Senior Director of Software Engineering (U.S. - WA State)

We're Karat, the world's largest interviewing company.

Karat helps companies hire top engineering talent with confidence. As an end-to-end hiring solution, we work with organizations to improve the quality, efficiency, and equity of their technical hiring process. Global leaders like Walmart, Atlassian, and Citi rely on Karat to conduct hundreds of assessments and interviews every day through a powerful combination of human expertise and innovative technology. Our mission is to make every interview predictive, fair and enjoyable so we can unlock opportunity -- for everyone. We’re a passionate, focused, human-centric team, and we want you to join us!

Come join our Engineering team

Our Software Engineering team is dedicated to building the world’s most predictive, inclusive, and fair interviewing products for our clients and technical candidates alike.

What you will do

As the Senior Director of Software Engineering at Karat, you will lead a global engineering organization responsible for our flagship products, bringing together architecture and organization into a cohesive solution that transforms technical talent assessment. You'll serve as an equal partner to Product leadership in driving forward our vision for the future of interviewing, while managing Engineering leaders and professionals with both hands-on and strategic oversight. As a technology innovator, you'll identify how cutting-edge breakthroughs—particularly in AI—can transform our business model, then champion these innovations from concept to implementation.

• Team Leadership & Management: Lead, mentor, and grow a diverse team of software engineers, providing hands-on technical leadership and strategic people management in order to drive team productivity and foster a culture of high performance, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Hands-On Contribution: Act as both a leader and an active contributor to the engineering team, ensuring that the software development process is hands-on, collaborative, and aligned with company goals.
• End-to-End Ownership: Own the complete software experience, from customer-facing applications to internal tools, ensuring cohesion across globally distributed engineering teams.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with key stakeholders, particularly as the core day-to-day engineering partner with the VP of Product, to build and deliver integrated solutions that solve complex challenges.
• Technology Innovation & Vision: Drive value by staying at the forefront of technological advancements, particularly in AI. Proactively identify opportunities to leverage these breakthroughs to transform our business model and interview formats. Partner equally with Product to shape the future vision of technical interviewing while leading the implementation of these innovations.
• Agile Development: In an agile environment, work iteratively, demo regularly, and adapt quickly. Be comfortable managing and delivering on tight timelines while ensuring software quality and customer satisfaction across multiple time zones and regions.
• Continuous Improvement: Develop and refine software infrastructure, team processes, and company culture to enable rapid iteration and high-velocity feature releases. Balance short- and long-term roadmap goals, addressing both customer-facing features and technical debt while considering the unique needs of a global engineering organization.

The experience you will bring

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years in people leadership roles
• Demonstrated success leading and developing engineering managers, with proven ability to coach people managers and drive team performance
• Strong technical background with hands-on experience reviewing code and making architectural decisions while operating at a leadership level
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives and managing teams to achieve strategic goals
• Proven experience managing geographically dispersed engineering teams, with particular emphasis on collaborating with teams in India
• Exceptional project management abilities with experience overseeing complex, multi-disciplinary projects
• Passion for building inclusive, high-performing engineering cultures across different global regions

This position is only available to candidates residing in the following U.S. state: WA. While our team operates 100% remotely, we are currently limiting hiring to these specific locations. Applications from other states will not