Director of Engineering | Hyderabad | ₹40-50 LPA

This is not a corporate job. This is a builder's role.

About SmartDocs

SmartDocs is a 16-year-old, profitable, bootstrapped enterprise SaaS company competing head-to-head with SAP Ariba and Coupa. We serve 26 enterprise customers—primarily major US infrastructure organizations processing millions of dollars in procurement transactions daily on our platform.

We're transforming from successful bootstrapped roots to Silicon Valley-grade engineering operations while maintaining our owner mindset and execution obsession.

Who We're Looking ForThe Ideal Background

We're seeking technical leaders with entrepreneurial battle scars —founding engineers, technical co-founders, or early engineering leaders who built something from scratch. You understand what it takes to ship quality software when every decision matters.

You might be:

• A technical co-founder/founding engineer who took a startup from idea to production
• An early engineering leader (first 5-10 hires) who architected and scaled a product
• A CTO/Engineering Director from a bootstrapped, capital-efficient company
• Someone who worked with founders/CEOs on mission-critical applications where system reliability directly impacted business survival

What matters most: You've built something significant with your own hands, made critical technical decisions with constrained resources, and understand the weight of engineering choices when real customers and revenue depend on your platform.

Technical Must-Haves

Core Requirements:

• 7-15 years hands-on software engineering experience
• Expert-level proficiency in Java, Spring Boot, MongoDB, React/Angular
• Experience with Azure cloud services
• Mission-critical application experience where failures have serious business consequences
• 3-5+ years leading engineering teams and managing managers
• Highly preferable: Experience with US tolling systems, spend management platforms, or vendor management systems

The "Founder/Builder" Technical DNA:

• You've written production code recently—not just reviewed it
• You understand technical debt as business trade-offs, not engineering failures
• You've made build-vs-buy decisions with real budget constraints
• You know how to extract maximum value from lean teams
• You've worked directly with business stakeholders translating technical complexity into business outcomes

The Role: What You'll Actually Do

Engineering Leadership:

• Lead 4 engineering managers and 15+ engineers building our Java/Spring Boot/MongoDB/Angular platform
• Own end-to-end execution: sprint planning → production deployment → customer success
• Make real-time technical decisions—architecture reviews, production incidents, feasibility assessments
• Balance feature delivery against technical debt with P&L consciousness
• Roll up your sleeves when critical issues need senior technical intervention

Building World-Class Operations:

• Implement engineering processes that actually improve velocity
• Establish meaningful metrics: code quality, deployment frequency, incident response, team velocity
• Build/improve CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, deployment automation
• Scale processes from 15 to 50+ engineers without creating red tape

Strategic Partnership:

• Report directly to CTO—partner on technical strategy and architecture
• Work closely with CEO on company trajectory and R&D transformation
• Translate technical constraints into business language for stakeholders
• Coordinate with US-based customers on implementations and integrations

Technical Transformation:

• Consolidate customer-specific code branches into unified, maintainable codebase
• Reduce technical debt without stalling feature delivery
• Modernize legacy components while maintaining 99.9% uptime
• Build scalable architecture that supports growth without over-engineering

What Success Looks Like

90 Days: Built team credibility, identified top process improvements, resolved critical technical blockers, established communication rhythms

6 Months: Measurably improved engineering velocity, technical debt roadmap in execution, high team morale, quick wins delivered

12 Months: Startup efficiency + enterprise reliability, processes scale to 30-50 engineers, solid technical foundation, thinking like a business owner

Must-Have Qualities

✅ Execution obsession – You ship, not just plan ✅ Technical credibility – Engineers respect you because you can do the work ✅ Owner mentality – You think about ROI, customer impact, business outcomes ✅ Comfort with ambiguity – You've operated without perfect processes ✅ Direct communication – You tell it straight ✅ Pragmatic perfectionism – You know when "good enough now" beats "perfect later"

Deal-Breakers

❌ Pure "process people" who've never made technical decisions under pressure ❌ Leaders who need perfect information before deciding ❌ Those seeking predictable 9-to-5 corporate roles ❌ Anyone uncomfortable with hands-on technical work when needed ❌ People who create process for process's sake

Why This Is Different

It's Real: Profitable company, 16 years, real revenue, enterprise customers, mission-critical systems, proven product-market fit

It's Rare: Bootstrapped DNA, transformation opportunity, direct CEO/CTO access, no VC pressure or quarterly fire drills

It's Yours to Build: Autonomy to implement your way, scale team to 50+, define engineering culture, career-defining impact

What We Offer

• Compensation: ₹40-50 LPA (Fixed)
• Growth: Direct CEO/CTO partnership, budget for learning, build team from 15 to 50+
• Environment: On-site Hyderabad, sustainable pace, low politics, high ownership
• Stability: 16-year track record, established customer base, predictable revenue

Tech Stack

Current: Java, Spring Boot, Angular, MongoDB Atlas, Azure VMs, REST APIs

Where We're Going: Unified codebase, modern CI/CD, API-first architecture, enhanced observability, multi-tenant evolution

How to Apply

Email: careers@smartdocs.ai

Subject: "Director of Engineering - Hyderabad"

Include:

1. Resume highlighting entrepreneurial experience, hands-on technical work, mission-critical applications, founding team collaboration

• Cover Letter addressing: Your entrepreneurial journey and what you built
• A critical technical decision with incomplete information
• Process implementation under constraints
• Why SmartDocs, why now?

1. Optional: GitHub/GitLab, technical blog, founder reference, problem you're proud of solving

Final Note

If you're a technical builder who misses startup intensity while wanting stability... If you're experienced enough to implement scalable processes but pragmatic enough to avoid corporate bloat... If you've learned from entrepreneurial experiences and want to apply them to a company with real traction, customers, and revenue... If you think like a business owner and want to be treated like one...

Let's talk.

We're not just hiring an engineering leader. We're looking for a technical partner who thinks about engineering outcomes in terms of business impact, customer success, and company growth.

SmartDocs is an equal opportunity employer committed to creating an inclusive environment. We especially welcome applications from those who've taken entrepreneurial risks, built things from scratch, and are ready to channel that experience into building something exceptional with staying power.