Senior Director. Software Engineering (100% Remote, Anywhere in USA)

Join GBR's Engineering function and take on a key leadership role where building and developing a high-performing content engineering team is your primary focus. As the Senior Director of Software Engineering, you will lead our Engineering teams across the WordPress and Publisher Website Squads. With a dynamic team of approximately 15 talented individuals, you will create an inspiring and collaborative environment that champions creativity, promotes continuous learning, and supports professional growth. You'll mentor, guide, and inspire a diverse group of engineers while fostering a culture of accountability, innovation, and excellence that empowers your team to deliver impactful solutions.

In this engineering leadership role, you will drive strategic transformation and solve complex challenges for high-traffic media sites. You will have overall ownership of the technical strategy and execute a roadmap that delivers significant business impact. Collaborating closely with internal stakeholders, including the Head of Audience Development, you'll align on strategies that drive traffic, engagement, and content performance across our media sites.

This is your chance to put your name to mission-critical projects, including modernizing our infrastructure and addressing key engineering challenges. We're looking for someone excited to lead from the front, shape the future of engineering, and scale impactful solutions at a high-growth media company.

We offer a competitive salary in the range of $250,000 - $275,000 annually, plus a bonus, depending on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and location.

WHAT YOU'LL TACKLE

• Team Leadership and Development: This is the core of your role. You'll build, mentor, and lead a high-performing content engineering team, creating a collaborative environment that nurtures creativity, professional growth, and a commitment to excellence. You'll provide mentorship and guidance, helping team members expand their skills and advance in their careers, while fostering a culture of innovation and accountability.
• Drive Technical Innovation to Support Audience Growth: Collaborate closely with the Head of Audience Development to ensure that engineering solutions align with content and audience strategies. Implement scalable, reliable architectures and optimize technical infrastructure to enhance website performance, improve SEO, and support targeted content marketing initiatives. This role plays a crucial part in enabling audience growth through engineering excellence, ensuring that all systems meet high standards for speed, reliability, and SEO performance to facilitate traffic and engagement improvements.
• Elevate Engineering Standards: Lead discussions on engineering best practices and quality standards, empowering your team with tools and processes that enhance efficiency, reliability, and skill development. As a key player in the engineering leadership, you'll foster a culture that values high-quality work and continuous improvement.
• Build and Manage a World-Class Development Team: Prioritize talent acquisition to fill critical skill gaps and implement strategies to retain and develop existing team members. Foster a culture of innovation and accountability to make GBR a place where engineers can thrive and continually improve team performance, technical expertise, and collaboration.
• Technical Integration and Innovation: Drive technical solutions for new business capabilities and product integrations, evaluating opportunities for AI and advanced technologies to enhance content delivery and performance.

HOW YOU'LL MAKE AN IMPACT

• Drive Technical Innovation: Lead the technical roadmap for our media sites, identifying opportunities to innovate with AI, automation, and cutting-edge technologies. You'll be responsible for designing scalable solutions that grow our audience and enhance engagement.
• Ensure Performance Excellence: Lead efforts to optimize SEO, improving site speed and reliability while resolving complex issues like caching to ensure high performance.
• Mentor & Build High-Performing Teams: Develop leadership within the engineering organization by providing technical direction and fostering a culture of accountability and ownership.
• Lead Decoupling Initiatives: Architect and execute the decoupling of our WordPress CMS from front-end websites, creating a flexible architecture that enhances speed and scalability.
• Optimize Infrastructure & Monetization: Enhance caching performance and optimize ad integration to ensure sites perform at peak efficiency while driving revenue growth.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• 8+ years of experience leading high-performing remote engineering teams with a proven track record of leading complex, cross-functional projects and fostering a culture of accountability and ownership. History of success in driving technical transformations and enhancing team performance.
• 10+ years in software engineering with demonstrated ability to deliver with similar tech stacks (ours includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node JS, React, PHP, MySQL).
• Experience with Wordpress, CMSs, or other digital asset management or information management systems.
• Knowledge of cloud technologies and AI/machine learning, with a focus on innovative problem-solving.
• Strong collaboration with stakeholders across various functions to make strategic decisions that drive business impact. Ability to align technical strategy with business goals, effectively managing technical and people challenges.

Bonus points for:

• Experience managing blended onshore, nearshore, and offshore teams.
• Experience with WordPress.