Head of Engineering

❗ Important: This is an On-Site Position in Lisbon❗

This is an on-site position based at our office in the Lisbon Metropolitan area. Remote or hybrid arrangements are not available once you join the team.

Are you ready for an international move? We are looking for candidates who are either already based in Lisbon or are eager to relocate to Portugal. To make your transition smooth, we provide full relocation support and visa sponsorship for successful international candidates.

 See where you'll be working: BrainRocket Portugal

We are seeking a visionary and results-driven Head of Engineering to lead our engineering organization into its next phase of growth. Following our successful expansions, you will be responsible for the technical strategy, the scalability of our high-load systems, and the professional evolution of our entire engineering force.

You are not just managing delivery, you are building the engine that powers our business.

Your Mission

As the Head of Engineering, you will bridge the gap between business strategy and technical execution. You will lead a multi-disciplinary organization through Engineering Managers and Team Leads, ensuring that our products remain a benchmark for performance, security, and innovation. Your goal is to foster an environment of engineering excellence, rapid delivery, and sustainable growth.

✅ Strategic Responsibilities

• Technical Vision & Strategy: Define and execute the long-term technical roadmap, ensuring the platform scales seamlessly with the business.
• Organizational Leadership: Direct and mentor Engineering Managers and Team Leads, overseeing the growth, performance evaluations, and succession planning for the entire department.
• Engineering Excellence: Establish and enforce global engineering standards, documentation practices, and KPIs to ensure high-quality, secure, and maintainable codebases.
• Operational Efficiency: Optimize the SDLC and Agile processes across all teams (Scrum/Kanban), eliminating bottlenecks and managing cross-team resource allocation.
• Innovation & Tech Debt: Balance the delivery of new features with the continuous improvement of architecture and the strategic reduction of technical debt.
• Talent Acquisition & Culture: Lead the global hiring strategy to attract top-tier talent and cultivate a high-performance culture rooted in feedback, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Stakeholder Management: Act as the primary technical point of contact for executive leadership, aligning engineering efforts with product and business milestones.

✅ Requirements

• Educational Background: Bachelor’s, Master’s, or higher degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Proven Track Record: 10+ years of experience in backend development, with at least 5+ years in high-level leadership roles (managing multiple teams or managers).
• Technical Depth: Extensive experience with high-load, distributed systems, microservices architecture, Kubernetes, and cloud-native development.
• System Design: Deep expertise in SQL/NoSQL databases, message brokers, and secure CI/CD pipelines.
• Strategic Thinking: Demonstrated ability to manage complex technical trade-offs and drive large-scale architectural migrations.
• Soft Skills: Exceptional leadership, presentation, and communication skills. Ability to inspire teams and navigate fast-paced, high-pressure environments.
• Language: Fluency in English is a must.

✅ We offer excellent benefits, including but not limited to:

‍ Learning and development opportunities and interesting, challenging tasks.

✈ Relocation package (tickets, staying in a hotel for up to 2 weeks, and visa relocation support for our employees and their family members).

Opportunity to develop language skills, with partial compensation for the cost of English and Portuguese language classes (for localization purposes).

  Partial compensation for tennis and padel lessons.

Urban Sport membership benefit (the most diverse sports and wellness offering in Europe, with more than 50+ activities).

Private medical coverage, including inpatient, outpatient, dental care, annual check-ups, and maternity support.

Time for proper rest, with 24 non-business days per year and an additional 6 paid sick days.

Transport compensation - 200 euros net per month.

Competitive remuneration level with annual review.

Teambuilding activities.