Head of Engineering

This role is available from Zürich, Switzerland with a hybrid work mode.

Tasks

You will be the head of engineering of an agile and fast-growing engineering department. In this role you will:

- Scale to the next level. Locatee is growing and with it we need to grow the engineering organization. You work closely with the engineering team in the hiring process and make sure we are hiring the right people for the right positions in accord with our growth strategy. You actively develop and transparently communicate our strategy for scaling our engineering department.
- Be a great leader. You inspire the people and act as a coach. You ensure we continue to be a fast-paced, pragmatic learning environment where employees are engaged and grow.
- Be a mentor. You help our lead engineers to become continuously better at their job and to grow their personal careers.
- Establish best practices. Together with our engineers you are establishing processes and best practices on architectural, infrastructure, operational and security topics to ensure that our software is delivering the best possible value to our customers and is meeting all required quality and security standards. You deeply care about our product and make sure that current and future product needs are properly accounted for.
- Work on the company strategy. As part of the leadership team, you participate actively in every strategic decision taken in the company. You are an active sparring partner to the founders and are responsible for setting and tracking the engineering goals which contribute to the overall success of the company.

**Requirements**:

- Experience in leading an engineering department. We are a fast growing company in a great market opportunity, we expect you can help us reach the next level. With your previous experience as a Head of Engineering or Director of Engineering or similar senior-level position in a scaling engineering department you will help us on this path.
- Passion about building quality products. You have substantive professional experience with engineering, deploying and maintaining complex software. You know what it takes to engineer quality software and operate a SaaS to bring value to customers. You care about technical debt, and are versed in current architectural and security best practices.
- Act as sparring partner to product management: You have a great product mindset to support product management to engineer the best possible product. A prior experience in product management is beneficial but not required.
- You are a good communicator. We have all our meetings hybrid. You value writing and express yourself concisely. You may hold strong opinions, but you are not ideological. You communicate thoughtfully, always assume others speak in good faith, aim to understand opposing perspectives and compromise when needed.
- You are curious and open minded. You want to learn, get challenged and grow personally and professionally in an ever evolving startup environment. You enjoy working in an English speaking environment.
- \*\*You have an agile mindset. \*\* You are passionate about the core principles of agile development and support our engineering teams in organizing themselves and removing organizational impediments.

**Benefits**:
Our perks and benefits are designed to provide the freedom and support you need to grow personally and professionally. Here’s what that looks like:
The basics
- Flexible working mode. Work from where you are most productive and comfortable. Meet your colleagues in our modern office in Zurich, work from home and make use of our “work from abroad” initiative
- A real scale-up adventure with great rewards: we offer Phantom Stock Options to be part of Locatee’s success

Expand your professional skills
- Continuous learning through our Locatee Academy
- Monthly developer experience day (Hackathon)
- Attend conferences. You’ll have a recurring budget to spend on attending conferences that grow your professional knowledge, skills, and network.
- Through a flat organisation we encourage innovation, ownership and open communication so that everybody feels engaged in the dynamic of the group

Craft your ideal work environment
- An inspiring and modern working environment in Zurich (you'll love our plants & trees, the hammock, standing desks, quiet zones, couches,...)
- Work with the IDE of your choice. Every engineer gets a Jetbrain All Products Pack license.
- Hardware budget. You’ll have access to a recurring budget to spend on work-related equipment.

Focus on your well-being
- Regular team events, after-work beers and much more, we never miss out on fun
- Fresh fruits basket, homemade cakes, free tea, coffee & snacks
- Meeting free days
- Regular 1:1s with your team, transparent feedback culture

3. Technical Interview. The goal of the first technical interview is to get a first impression of you and your leadership skills. If we have a good match, you may be invited to take the n