type: role
slug: head-of-engineering
name: Head of Engineering
description: Owns execution across workstreams, technical delivery quality, and internal integration strategy within Fivetran.
owner: dave
status: planned
Head of Engineering
About the Role
Dataface needs an engineering leader who can turn an ambitious incubator effort into a credible, repeatable execution machine without slowing down the speed that makes the project valuable. This role owns delivery across the initiative: team formation, operating cadence, technical quality, cross-functional alignment, and the practical work of getting a product from promising prototype to durable business.
This is not a pure people-management position and it is not a coordination-only role. The Head of Engineering needs strong technical judgment, a sharp sense of product leverage, and the ability to make high-quality decisions in ambiguous conditions. The team is small, the work is cross-functional, and the standards need to be high from the beginning.
What You'll Do
- Own engineering execution across Dataface workstreams, turning milestone plans into credible delivery plans with clear sequencing, accountability, and measurable outcomes.
- Build and lead a strong engineering organization that can move quickly without accumulating avoidable quality or architecture debt.
- Establish operating rhythm across product, design, and engineering so prioritization, scope, and tradeoffs are handled quickly and coherently.
- Drive technical quality across platform surfaces, including runtime reliability, internal APIs, observability, deployment discipline, and integration quality with Fivetran systems.
- Unblock cross-workstream dependencies early, especially where platform constraints, internal teams, or architectural decisions can put roadmap goals at risk.
- Partner with product and design leadership on roadmap shaping, resourcing, and execution strategy.
- Set the bar for engineering culture: pragmatic, accountable, high-ownership, and focused on delivering real product value.
What We're Looking For
- Significant engineering leadership experience in fast-moving product environments.
- Strong architectural judgment and enough hands-on technical depth to evaluate tradeoffs directly with senior engineers.
- Proven record of shipping complex products where multiple systems and teams had to move in coordination.
- Ability to create clarity in ambiguous environments and keep momentum when information is incomplete.
- Experience balancing rapid iteration with long-term system integrity.
- Excellent communication with executives, product leaders, designers, and senior engineers.
- A strong internal bar for simplicity, execution quality, and team effectiveness.
Why This Role Matters
Dataface has real product ambition and non-trivial technical complexity. The Head of Engineering is the role that turns that combination into repeatable execution. Done well, this role ensures the team is not just building interesting things, but shipping the right things with enough rigor to support growth inside Fivetran.