Director of Software Engineering

Director of Software EngineeringHybrid (minimum of 2-3 days a week from the office)Shape the Future of PrivacyUsercentrics is a global leader in data privacy and privacy-led marketing solutions. We believe there is no need for a trade-off between growth and privacy compliance. Our vision is to unlock the potential of data privacy to empower a thriving digital ecosystem. We work with companies to create a healthy balance between data-driven business and privacy-led marketing for every size of enterprise. Our customers build trust with their users through improved transparency and control to drastically improve marketing and monetization, while achieving full privacy compliance.We are actively looking for a Director of Software Engineering to lead a group of multiple engineering teams within our Product & Engineering organization. This is a hands-on leadership role and you'll own delivery, technical health, and people development for the teams under you, while partnering with the rest of engineering leadership on cross cutting priorities. We're building a more AI-native engineering organization, and this role is central to making that real within the teams you lead.How We Work: AI-Native by DefaultUsercentrics is actively pushing AI adoption across engineering for real efficiency gains. This isn't background context, it's a working expectation. As a Director, you're expected to actively drive AI-native ways of working within your teams: adopting AI-assisted development where it genuinely helps, and building the judgment in your teams to use it well rather than uncritically. This is a real, current expectation on how you'll run your teams from day one, not an aspirational nice-to-have.What You Will DoOwn your group's outcomesOwn delivery predictability for your group from roadmap input through estimation, execution, and shipped resultsOwn the technical health of the systems your teams are responsible for, including how technical debt and scaling risk are identified, prioritized, and worked down over timeOwn the growth and performance of the managers and engineers in your group, including developing your managers into stronger people leaders themselvesSolve ambiguous, systemic problemsTurn a vague or partially defined problem, a struggling system, a scaling wall, an under-resourced area into a concrete, sequenced plan, rather than waiting for it to be fully defined for youDiagnose root cause, not just symptoms: work out whether an underperforming or overloaded team's real issue is headcount, skill composition, process, or scope and act on the right oneBuild and maintain a realistic view of what your teams can commit to, communicate trade offs honestly to stakeholders, and close the gap when estimates and reality divergeLead people and influence outcomesTreat developing the management layer under you as a primary responsibility, teaching judgment, not just assigning tasksWork fluently with Product, other engineering groups, and company leadership on cross-team priorities where you can't rely on direct authorityBring engineering-informed judgment into roadmap prioritization you're expected to help shape what gets built and when, not just execute what's handed to youStay technically groundedYou won't be writing production code day to day, but you're expected to understand your teams' systems well enough to follow the implications of technical decisions, engage credibly in design discussions and incidents, and ask the right questions before problems become expensiveConnect team-level work to company-level goals, making sure your teams' priorities visibly contribute to the broader organization rather than operating in a siloRequirementsMust-haves5+ years of experience in engineering management, including managing multi-team setups (managing managers, not only individual engineers)A track record of taking on ambiguous, systemic problems, scaling a struggling system, working down significant technical debt, or restructuring a team's ways of working and driving them to a concrete outcomeStrong track record of cross-functional partnership, particularly with Product, and of influencing roadmap and priority decisions as a stakeholder rather than a downstream executorDemonstrated ability to develop engineering managers, not only individual contributorsEnough technical depth to engage substantively in architecture and design discussions and reason about technical trade-offs, without needing to write production code yourselfNice-to-havesDomain experience in AdTech, MarTech, or privacy/consent management (e.g. CMPs, tracking/consent infrastructure)Experience operating in a multi-product or multi-brand engineering organizationBenefitsWhy join Usercentrics?Joining Usercentrics means becoming part of a fast-growing, diverse and international team of tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurially-minded who build our success story togetherCompany culture is important to us - we strive to continuously develop a positive, vibrant and inspiring environment that enables everyone to thrive both personally and professionallyGet involved! We have plenty of initiatives and love to see people from all department enthusiastically participating and shaping our future together in different cross-department projectsYour work-life balance is important to us too - we offer flexible working hours, hybrid working and the possibility of workcations (in accordance with our company policy)We always remember to have fun along the way, both in our day-to-day work and at our regular team events on site in our offices in Munich, Copenhagen, Odense, Lisbon and Prague or online with our offices in New York and Buenos Aires.Usercentrics is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, regardless of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status