Engineering Manager (Data Safety)

About the Role

Headway's mission is to build a new mental healthcare system that everyone can access. The data we hold to do that is some of the most sensitive there is: what someone said in therapy. Data Safety is the team that makes it possible to learn from that data without putting the people in it at risk. As Engineering Manager for Data Safety, you'll lead that team. Protecting patient data is Headway's first priority, ahead of any roadmap, and that is not a slogan here: it is the constraint every other team designs around. Your job is to turn that constraint into something people can build on rather than something they route around. The upside is enormous. With tens of thousands of providers and millions of sessions, Headway holds what is very likely the richest picture of real mental health care anywhere in the world. Remarkably little is known at scale about which care helps whom, and we are sitting on the data that could answer it. The blocker has never been curiosity, it is having a safe way in. The core of that is de-identification: removing the person from the record while keeping the clinical signal, and getting the method certified so the whole company can rely on it. You'll grow and mentor a team of roughly five to eight engineers, set the roadmap for the pod, and work closely with Security, Legal, Compliance, Data, and the product teams that depend on you. The bar is high. We have to be able to stand behind how we handle this data to a regulator, to a payer, and to the patient it came from. Get that right and what your team ships sets the ceiling on how much Headway can learn, and on how many people we can help.

Who You Are

We're looking for an engineering leader who is pragmatic, product-minded about platform work, and energized by growth. You'll work closely with Engineering Leadership, Security, Legal, and Data to shape how Headway handles its most sensitive data.

In this role you will

• Lead, manage, and grow the Data Safety engineering team
• Own delivery on privacy and compliance commitments, including their audit evidence
• Set the technical and operational roadmap across de-identification, data access tiers, entitlements, and LLM data handling
• Develop your team through weekly 1:1s, mentorship, and direct feedback, and grow a tech-lead layer beneath you
• Partner closely with Security, Privacy and Compliance, Legal, Data Platform, and product pods to move quickly and safely
• Contribute to the broader group and company strategy, not just your own roadmap

Experience We're Seeking

• 3+ years of engineering management experience at a high-growth startup or scale-up
• 4+ years of experience as a software engineer, enough to hold technical direction credibly
• A track record of building and leading high-performing teams that delivered business outcomes through technical investment
• A strong product mindset and cross-functional relationships that build trust with users and stakeholders
• Experience shipping under real compliance or audit pressure, with the scope discipline that requires
• Comfort with data platform and privacy systems: access control, data classification, pipelines, and de-identification
• Nice to have: healthcare, financial services, or another regulated, high-trust domain
• Nice to have: HIPAA de-identification, tokenisation, differential privacy, or data governance tooling
• Nice to have: prior experience with Python, React, and AWS infrastructure

You'll love this role if you want to

• Lead the team that decides what the rest of the company can safely learn from its data
• Own commitments the company is accountable for to regulators, auditors, and partners
• Build a tech-lead layer beneath you rather than inherit a finished team

Our interview process

After you apply to Headway, here are some details of what to expect during the interview process.

• Initial screen: You'll connect with someone in recruiting so you can learn more about the team, Headway's mission and exciting growth, and we can get a better idea of your background.
• First rounds: You'll meet with an engineering leader on the team to go deeper into your team and people leadership experience. You'll also complete an AI Coding round — a collaborative session where we're less focused on syntax and more on how you think through problems and work with AI tools in a technical context.
• Final rounds: You'll meet team members across product and engineering leadership for multiple behavioral interviews and one more technical interview (System Design), leaving you with a fuller picture of what it's like to work at Headway.
• References and the Offer: Our favorite part of the process! We'll send over all of the details, including specifics on employee equity, and congratulatory messages from excited future team members!

Compensation And Benefits

The expected base pay range for this position is $222,800 - 278,500, based on a variety of factors including qualifications, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for an equity grant, depending on the position and level. We are committed to offering a comprehensive and competitive total rewards package, including robust health and wellness benefits, retirement savings, and meaningful ownership opportunities through equity.

Benefits offered include:

• Equity Compensation
• Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
• HSA / FSA
• 401K
• Work-from-Home Stipend
• Therapy Reimbursement
• 16-week parental leave for eligible employees
• Carrot Fertility annual reimbursement and membership
• 13 paid holidays each year as well as a Holiday Break during the week between December 25th and December 31st
• Flexible PTO
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Training and professional development