Director of Software Engineering

Whisker•Auburn Hills, MI

10h•Onsite

About The Position

Whisker is redefining what it means to live with cats—designing intelligent systems that remove friction, elevate the everyday, and celebrate the quiet brilliance of feline companionship. Today, Litter-Robot leads the category. Tomorrow, an entire ecosystem that expands what’s possible for cats and the people who love them. We believe the future is feline. And we’re imagining that future today. We work onsite 4+ days a week, with our team based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and Juneau, Wisconsin. Our team of 700+ passionate pet people thrives on collaboration, innovation, and the occasional office cameo from a four-legged friend. What You’ll Do: We are hiring a Director of Software Engineering to work onsite at Whisker HQ to co-lead our technical evolution. This foundational leadership role partners closely with the VP of Software Engineering, anchoring engineering excellence for our core development team. This leader will oversee the scalable, resilient architecture and execution of all backend systems and shared platform services. A core focus is owning data flow from ingestion and modeling to storage and access creating clean pathways across teams. The Director will architect our internal metrics infrastructure, enabling all functions (Finance, Ops, Product, Executive) to self-serve trusted, timely insights. They will connect technical systems with business stakeholders, ensuring the data powering decisions is accurate and transparent. The role is also responsible for orchestrating backend/frontend development rhythm, ensuring cohesive APIs, predictable integration cycles, and fast, high-quality development. Ultimately, this leader will champion a culture of data clarity and technical precision, building systems that power our products and help the company operate with confidence. Summary: The Director of Software Engineering will lead the continued development and management of our digital products, product roadmap for our embedded systems, mobile apps, cloud infrastructure, Machine Learning engineering capabilities, product ideation and management, and the growth and management of our evolving team to ensure we’re delivering great products for our customers around the globe!

Requirements

Bachelor’s and/or Master’s in Computer Science or related field and / or equivalent years of experience
10+ years of software engineering experience
5+ years experience as a Senior Software Engineering Manager or Director
10+ years of development experience with at least 5 years in cloud environments working with SQL, Python, Java, and RESTful APIs
7+ years leading multiple Agile teams and programs with expert understanding of Agile and Lean principles
Strong knowledge of the AWS IoT stack in the context of large-scale IoT product deployments
Experience with Flutter (or other comparable framework) for mobile app design, development and support
This requires driving architecture, execution, verification and automation of all aspects of the products
Clear understanding of both supervised and unsupervised learning methodologies and infrastructure needs
Proven ability to manage multiple product lines and meet aggressive release schedules
Excellent communication (verbal & written) and presentation skills
Experience managing teams of 30-100 people and demonstrated ability to build high-performing, collaborative teams
Strong executive-level communication and presentation skills
High degree of ownership, initiative and operational discipline
Maintains confidentiality of proprietary information
Ability to maintain a professional atmosphere in a fast-paced environment with numerous interactions and interruptions
A high degree of initiative, self-motivation, and ability to motivate others
Ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships with Team Members and colleagues
Comfortable with office pets (cats, dogs)

Responsibilities

Oversees the design, development, and implementation of software solutions, ensuring alignment with the company’s strategic objectives
Manages the software engineering department’s resources, fostering innovation, and ensuring that software projects meet quality, budget, and timeline requirements
Establishes and enforces engineering best practices and operational procedures to ensure scalable and secure software development processes
Drives the adoption of new technologies and frameworks within the team, staying abreast of industry trends to keep the company at the cutting edge of technological advancements
Fosters an environment of collaboration and communication within the engineering teams and across departments, ensuring that all stakeholders are informed and engaged in key project decisions
Advances our software capabilities into sensor fusion, machine learning, pet recognition, IoT connectivity and in-app experience
Develops a clear vision of machine learning solutions to enable AI-powered in-app experiences for pet health, well-being and interaction
Beyond traditional machine learning algorithms, the Director recognizes opportunities where deep learning is applicable and scales the team to address those opportunities
Recruits, grows, mentors and leads our core SW engineering team
Develops other leaders and mentoring our junior engineers to deliver amazing products
Balances the needs of today with where we want to be tomorrow
Leads execution of Whisker’s software roadmap while shaping long-term architectural strategy
Balances near-term delivery with platform investments that enable future innovation
Elevates our connected product ecosystem across mobile, cloud, device, and data systems
Oversees all backend services, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and shared platform systems
Ensures APIs, mobile experiences, IoT connectivity, and cloud services operate as one cohesive system
Ensures systems are scalable, secure, observable, and resilient
Drives architectural clarity that supports both product performance and rapid iteration
Leads the design and evolution of data pipelines across ingestion, modeling, storage, and reporting
Builds clean, reliable systems that power product features and internal operations
Enables Finance, Product, Operations, and Executive teams to access trusted, meaningful metrics
Collaborates with product management, operations, and other cross-functional teams to define product requirements and ensures that the engineering team delivers software that meets user needs
Champions data clarity and operational visibility across the organization
Establishes strong integration patterns between frontend and backend teams
Creates predictable development rhythms that reduce friction and rework
Partners with AI/ML leadership to ensure infrastructure supports machine learning and AI-powered experiences
Builds backend systems capable of scaling experimentation and intelligent product features
Leads crisis management and troubleshooting initiatives, ensuring rapid and effective resolution of software issues to minimize downtime and maintain customer satisfaction.
Defines and monitors key performance indicators (KPIs) for the engineering department to evaluate effectiveness and implement improvements as needed
Represents the engineering team in executive meetings, providing insights and updates to senior management and other stakeholders about project progress, challenges, and strategic opportunities
Builds future leaders and cultivates a culture of craftsmanship, accountability, and collaboration.
Leads with clarity, humility, and a servant-leadership mindset
Perform additional responsibilities as required.