Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. Niche is the leader in school search, aiming to simplify the process of researching and enrolling in schools. They are seeking a Director of Engineering to lead the Partner Experience organization, focusing on enhancing partner onboarding and reporting through engineering excellence.
Responsibilities
- Learn about Niche by meeting with various team members to learn more about our company through our Onboarding meetings
- Meet all direct reports and key cross-functional partners; build an initial read on team strengths and gaps
- Get deep on the partner-facing product surfaces, current tech stack, and delivery patterns across both teams
- Understand the partner experience end to end — onboarding speed, lead pacing, platform engagement — and where the biggest engineering leverage points are
- Form an initial point of view on the teams' AI tooling adoption and where the gaps are
- Present your assessment of the organization's engineering health — delivery, architecture, team org, AI readiness — to the CTO and Sr. Director of Product
- Align with product leadership on near-term technical priorities and any pressing architectural decisions
- Identify the top 2–3 things you'd change in the first half of your tenure and propose a plan
- Begin actively coaching EMs on embedding AI-native practices into their teams' day-to-day workflows
- Own the engineering roadmap and resourcing for both teams with full confidence
- Have a defined velocity measurement framework in place that accounts for AI-augmented output
- Be actively leading at least one meaningful initiative to accelerate agentic engineering adoption
- Have established a strong operating rhythm with the product lead, CTO, and Sr. Director of Product
Skills
- 8+ years in software engineering, with at least 3+ years managing engineering managers
- Demonstrated, hands-on experience driving a team's transition to AI-assisted or agentic engineering workflows — building the culture, tooling, and measurement systems, not just personal AI usage
- Track record of shipping high-quality product at scale in a fast-moving, cross-functional environment
- Strong communicator — able to represent engineering credibly to product and GTM partners and translate fluidly between technical and business language
- Experience working alongside embedded data engineers, with meaningful exposure to modern data tooling (dbt, Snowflake, or similar)
- Systematic thinker who brings structure to ambiguous problems without over-processing
- Experience in EdTech, marketplace, or consumer platform businesses
- Familiarity with spec-driven development (SDD) or similar AI-paired engineering operating models
- Experience in B2B2C businesses with CRM-integrated product surfaces
- Exposure to partner-facing reporting systems, data pipelines, or lead delivery infrastructure
Benefits
- Annual Bonus and Stock Option Program
- Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision and dental and supplemental coverage
- Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
- Stipend that allows you to build your work from home office in a style and function that suits your personal preferences
- Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid) in addition to short term disability for birthing parents
- Meaningful 401(k) with employer match
- Fully flexible workforce empowering our employees to choose to work remotely, in our Pittsburgh office or whatever combination suits you
Company Overview