Director of Engineering

About this role

ABOUT NEUROSCALE   Neuroscale is building the AI recruiting operating system, one unified platform for your entire talent organization, from first touch to hired. Arbi eliminates fragmented workflows, integrates directly with your ATS, and orchestrates AI agents for sourcing, outreach, screening, and candidate intelligence end-to-end. By combining reasoning-optimized models with deep workflow automation, Arbi helps talent teams win more top candidates with dramatically less friction.   We’re backed by top operators and investors, and we’re growing fast. Our momentum is further fueled by blue-chip partners and programs, including the NVIDIA Inception Program, the HPE Unleash AI Program, and our active DoD SBIR Phase II award and contract. We’re now hiring a Director of Engineering, a senior technical operator who can be credible with customers, strong with engineering teams, and comfortable switching between strategy, demos, architecture, documentation, and hands-on execution in the same week.   THE ROLE As Director of Engineering, you will be the senior technical leader responsible for translating customer demand into product execution. You will partner closely with the founders, product, sales, customer success, and engineering teams to make Arbi successful in the field. This is not a purely internal product management role, and it is not just a feature-building role. It is a strategic, operational, and customer-facing engineering leadership role. You will own demos for federal and commercial customers, lead technical discovery, define customer-specific roadmaps, manage engineering execution, support SBIR Phase III and procurement activities, and build the engineering operating rhythm needed for Neuroscale AI to scale. Role Snapshot - Location: Northern VA / DMV area preferred; open to candidates willing to relocate. - Type: Full-time, senior leadership role. - Compensation: Competitive base salary, meaningful early-stage equity, and performance-based upside. Final package based on experience and scope. - Travel: Expected for customer demos, workshops, federal events, commercial sales cycles, and investor/analyst briefings. - Reports to Founding leadership / CEO and CTO-level leadership. - Ideal profile: Engineering leader who can manage teams, own customer-facing technical conversations, and build disciplined execution in a startup environment.   WHAT YOU'LL OWN 1. Customer-Facing Technical Demos - Own and lead technical demos for federal and commercial customers, including USAF, VA, OPM, CBP, enterprise prospects, HR leaders, and strategic partners. - Clearly explain ARBI capabilities, architecture, workflows, integrations, AI evaluation methods, and deployment options to technical and non-technical stakeholders. - Handle technical objections around AI accuracy, explainability, security, integration, data handling, scalability, and customer-specific workflows. - Partner with sales and customer success to make every demo tighter, more repeatable, and aligned to customer outcomes. 2. Customer Roadmap and Customization Process - Convert high-level customer requirements into detailed engineering tasks, owners, timelines, sprint goals, and deliverables. - Define the customer customization process for pilots, proofs of concept, enterprise rollouts, and federal deployments. - Document feature requests, integrations, API needs, data requirements, viability checks, security requirements, and customer-specific configuration needs. - Distinguish between one-off customization, repeatable implementation patterns, and core product roadmap items. 3. Disciplined Engineering Execution - Build and manage the engineering operating model: sprint planning, task breakdown, delivery milestones, resource allocation, engineering reviews, and accountability. - Create visibility into engineering priorities, blockers, delivery risk, technical debt, and customer commitments. - Reduce dependency on founders for every technical decision by creating repeatable systems, clear ownership, and stronger team-level accountability. - Balance startup speed with sound architecture, reliability, product quality, and security. 4. Federal Procurement and Technical Requirement Collection - Support SBIR Phase III and federal opportunities by collecting procurement requirements, technical requirements, deployment constraints, security expectations, integration needs, and compliance considerations early in the sales cycle. - Partner with founders and sales leadership to ensure proposals, statements of work, demos, and pilots are technically feasible and well-scoped. - Help define technical win themes, customer proof points, implementation plans, and success criteria for federal and commercial opportunities. - Ensure engineering is not surprised late in the sales cycle by missing requirements, unclear integrations, or unvalidated assumptions. 5. SBIR Phase III and Strategic Customer Engagement - Support ongoing engagement with USAF, VA, OPM, CBP, and other federal stakeholders through regular demos, technical check-ins, roadmap updates, and feedback loops. - Help position ARBI as a continuously improving platform with clear proof points, measurable progress, and customer-driven evolution. - Create technical narratives that show how ARBI supports recruiting modernization, resume assessment, talent pipeline intelligence, compliance, and workforce decision-making. - Partner with leadership to turn customer conversations into credible implementation plans and future contract opportunities. 6. Engineering Hiring and Team Building - Help source, screen, technically interview, and onboard engineering talent for backend, frontend, AI/ML, integration, and DevOps roles. - Use ARBI, referrals, networks, and structured interview processes to identify strong builders who fit the startup environment. - Mentor engineers, raise engineering standards, and build a tea