have Experience:</strong></h2> <p><strong></strong></p> <ul> <li>8+ years of software engineering experience, including significant engineering leadership experience.</li> <li>Proven experience leading engineering teams and developing engineering managers and senior engineers.</li> <li>Strong background in designing and scaling SaaS, cloud-based, or API-driven products.</li> <li>Strong understanding of software architecture, scalability, reliability, security, and engineering best practices.</li> <li>Proven track record of improving engineering execution, processes, and team performance.</li> <li>Strong ability to partner with Product, Design, and business leadership to balance technical and business priorities.</li> <li>Excellent communication and leadership skills, with experience working with distributed/global teams.</li> <li>Fluent English.</li> </ul> <p></p> <h2><strong>Our Stack:</strong></h2> <p><strong></strong></p> <p data-pm-slice="1 1 []">Our engineering organization works across a modern, distributed technology stack, including:</p> <p><strong></strong></p> <p></p> <p></p> <ul> <li><strong>Languages:</strong> Node.js, TypeScript, Golang</li> <li><strong>APIs &amp; Real-Time:</strong> GraphQL, WebSockets, REST</li> <li><strong>Cloud &amp; Infrastructure:</strong> AWS, Lambda, Fargate, EC2, API Gateway, S3, VPC, IAM, ALB, CloudFront, Kinesis, SQS, CloudWatch, Serverless Framework</li> <li><strong>Databases:</strong> MongoDB, PostgreSQL, DynamoDB, Firestore/Firebase</li> <li><strong>Caching &amp; Edge:</strong> Redis, Cloudflare</li> <li><strong>Quality:</strong> Unit testing and automated testing practices</li> </ul> <p></p> <p></p> <h2><strong>Nice-to-Have Experience:</strong></h2> <p></p> <p></p> <ul> <li>Experience in AI, Generative AI, LLMs, or AI-powered products.</li> <li>Experience with modern cloud architectures, distributed systems, real-time applications, and technologies such as AWS, GraphQL, WebSockets, and serverless architectures.</li> <li>Experience scaling engineering organizations in startups or scale-ups.</li> <li>Experience with high-scale web applications and real-time systems.</li> <li>Strong technical background with the ability to dive deep when needed without becoming the primary individual contributor.</li> <li>Experience working with global teams and enterprise customers.</li> </ul> <p></p> <p></p> <p><strong></strong></p> <h2><strong>We also have some sweet perks like:</strong></h2> <p>🔥 Be a part of the team in Silicon Valley and join a global team</p> <p>💪 A team of exceptional engineers leading the cutting-edge AI Agents.</p> <p>💶 Competitive salary package &amp; benefits</p> <p>⛱️ 4 weeks of paid time-off</p> <p>📖 Learning and Development budget</p> <p>🚀 Key moment to join Arena in terms of growth and opportunities</p> <p>💻 Ability to put your stamp on real-world AI applications that serve millions of users.</p> <p>📚 Fast-learning environment, entrepreneurial and strong team spirit</p> <p>🌍 Multiple nationalities: cosmopolite &amp; multi-cultural mindset</p> <p>💆‍♀️ Our people matter, work-life balance is important at Arena</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>