Head of Engineering

Head Of Engineering

Irvine, California

At Wayvia, we help the world's top brands stay ahead—using AI, data, and innovation to shape the future of commerce. Whether you're charting a new path or leveling up your journey, Wayvia is where your career can go further. We help global brands connect with their shoppers in ways that are relevant, respectful, and real. And we do the same for each other—with trust, transparency, and the human connection that makes great work possible. At Wayvia, you'll find a team that's curious, collaborative, and always up for solving what's next. We move fast, think boldly, and support one another in building something that matters—for our clients, for shoppers, and for each other.

The Head Of Engineering is responsible for building and leading an AI-first engineering organization that delivers intelligent, scalable, and highly reliable products at Wayvia. This role owns the strategy and execution of engineering across traditional software systems, data platforms, and AI-driven capabilities.

The Head Of Engineering will lead the transition to AI-native development practices, embedding machine learning, automation, and data-centric thinking into how products are designed, built, deployed, and operated. This leader will scale high-performing teams that leverage AI to move faster, make better decisions, and deliver differentiated value to enterprise clients.

AI-First Engineering Leadership

• Define and execute an AI-first engineering strategy, ensuring AI and automation are core to product development, data pipelines, and operational workflows.
• Champion the adoption of AI-augmented development (e.g., AI-assisted coding, testing, debugging, observability, and incident response).
• Partner closely with Product, Data, and Executive leadership to translate business goals into AI-powered product capabilities.

Platform, Product, and Data Excellence

• Ensure continuous delivery of stable, secure, and scalable AI-enabled platforms serving large enterprise customers.
• Lead the design and evolution of data-intensive systems, including ingestion, normalization, enrichment, and analytics at scale.
• Oversee the development of intelligent client-facing software that leverages AI for insights, automation, and decision support.

Organization & Talent

• Build, structure, and scale a modern engineering organization that blends software engineers, data engineers, and AI-focused technologists.
• Recruit, develop, and retain top technical talent with strong foundations in software engineering and AI-adjacent disciplines.
• Foster a culture of experimentation, continuous learning, and responsible AI use.

Engineering Quality & Velocity

• Uphold rigorous code quality, model quality, and data quality standards, emphasizing maintainability, observability, and explainability.
• Implement Agile and Lean practices optimized for rapid iteration on AI-driven systems, including experimentation and model evolution.
• Apply a pragmatic, metrics-driven approach to prioritization, performance measurement, and delivery outcomes.

Execution & Stakeholder Alignment

• Oversee multiple concurrent initiatives across core platforms, data systems, and AI capabilities.
• Maintain strong communication with executive stakeholders, ensuring engineering efforts are aligned with business strategy and customer needs.
• Anticipate and manage technical, operational, and AI-related risks (e.g., data integrity, model drift, scalability, compliance).

Minimum Qualifications

• Proven experience leading large, high-performing engineering organizations in a senior management capacity.
• Experience managing 30+ engineers and managers across distributed teams.
• Demonstrated success recruiting and retaining top technical talent.
• Strong engineering fundamentals with a passion for high-quality, maintainable systems.
• Hands-on experience driving modernization initiatives involving automation, data platforms, or AI-enabled systems.

Preferred Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.
• 10+ years of engineering leadership experience; 5+ years in SaaS or data-driven platforms.
• Experience leading teams building AI-enabled products, machine-learning-backed systems, or advanced analytics platforms.
• Familiarity with modern AI/ML ecosystems (e.g., model training, inference, embeddings, vector search, LLM integration).
• Experience with JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js, MongoDB, and C# (.NET); cloud-native architectures preferred.
• Proven ability to implement Agile practices in environments with high experimentation and iteration velocity.
• Strong communication, analytical thinking, and people-leadership skills.
• Track record of building scalable, adaptable engineering organizations.

Location: This is a hybrid position open to candidates based in Orange County, California.

Compensation: The salary for this role is $20,000-250,000 with variable compensation as part of the compensation structure. Please note that our salary ranges are based on current market data and the offered compensation may vary based on experience, skills, location, and other factors permitted by law.

Wayvia is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to inclusion and diversity.