At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead engineering efforts, set technical direction, and drive delivery for a growing startup.
- Company: Join Respondent, a dynamic startup revolutionising participant recruiting for research.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, remote work options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Be part of a supportive global team with a culture that values collaboration and high standards.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by shaping the future of our engineering team and platform.
- Qualifications: Experience in startups, strong coding skills, and proven leadership in tech teams.
The predicted salary is between 121500 - 148500 $ per year.
We're looking for a Head of Engineering who's ready to take ownership of our engineering function and help shape how Respondent continues to grow. You'll be the single accountable person for engineering output, setting technical direction, driving delivery, and building the foundation that lets us scale.
About Respondent: Respondent is building the infrastructure that powers participant recruiting for the research industry. Our mission is simple but ambitious: to make it effortless for researchers to find high quality human participants, whether they're testing a product, exploring a market, or validating an idea. From our founder's first recruits on a NYC subway to a global panel of 4 million participants across 150+ countries, we now support research for companies like Microsoft, Dropbox, and P&G. Our panel is one of the most diverse and responsive in the industry.
We're a 35 person team across Sydney, Manila, and the US. We're intentional about collaborating in person: hallway conversations, whiteboarding sessions, and quick alignment cycles help us move faster and build something great together. We've gone from 0 to 1, recently reached profitability, and intend to stay that way. We're scaling with intention and reinvesting in the business to grow our platform, panel, and team. Joining now means taking us from 1 to 10, and your decisions will directly shape how we get there.
The role: Right now, roadmap decisions, architectural calls, and platform work at Respondent are handled democratically amongst our engineers but we've hit a ceiling. We need one person who owns engineering delivery end to end: make a call, move the team forward, and be accountable for the outcome(s) we drive. You'll lead a team of 7 to 8 engineers while staying hands on in the code yourself. Your technical credibility, not your title, is how you'll earn the team's trust. The goal is simple: ship faster, ship better, and build the technical foundation that lets the business scale.
What you'll own:
- Tech roadmap: work closely with our Head of Product to balance feature delivery against broader technical priorities like tech debt, reliability, and platform health.
- Technical direction: set the bar on architecture and key technical decisions across the team.
- Platform layer: pick up the cross cutting technical work that sits between streams and doesn't naturally belong to any one engineer.
- Team delivery: own delivery velocity. Diagnose and fix underperformance and blockers fast, without waiting for problems to surface.
- Hiring: run technical screens, help shape team structure, and make recommendations.
What you'll bring:
- Startup hardened experience: ideally you've worked at a 10 to 100 person company where speed and ambiguity are the norm.
- Genuine technical credibility: you're still writing code regularly.
- A direct, high bar approach: you set performance benchmarks and hold the team to them.
- Real people leadership experience: you've directly managed 4 or more engineers before, ideally in a startup context.
- A builder's mindset: you get your energy from shipping and delivering outcomes.
- Ambition and business mindedness: you want to understand the business deeply.
- Real ownership: you'll be the single accountable technical leader of a small, high ownership engineering team.
- Profitable and growing: we're a 35 person startup that's scaling.
- Direct impact: your calls on roadmap, architecture, and delivery will shape how Respondent goes from 1 to 10.
- Modern tech and mindset: work with the latest tools and AI powered dev practices.
- Culture that cares: be part of a tight knit global team across Sydney, Manila, and the US.
Who this isn't for: This role isn't for someone whose default mode is check ins, career development frameworks, and letting people work on what they enjoy rather than what the business needs. It's also not for someone who has drifted from the code. If you haven't personally shipped something in the last 12 months, this won't be the right fit. We're not looking for a process installer. We need someone who can build fast in ambiguity and knows that process should serve delivery.
Engineering Lead & Scale Architect in Sydney employer: Respondent
Respondent is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic startup environment where your contributions directly influence the company's growth trajectory. With a collaborative culture that spans Sydney, Manila, and the US, employees benefit from hands-on leadership, modern technology, and a commitment to personal and professional development. Joining our tight-knit team means being part of a mission-driven organisation that values innovation and accountability, providing you with the opportunity to make a real impact in the research industry.
