Director of Engineering, Builder Tools

The Role

Engineering velocity is a strategic advantage at Hadrian. As we scale our software organization, the quality of our tools, workflows, and development practices directly determines how fast we can move. The Builder Tools team owns that surface area, working across the entire SDLC to reduce friction, accelerate delivery, and bring AI-assisted development practices to every engineering team.

This is a high-leverage role. The work you ship here touches every engineer at Hadrian.

What You'll Do

• Lead and grow a team of engineers focused on engineering productivity and internal developer tools
• Define and execute a roadmap to improve end-to-end SDLC efficiency and reliability (plan, build, test, deploy, observe)
• Drive adoption of AI-assisted development tools across engineering, from code assistants to LLM-powered workflows
• Identify bottlenecks in developer workflows and implement scalable, lasting solutions
• Improve CI/CD systems, testing frameworks, and deployment processes
• Establish metrics to measure developer productivity and system performance
• Partner with infrastructure, security, and product teams to improve delivery pipelines
• Hire, mentor, and develop engineers and tech leads
• Ensure high standards for reliability, scalability, and maintainability across internal tooling

What We're Looking For

• 8-12 years in software engineering, with 3-5+ years in engineering management
• Strong backend or platform engineering background with deep familiarity with modern SDLC systems
• Experience leading and scaling high-performing engineering teams
• Track record of delivering measurable improvements in engineering velocity or system reliability
• Able to think in systems: understand the end-to-end development lifecycle and identify where to optimize
• Experience with CI/CD tooling (GitHub Actions, Buildkite, or similar), observability stacks (Datadog, Prometheus), and cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP, Kubernetes)
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience

What Will Set You Apart

• Hands-on experience implementing AI-assisted development workflows
• Familiarity with LLM APIs (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) and AI coding tools (Copilot, Cursor, etc.)
• Experience with CI/CD optimization at scale
• A strong data-driven approach to measuring and improving developer productivity
• Treatment of internal tooling as a product: clear users, defined impact, feedback loops
• Experience driving adoption of new tools and workflows across engineering organizations

Growth & Trajectory

This role is a high-leverage position with significant room to grow. As Hadrian's engineering organization scales, the scope of this function expands with it. The natural trajectory leads toward a Manager-of-Managers role (M5) with broader ownership of the engineering productivity org and potential leadership of Hadrian's AI strategy for engineering.

Compensation

The target salary range for this role is $250,000 - $320,000 (actual range may vary based on experience).

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees
• 401k
• Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need
• Flexible vacation policy
• Equity

ITAR Requirements

To conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Hadrian is an equal opportunity employer. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics.