Your job Assaia International AG provides AI-based software solutions for global airports and airlines. We were founded in February 2018 in Switzerland, headquartered in Zurich and New York and we have a fast-growing team located across Europe and North America. Assaia offers AI-based computer-vision solutions that monitor and analyse aircraft turnaround processes from video streams. Assaia’s solutions help airports and airlines improve on-time performance, efficiency, safety, and sustainability metrics, helping them get their passengers to their destinations on time. We work with aviation companies across the world including New York JFKIAT, Toronto Pearson, United Airlines, British Airways, London Heathrow and more. See details and demos on our website and Linkedin! We are seeking an experienced and strategic Director of Engineering to lead our R&D engineering teams and drive operational excellence across a rapidly growing, fully remote technical organization. Reporting to the CTO, this senior leadership role will own the delivery processes, people management, and execution of engineering initiatives across multiple product lines. The ideal candidate combines deep engineering leadership experience with a pragmatic approach to delivery, a passion for developing high-performing teams, and the ability to align engineering execution with the company’s long-term technology strategy. This is an opportunity to help shape a highly technical, product-focused organization working on complex, industry-leading solutions in aviation operations. Responsibilities - Lead and manage multiple engineering teams across backend (Python) and frontend development, QA, and DevOps, ensuring consistent delivery quality, on-time execution, and strong cross-team collaboration. - Own and continuously improve engineering processes, from planning and estimation to release and post-release review, ensuring they scale effectively as the team grows. - Partner with the CTO to ensure architectural decisions and technology direction are reflected in engineering execution. - Act as a coach and mentor to team leaders and senior engineers, fostering career growth, engagement, and retention. - Collaborate closely with product management to translate business priorities into actionable engineering plans, managing dependencies and risks. - Drive the implementation of team topologies and structures that best align with our product lines and internal platforms. - Drive efficiency and productivity initiatives across engineering, including the adoption of AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, code generation/analysis LLMs) and other automation technologies. - Oversee engineering hiring, ensuring high technical standards, culture fit, and alignment with organisational needs. - Monitor and report on engineering KPIs and OKRs, identifying opportunities for improvement and ensuring accountability for results. - Promote a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous learning within the engineering organisation. - Ensure engineering practices meet our standards for quality, scalability, maintainability, and security. Requirements - Proven experience in a senior engineering leadership role (Director, VP, or equivalent) managing multiple teams and engineering managers in a complex technical environment. - Strong track record of delivering high-quality products at scale, ideally in a SaaS or product-focused company. - Deep understanding of modern software development practices, including Agile/Lean methodologies, CI/CD, testing strategies, and cloud-native architectures. - Exceptional leadership and people management skills, with experience coaching engineering managers and senior ICs. - Strong technical background – able to engage in architectural discussions and understand trade-offs, even if not coding day-to-day. - Demonstrated ability to balance delivery efficiency with long-term technical investments. - Demonstrated experience in identifying, implementing, and scaling efficiency initiatives, including the adoption of AI-assisted development tools to improve delivery speed and code quality. - Excellent communication skills in English, with the ability to build trust and alignment across product, engineering, and executive leadership. - Experience working effectively in fully remote, distributed teams across multiple time zones. - Familiarity with ML/AI technologies and integrating them into product development processes would be a plus. Why Assaia Assaia is a unique place where you can work on a technically advanced and innovative product for an exciting and important industry. You will be working in a diverse international team of smart people who can learn a lot from each other – all this without leaving your home – or sunbed, if you wish! Your input will be valuable and we actively ask everyone to share their thoughts and ideas to help steer the direction of the company’s development. Additionally, we offer: - A flat hierarchy and close to zero bureaucracy. - Participation in making important decisions, your ideas will be heard and implemented. - Always remote work and a flexible schedule. - Agile processes. - Paid vacation, paid sick leaves. - Paid relevant courses/online education/English courses. - Great company culture based on honesty and mutual respect. - Live team events. We are a team of more than 95 now. We are looking forward to expanding it with you!