Director of Product Engineering
About the role
The Director of Product Engineering is a remote-eligible position reporting directly to the VP of IT. This role leads all product engineering functions at Purple Wave, driving innovation, velocity, and quality across multiple teams.
Responsibilities
Define the long-term strategy and vision for product engineering aligned with business goals.
Partner with engineering leaders to guide technology decisions and modern development practices.
Drive innovation and continuous improvement across all engineering teams.
Ensure alignment between team goals and business strategy.
Translate business requirements into clear engineering objectives.
Build and scale four departments: Mobile Engineering, Agility, Test Engineering, and Product Engineering.
Hire, mentor, and develop high-performing engineering managers and technical staff.
Create a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and agile mindset.
Inspire and motivate teams to deliver innovative solutions with appropriate urgency.
Create clear career paths and development opportunities for engineering talent.
Establish policies and procedures to improve the software development lifecycle.
Enable results by improving and automating processes with clear definitions of success.
Remove impediments by collaborating with stakeholders where teams can't self-organize to reach resolution.
Ensure teams have the tools, resources, and support needed to succeed.
Foster collaboration across engineering teams and with other departments.
Work closely with Product teams to deliver solutions that meet customer needs.
Ensure engineering teams understand business context and customer impact.
Balance technical excellence with business value and time-to-market.
Oversee mobile application strategy and web platform development.
Partner with Test Engineering to establish quality standards and automation strategies.
Drive metrics and visibility into engineering performance and delivery health.
Foster accountability for quality throughout the development process.
Collaborate with Platform Engineering, Data, and Infrastructure teams to ensure seamless delivery.
Partner with Product Management to align engineering capacity with business priorities.
Provide guidance and coaching to managers, leaders, and teams.
Serve as a bridge between technical teams and business leadership.
Administer expense and compensation budgets.
Make strategic decisions on tooling, technology investments, and vendor partnerships.
Optimize resource allocation across engineering initiatives.
Undertake additional assigned duties as requested.
Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Business, Engineering, or equivalent experience.
10+ years in technology leadership, product management, or engineering roles.
5+ years leading engineering or technical teams, including managing managers.
Strong technical acumen with ability to understand and discuss technical concepts and trade-offs.
Deep expertise in agile methodologies and software development lifecycle.
Proven track record building and scaling high-performing engineering organizations.
Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills.
Strong problem-solving abilities and business judgment.
Ability to inspire and motivate technical teams without being hands-on in code.
Track record of removing obstacles and enabling team success.
Spanish speaking bi-lingual candidates are encouraged to apply.
Candidates may be requested to complete position specific skills assessments.
Applicants must be either a U.S. Citizen or eligible to work in the U.S.
Requires the ability to satisfactorily complete a background check.
Supervisory Responsibilities
Directly manage four department managers: Mobile Engineering, Agility, Test Engineering, and Product Engineering.
Define org structure and resource allocation with VP of IT.
Provide coaching, performance management, and career development.
About Purple Wave
Purple Wave Auction is a leader in the equipment auction industry focusing on construction, ag, fleet, and government equipment. We are a data-driven, quickly changing and evolving, growing organization. Our focus is on marketing the assets we sell for our customers to find the highest quality bidders for the best recoveries for our sellers. We strive to make this transaction Straight, Simple, and Sold. We live daily by our core values of trust, team, care, and passion to be the place people want to work and our customers want to return to for their equipment buying and selling needs for their businesses. Purple Wave Auction is the largest no-reserve Internet auction company in the Midwest. We have over 300 employees, nearly doubling in size in the last three years. We have a robust tech team and continue to invest in progressive techniques to enhance our services. While working at Purple Wave, you will have the opportunity to help our mission of being the easiest, most straightforward place to buy and sell used equipment. Purple Wave empowers its employees to solve problems effectively in a family-run business culture. We provide opportunities for continued education as you grow your career with tuition reimbursement. We have a generous benefits package in one of the fastest-growing companies in the area.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Purple Wave, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. It is our practice to select the best-qualified candidate for each position in the organization. No employee of the Company will discriminate against an applicant for employment or a fellow employee because of race, creed, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, or other physical or mental disability, military or veteran status.