Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy

<h3>Who we are</h3> <p>The real world is the next frontier, and at Metropolis, we are creating the artificial intelligence to make it responsive. We are pioneering the Recognition Economy — a future where mundane repetition disappears and being known unlocks access, comfort, and belonging everywhere you go. From transforming parking into a seamless drive-in, drive-out experience for millions of Members to expanding our intelligence layer across retail and hospitality, we are building a world that feels instinctive and magical. The future isn’t coming; it’s here, and we need builders, innovators, and problem solvers to help us create it.</p> <h3>Who you are</h3> <p>Metropolis is seeking a Director, Engineering Operations & Strategy to own technology strategy, operational leadership, and strategic problem-solving across our engineering organization. In this role, you will lead with high autonomy, managing a multi-million dollar engineering budget, cutting through deeply complex problems, exhibiting exceptional leadership without authority, and defining simple, scalable solutions to challenging problems at a hyper growth company. You will partner directly with senior leadership to execute M&A due diligence, streamline shared technical processes, and navigate high-stakes operational challenges. The ideal candidate thrives in uncertainty, takes full ownership of outcomes, and brings a unique blend of hands-on technical grounding and high-intensity strategic experience.</p> <h3>What you'll do</h3> <ul> <li>Own shared processes across the engineering department, including hiring workflows, onboarding, and training, to keep practices consistent as the org scales. </li> <li>Cut through deeply complex, multifaceted operational challenges to deliver simple, actionable solutions without waiting for top-down instruction </li> <li>Direct and manage a $50M a $100million+ P&L budget, coordinating resources to align with high-level corporate objectives </li> <li>Own hardware and service forecasting for critical vendors (AWS, Twilio, and similar), maintaining ongoing visibility into spend trends and flagging risks or opportunities before they become urgent.</li> <li>Own emerging strategic decisions for the engineering organization — M&A due diligence, major vendor migrations, and similar high-stakes calls — in close partnership with senior executives. </li> <li>Build alignment at the highest levels of leadership, navigating the nuances of multi-stakeholder decisions on multifaceted or high-risk initiatives </li> <li>Keep teams unblocked and moving forward rapidly, demonstrating comfort acting with incomplete information as long as directionally correct </li> <li>Leverage curiosity and formal methodologies to break down cross-functional silos, challenge status-quo assumptions, and drive cross-team alignment </li> <li>Forecast operational trends and deliver strategic recommendations that favor proactive disruption over routine maintenance </li> <li>Own all vendor management across the engineering organization, from contract negotiation and renewals to performance accountability and day-to-day vendor relationships.</li> </ul> <h3>What we're looking for</h3> <ul> <li>6+ years in high-intensity, rigorous environments 2+ years of hands-on working engineering experience in software or similar engineering roles  </li> <li>A demonstrated history of working relentlessly to get hard things done: someone who runs through walls rather than around them. This intensity often comes from backgrounds like top-tier management consulting, investment banking, or strategic finance, but we care about the trait itself, not the pedigree: what matters is a track record of outworking a problem because you genuinely care about the outcome. </li> <li>Proven experience leading a strategic function with significant autonomy, managing resources, and taking full ownership of organizational outcomes </li> <li>Exceptional ability to build trust with technical teams and influence without authority </li> <li>Experience owning meaningful budget or resource decisions within a high-growth or complex organization, with a bias toward action over waiting for perfect information. </li> <li>Track record of operating effectively in fast-moving, high-ambiguity environments, making sound decisions without complete data </li> <li>Exceptional ability to synthesize complex operational or technical concepts into clear rationale for senior and C-level stakeholders</li> <li>Skilled at translating high-level business goals into concrete plans of execution that account for broad organizational impact </li> <li>Proven excellence at leveraging AI tools and frameworks to optimize technology operations, technical evaluations, and cross-functional workflows</li> </ul> <h3>While not required, these are a plus:</h3> <ul> <li>MBA from a top-tier business program </li> <li>Engineering degree </li> <li>Experience in high-growth technology scale-ups or pre-IPO environments </li> <li>Direct involvement in M&A tech due diligence, corporate restructuring, or integration strategy </li> <li>Experience with modern engineering workflows, cloud platforms (AWS), or AI tooling</li> <li> </li> </ul> <hr> <p><strong>4 Days in Office:</strong> Metropolis values in-person collaboration to drive innovation, strengthen culture, and enhance the Member experience. Our corporate team members hold to our office-first model, which re