Director of Engineering, Backend Platforms

Onebrief is a revolutionary platform for military staff workflows and operational planning. The software is designed to enable smarter, real-time decisions. With unparalleled collaboration features, AI-enhanced tools, and customizable workflows, Onebrief makes staffs superhuman. Our expanding roster of customers includes COCOMs and Service Components worldwide.

Founded by experienced planners in 2019, our diverse team of over 120 includes veterans from all branches of the military and technologists from leading software companies. With $53M+ raised from top-tier venture investors, Onebrief continues to scale globally, making an impact where it matters most.

We’re hiring a Director of Engineering to lead our Backend Platform org, which includes our Data Platform, Third party API & Data Integrations, and Applied AI teams. This is a foundational role; you’ll work with product to set the vision, guide the people and systems behind how we store data, move information, and power smart workflows across our product.

You’ll report to the VP of Engineering and work closely with leaders across Product, Design, and Infrastructure. The scope here is broad: organizational and technical, near-term and strategic. We’re looking for someone who thrives at the system level. Someone who sees platforms not just as architecture, but as leverage for the entire company.

• Set direction and connect the dots. Shape the vision across data, APIs, and AI enablement, then work with your teams to turn that vision into focused, sequenced initiatives.

• Support and scale great teams. Initially, you’ll lead 3 Engineering Managers (and their teams of ~8 engineers), helping them grow, navigate ambiguity, and scale.

• Invest in technical quality. Make sure our backend systems are observable, secure, performant, and cost-aware. Raise the bar on architecture without slowing down delivery.

• Collaborate deeply. Work closely with PM, Design, and other Engineering leaders to shape quarterly plans, align technical work with real user outcomes, and unblock cross-team delivery.

• Make systems better over time. Lead the evolution of our service architecture, cloud infra, and AI foundations. Balance speed with sound engineering judgment.

• Build a healthy culture. Model low-ego, context-rich leadership. Create rituals that help teams plan, reflect, and work asynchronously while delivering value and maintaining healthy work life boundaries.

You build a team of leaders, not followers. You’ve built and led platform teams before, in fast-moving, and rapidly growing product companies. You care about systems that last and teams that grow with clarity. You’re comfortable zooming between strategic tradeoffs and technical details. You believe in building trust through presence, not control.

• 2+ years leading managers in backend or platform teams

• 6 - 10+ years of engineering experience, with significant depth in backend or infrastructure domains

• Experience growing teams in a rapid growth environment, mentoring EMs, and designing org structures that support autonomy and focus

• Clear communicator across functions and async-first teams

• Strong grasp of backend platforms: Node.js, Postgres, Redis, Kubernetes, AWS

• Experience with data pipelines, secure ingestion, API ecosystems, and system design at scale

• Familiarity with observability, cost optimization, and reliability patterns

• Bonus: experience enabling AI/ML teams or building infra for LLM-powered features

• History of driving multi-quarter platform roadmaps in product-led companies

• Comfort shaping team scopes, defining SLAs, and guiding technical standards

• Ability to translate complexity into clarity, and align cross-functional teams around the work that matters

We build planning tools for military staffs, replacing brittle, legacy workflows with modern, real-time software. Our product is used in classified environments, often in moments that truly matter. That means our infrastructure needs to be trustworthy, scalable, and invisible when it works.

We’re a mission-driven team with strong product instincts and a bias toward clarity. We’ve been profitable since 2024, are deployed across COCOMs and Joint Staff, and are still small enough for each new leader to shape how we scale.

If this role sounds like a fit, or you’re curious to learn more, we’d love to meet you.

Compensation Range: $240K - $310K