Director of Engineering Operations

Engineering Leader Operational Partner

The engineering leader sets the technical vision, direction, and priorities — and wants to keep doing so. What this role provides is an operational partner who takes the administrative and coordination load off the leader’s plate so the leader can stay focused on strategy and technical judgment. This is a management and operations role, not a hands-on coding position and not a vision-setting one. You are the person who makes the trains run on time: you manage staffing and capacity across squads, run the day-to-day admin the leader would rather not, and own the operational side of our third-party technical agreements. Success means the leader spends far less time on logistics, paperwork, and coordination — and the organization still runs smoothly.

What you'll own:

• Staffing & capacity management
• Time & delivery coordination
• Third-party & vendor agreement management
• The admin the leader would rather delegate

What we're looking for:

• 7+ years in or around software engineering, with strong operational and management experience.

• Proven track record running staffing, capacity, and delivery coordination for a team of 25–50+ engineers.

• Direct experience managing vendor or third-party technical agreements — tracking terms, renewals, and negotiations at meaningful scale.

• Exceptionally organized and systematic; you like owning the details and keeping many threads straight.

• Enough technical fluency to coordinate engineers and vendors credibly and understand what agreements actually cover (you do not need to code).

• Comfortable operating as a leader’s right hand — high trust, high follow-through, low ego about who sets direction.

• Strong communicator who works cleanly across Engineering, Product, Legal, and Finance.

• Familiar with planning and tracking tools (e.g., Jira, Linear) and contract/vendor management practices.

• Based in the USA or Canada, with enough daily overlap with the team and the engineering leader to coordinate closely; comfortable working in a distributed organization.

Nice to have

• Experience in a fast-paced product company (gaming, consumer, or high-growth software).

• Background as a chief of staff, engineering operations lead, or technical program lead.

What success looks like

• Within 90 days: a complete, trusted inventory of the ~40 third-party agreements with every renewal date tracked, plus a clear view of team capacity and allocations.

• Within 6 months: the leader is spending materially less time on admin, coordination, and vendor paperwork; renewals are handled ahead of deadline; staffing reliably matches priorities.

• Within 12 months: the operational backbone runs smoothly and predictably, and the leader is freed to focus almost entirely on technical vision and direction.

Compensation Competitive base salary plus bonus and benefits, commensurate with experience and location within the USA or Canada or Europe. Full compensation details will be shared during the interview process.

High 5 Games is an equal opportunity employer. We provide equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, religion, sex, age, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, citizenship status, veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. We prohibit discrimination in decisions concerning recruitment, hiring, compensation, benefits, training, termination, promotions, or any other condition of employment or career development.

If your experience looks a little different from what we've identified but you are passionate about joining our organization, we encourage you to apply.