Head of Engineering (AWS / MongoDB / AI Products), Online Safety

Sierra Studio is an innovative product development firm dedicated to empowering founders and business leaders in their quest to create impactful, meaningful products. Our team of experienced professionals is committed to delivering high-quality solutions that drive business growth. We prioritize a culture of good vibes, open communication, and continuous learning, providing our team members with the opportunities and resources they need to thrive.

This role is with one of the teams we help build through our staffing partnerships. When you apply, Sierra manages the hiring process, but you'll be hired directly by and work within the client company.

Our hiring partner is building technology that helps create safer online experiences for millions of women. As an early-stage company, they move quickly, solve difficult technical problems, and build products that have real-world impact.

They're looking for a Head of Engineering to lead their engineering organization through its next stage of growth, building both the technology and the team that will power the company's future.

This is a permanent, full-time leadership position responsible for defining and executing the company's engineering strategy.

As Head of Engineering, you'll oversee the engineering organization, establish technical direction, build and mentor high-performing teams, and partner closely with executive leadership to turn company priorities into scalable technical solutions.

While this is a leadership role, they're looking for someone who remains technically engaged. You'll stay close to the architecture, review critical technical decisions, contribute to system design, and jump into the codebase when appropriate. At this stage, leadership and technical credibility go hand in hand.

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  Lead and grow the engineering organization, including hiring, mentoring, coaching, and performance management.

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  Define and execute the engineering strategy in partnership with executive leadership.

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  Establish engineering standards, development processes, and a culture of technical excellence.

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  Provide architectural leadership across backend systems, infrastructure, internal tooling, and customer-facing products.

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  Partner closely with Product, Design, Operations, and Leadership to align technical execution with business priorities.

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  Own engineering planning, resource allocation, and delivery across multiple initiatives.

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  Build scalable systems capable of supporting rapid user growth while maintaining reliability, security, and performance.

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  Remain technically engaged through architecture reviews, code reviews, technical design discussions, and hands-on development when appropriate.

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  Guide technical decision-making while balancing product velocity, long-term scalability, and operational excellence.

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  Recruit and retain exceptional engineering talent while building an inclusive, collaborative engineering culture.

• You're an experienced engineering leader who enjoys building both technology and high-performing teams.

• You lead with technical credibility and believe engineering leaders should remain closely connected to the systems their teams build.

• You thrive in startup environments where ownership is high, priorities evolve quickly, and solutions often need to be created from first principles.

• You're comfortable making strategic technical decisions while balancing speed, quality, and long-term scalability.

• You communicate effectively with engineers, executives, product managers, and cross-functional stakeholders.

• You enjoy solving difficult technical challenges while empowering others to do their best work.

Required:

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.

• Previous experience leading engineering teams as a Head of Engineering, Engineering Director, Engineering Manager, or equivalent technical leadership role.

• Demonstrated experience hiring, mentoring, and scaling engineering organizations.

• Strong background in software architecture, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and modern web technologies.

• Experience delivering complex software products from concept through production.

• Strong understanding of engineering operations, development workflows, testing strategies, and system reliability.

• Fluent in English and Portuguese, both written and spoken.

• Working knowledge of fundamental U.S. laws and regulatory considerations affecting software products, including privacy, security, and compliance.

• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced startup environment with a high degree of ownership and autonomy.

• Familiarity with AI-powered products, machine learning systems, or data platforms.

Preferred:

• Experience leading engineering through periods of hypergrowth.

• Experience scaling products serving millions of users.

• Experience with AWS and MongoDB.

• Experience building globally distributed engineering teams.

Location: remote, based in Brazil. You would be working PT (Pacific Time) hours.