Head of Engineering
Pipekit · United States
- Hybrid
- Full-time
- $225,000 / year
- United States
Job highlights
- Lead a talented team to product-market fit.
- Own engineering productivity and execution strategy.
- Drive organization growth through strategic hiring.
- Partner with Product to shape priorities.
- Advance Kubernetes-native infrastructure and open source.
About the role
About Pipekit
Pipekit is building the software infrastructure that powers modern data and AI systems. As the primary maintainers of the open-source Argo Workflows project, we advance Kubernetes-native workflow computing - pushing the performance, scalability, and reliability of distributed systems.
We work directly with some of the largest Argo users in the world, supporting mission-critical deployments at organizations like Bloomberg, Intuit, CrowdStrike, and Centrica Energy. The learning from these relationships drive upstream improvements to the runtime and help us develop our proprietary enterprise control plane.
Help us push the limits of Kubernetes-native infrastructure.
What You Will Own
- Engineering productivity, processes, and execution strategy
- Delivery, quality, reliability, and focus across services and product engineering
- Translating company priorities into clear plans, milestones, and shipped outcomes
- Balancing speed and pragmatism in a pre-PMF environment
- Designing lightweight execution systems to help the team ship faster with less coordination overhead
- Stakeholder management for the Engineering function, interfacing with the Management Team, Product, Go-to-Market, etc.
- Engineering organization growth strategy
- Hiring, onboarding, performance management, feedback loops, and standards
- Conducting 1:1s, addressing issues early, and preventing “management/culture debt”
- Setting and enforcing operating norms (communication, accountability, professionalism)
- Designing the organization and team for future growth, not current state
- Owning interview loops, leveling, offers, and close strategy
- Building a team optimized for ownership and customer impact, not bureaucracy
- Partnering closely with the product manager and Founders to translate priorities into executable plans
- Providing clear input on feasibility, trade-offs, and sequencing
- Pushing back when scope, timelines, or priorities create execution risk
- Actively shaping priorities by bringing an engineering perspective, not just executing on priorities
- Ensuring engineering has strong ownership, not just ticket execution
- Collaborating with the Founders to continuously update Pipekit’s open-source strategy
- Owning stewardship and execution of our open-source strategy (what/when/how)
- Developing close relationships with key stakeholders and partners
- Being a senior technical voice externally (community, partners, key users)
What Success Looks Like (First 90 Days)
- Team delivers consistent weekly progress against clearly prioritized goals (visible plan, low thrash).
- Every initiative has a directly responsible engineer; fewer escalations and handoffs.
- Lightweight planning and tracking (e.g., weekly planning, simple milestones, fast feedback loops) increases throughput.
- Explicit standards for code quality, reviews, and reliability are followed.
- Calibrated hiring bar, active pipeline, and repeatable interview and onboarding loops are in motion.
- Founders trust engineering execution without needing to intervene daily.
- Product Manager ↔ Engineering collaboration produces realistic scopes, fewer re-plans, and faster decisions.
Who You Are
- Senior engineering leader who has built and led high-performing startup teams.
- Enjoys leadership work on a small team.
- Technically credible to earn trust quickly across strong engineers.
- Strong people manager who likes leadership work (standards, coaching, hard calls).
- Comfortable in ambiguity and an early-stage, pre-PMF reality.
- Pragmatic, low ego, decisive, and direct communicator.
- Experienced with building open-source and open-core products.
This Role is Not a Good Fit If You:
- Prefer stable roadmaps over evolving priorities.
- Default to adding process instead of simplifying.
- Are uncomfortable making decisions with incomplete information.
- Prefer purely managerial roles without technical involvement.
Key skills/competency
- Head of Engineering
- Engineering Leadership
- People Management
- Execution Strategy
- Product Management
- Open Source Strategy
- Kubernetes
- Argo Workflows
- Distributed Systems
- Startup Environment
Skills & topics
- Head of Engineering
- Engineering Leadership
- People Management
- Startup
- Open Source
- Kubernetes
- Argo Workflows
- Distributed Systems
- Data Infrastructure
- AI Systems
- Software Engineering
- Hiring
- Onboarding
- Performance Management
- Technical Strategy
How to get hired
- Tailor your resume: Highlight your experience in leading startup engineering teams, people management, and open-source contributions. Emphasize your technical credibility and ability to thrive in early-stage environments.
- Craft a compelling cover letter: Showcase your understanding of Pipekit's mission and the Argo Workflows project. Clearly articulate how your leadership style and experience align with the company's goals of high-impact, low-friction execution.
- Prepare for behavioral and technical questions: Be ready to discuss your experience in building and scaling teams, managing technical debt, and driving product-market fit. Prepare examples demonstrating your decision-making skills in ambiguous situations and your collaborative approach with product and founders.
- Research Pipekit’s values: Understand their focus on pragmatism, low ego, and direct communication. Demonstrate how you embody these traits in your leadership approach.
Technical preparation
Review Kubernetes and Argo Workflows architecture.,Practice explaining complex technical concepts simply.,Prepare system design and scaling scenarios.,Understand CI/CD and infrastructure best practices.
Behavioral questions
Describe building a high-performing startup team.,How do you handle conflicting priorities?,Share an example of a tough management decision.,How do you foster a low-ego culture?
Frequently asked questions
- What is the time zone requirement for the Head of Engineering role at Pipekit?
- The Head of Engineering role at Pipekit requires candidates to be available between Eastern Time USA and Central European Time. This ensures effective collaboration across distributed teams and stakeholders.
- What is Pipekit building and what is its relation to Argo Workflows?
- Pipekit is building the software infrastructure for modern data and AI systems. They are the primary maintainers of the open-source Argo Workflows project, focusing on Kubernetes-native workflow computing.
- What are the key responsibilities of the Head of Engineering at Pipekit?
- The Head of Engineering will own engineering productivity, processes, and execution strategy. This includes managing the team, driving delivery and quality, developing hiring strategies, and partnering with Product and Founders.
- What kind of experience is Pipekit looking for in a Head of Engineering?
- Pipekit seeks a senior engineering leader with experience building high-performing startup teams, strong people management skills, technical credibility, and comfort with ambiguity. Experience with open-source and open-core products is also highly valued.
- What does success look like for the Head of Engineering in the first 90 days at Pipekit?
- Success in the first 90 days involves the team delivering consistent progress, establishing clear ownership for initiatives, implementing lightweight planning and tracking systems, setting quality standards, and building a calibrated hiring process. Founders should also be able to trust engineering execution.
- How does Pipekit approach open-source strategy in this role?
- The Head of Engineering will collaborate with Founders on Pipekit's open-source strategy, own its stewardship and execution, build relationships with stakeholders, and act as a senior technical voice externally.
- What is the compensation range for the Head of Engineering position at Pipekit?
- The compensation range for the Head of Engineering role at Pipekit is $175,000 to $275,000 annually.
- What kind of environment can a Head of Engineering expect at Pipekit?
- The environment at Pipekit is early-stage and pre-product-market-fit, requiring comfort with ambiguity and evolving priorities. They value pragmatism, low ego, decisiveness, and direct communication.