Director of Product Engineering

Parity is one of the world's most experienced core blockchain infrastructure companies, having built and pioneered some of the most advanced technologies in the blockchain sector. Parity was founded by Dr. Gavin Wood, co-founder and former CTO of Ethereum, the primary engineer behind the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), inventor of the Solidity programming language, and primary author of the Ethereum Yellowpaper.

With a remote-first, global team, Parity has built clients for Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Zcash and has pioneered a completely new, next-generation blockchain protocol with Polkadot and the framework it’s built with, Substrate. Parity builds the open-source technologies needed to power an unstoppable, decentralised web—known as Web3—and helps developers and organisations implement and build upon the Web3 tech stack.'

People in our collective are:

• Highly motivated to contribute to Parity’s mission and be part of something bigger
• Excited to work on projects that are groundbreaking and complex
• Autonomous workers that self-initiate, but also collaborate well with others
• Taking maximum accountability and having minimum ego at work
• Comfortable with chaos and adapting to the ever-changing Web3 space
• Continuously educating themselves about Parity and the wider ecosystem

About the team: 

We are looking for a seasoned technical and people leader to lead the dynamic Product Engineering organisation in Parity. In this role, you will lead a set of multi-disciplined teams (e.g. Frontend and Integration, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Data, Smart Contract and Ecosystem Engagement). You will work cross-functionally in Parity and across Polkadot's ecosystem to understand ecosystem needs, shape our product and service roadmap, and advocate our technologies to drive adoption. You'll also be responsible for investing in the team’s development and success, building a high performing, effective, and collaborative organisation.

About the position:

This is a leadership position with a lot of responsibilities and a lot of freedom:

• Managing a set of teams (>50 pax)
• Frontend & Integration team: Lead the development of our low and high levels of APIs, libraries and extensions, as well as key partner integration projects with our forward deployed engineers.
• Ecosystem Engagement team: Own and define key product and solutioning needs from our ecosystem and work collaboratively with cross-functional teams to shape our roadmap. Represent and advocate for our technologies to drive ecosystem adoption and growth. 
• Smart Contract team: Smart Contract is how most of the blockchains are used (e.g. Solidity, EVM). Polkadot has multiple ways to be used, via Smart Contracts (Ink or EVM) or via a parachain (aka custom Rust code).
• SRE team: In charge of running our services as well as build automation for the various networks across Polkadot ecosystem (Test network: Rococco, Westend; Production: Kusama, Polkadot)
• Data team: In charge of analysing the data from the chains and computing business value out of the data. 
• Be the interface with the community to understand what would be useful for Polkadot. Defining the "product" and what should be developed next. 
• Communicate externally (e.g. conferences, articles, posts) to showcase and advocate for our roadmap and technology.
• Contribute to the overall roadmap and create one for your area.
• Shape the teams into a productive unit (Perf management, Okr, Roadmap)

About you:

• Significant experience in management of managers 
• Proven track record of leading in uncertainty and complexity, corollary bring clarity to the teams.
• Strong technical knowledge (Web2 and/or Web3 area). With infrastructure/security background is preferred. 
• Teams are mostly using Typescript and Rust. Coding skills are preferred. 
• Demonstrated product sense.
• Strong communication skills. Ability to engage with the ecosystem in a constructive way.

About working for us:

• Competitive remuneration packages based on iterative market research, including tokens (where legally possible)
• “Future of work” environment that’s remote-first and self-initiating with flexible hours
• Team mates that are genuinely excited about their impact and projects
• Access to the brightest minds in this space to learn about Web3 and develop your skills and knowledge while on the job
• Becoming part of the wider ecosystem (career and networking opportunities)
• Team and company-wide retreats
• Work laptop
• Opportunity to relocate to Germany or Portugal (with visa sponsorship)

Those joining our collective as an employee in Germany, Portugal, and the U.K. also enjoy benefits such as health care, parental leave, PTO (28 days per year), local team events, yearly L&D budget, and language classes.

Parity is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We welcome diversity in our global team and care about everyone in our collective feeling included and welcome.

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