Hybrid VP Engineering

at Ladders

• Job title: VP Engineering
• Job type: Full Time
• Experience level: Lead
• Salary: $275,000 - $350,000 per year
• Degree requirement: Bachelor's Degree
• Tech skills: Cloud, Distributed Systems
• Location requirements: Hybrid, New York City, United States

About the role

• VP of Engineering leading NYC-based team to build AI-driven career tools at Ladders. Collaborating across product and engineering to deliver a high-traffic marketplace and innovative tools.

Responsibilities

• Lead a NYC-based engineering team (and distributed collaborators) responsible for the core job marketplace, user experience, personalization, and internal platforms.
• Architect and deliver an ambitious product roadmap that includes; dynamic resume and cover letter generation, deep, structured company and job data to power search and matching and agentic, AI-powered “career coaching” experiences for job seekers.
• Build and scale world-class engineering teams, processes, and systems that allow the company to ship quickly, safely, and with high quality.
• Partner closely with Product Design, Data, and Operations to define technical strategy and translate business goals into scalable, resilient systems.
• Ensure the engineering organization consistently delivers against the product roadmap with predictable velocity and quality.
• Implement best-in-class practices for architecture, testing, observability, incident management, and reliability.
• Balance short-term product delivery with long-term platform investments (data, infrastructure, and shared services).

Requirements

• 10+ years of progressive engineering experience, including 5+ years leading engineering teams at the Director/VP level or equivalent.
• Proven track record scaling engineering organizations supporting consumer web/mobile products or marketplaces; experience with two-sided platforms is a plus.
• Hands-on experience building or integrating AI/ML products, ideally including Generative AI (LLMs, retrieval-augmented generation, recommendation systems, or similar).
• Strong background working in high-growth environments where speed, experimentation, and iteration are critical.
• Deep understanding of modern web architectures, distributed systems, and cloud infrastructure.
• Strong opinions on engineering best practices: testing strategy, CI/CD, observability, performance, and security.
• Demonstrated success hiring, developing, and retaining top engineering talent in competitive markets like NYC or similar hubs.
• Ability to build and manage a multi-level org (ICs, tech leads, EMs) and evolve structure as the company scales.
• Ruthless prioritization skills; capable of making tradeoffs between speed, quality, and scope.
• Data-driven and product-oriented mindset, comfortable using metrics to guide strategy and decision-making.
• Strong communication and executive presence; comfortable working closely with founders, C-suite, and external stakeholders.
• Low ego, high ownership mentality with a bias toward action and “win together” mentality.
• Based in (or willing to relocate to) the New York City area, with regular in-office collaboration with the engineering and product teams.

Benefits

• Own the Engineering Function
• Build the Next Generation of Career Tools
• Massive, Timely Market Opportunity
• World-Class Talent & Culture
• Growth & Upside