Head of Engineering

Apartment List, Inc.

Job Overview

Location

Remote within the US

Job Type

Full-time

Full Job Description

📋 Description

• Lead engineering vision and execution for Apartment List’s renter and partner platforms, overseeing a team of ~60 engineers across product, infrastructure, and AI initiatives.
• Drive adoption of AI-powered development tools—including AI-assisted coding, automated testing, code review, and agentic systems—to increase engineering velocity and reduce cycle times, with measurable outcomes tracked and reported.
• Partner with Product and ML teams to embed AI directly into core product experiences such as search, matching, personalization, and dynamic pricing, ensuring frontier capabilities ship to production—not just stay in slide decks.
• Define and own a scalable, reliable technical architecture that supports rapid iteration, high traffic, and data-intensive operations across consumer-facing and marketplace platforms.
• Set and enforce a rigorous performance bar through calibration processes; make decisive, data-informed calls on underperformance while fostering accountability at all levels.
• Develop engineering managers and identify high-potential individual contributors early, building a robust succession pipeline and investing in leadership readiness across the org.
• Own end-to-end engineering recruiting strategy to attract, hire, and retain top-tier talent in a competitive market, aligning hiring with cultural and technical needs.
• Champion best practices in code quality, testing, CI/CD, observability, incident response, and architectural reviews, ensuring foundations enable speed without sacrificing reliability.
• Ship fast, fix fast, and raise the engineering bar every sprint; prioritize systems that accelerate delivery while maintaining exceptional quality and resilience.
• Evolve platform infrastructure and backend systems to support scalable, performant, and highly available experiences across web, iOS, and Android applications.
• Build clear, transparent career ladders and invest deeply in coaching, mentorship, and skill development for engineers at all levels to drive retention and growth.
• Protect the gap between good and great products by obsessing over transitions, edge cases, micro-interactions, and UX details others overlook—treat them as non-negotiable.
• Serve as a strategic thought partner to Product, Design, Data, and Marketing leaders, bringing technical feasibility, opportunity, and craft-driven insight into every cross-functional decision.
• Partner with Design not as a gatekeeper but as a co-owner of the experience, ensuring interaction quality, motion, and attention to detail are treated as core product requirements.
• Align engineering investment directly to business outcomes, making strategic tradeoffs between speed, quality, and scope to maximize impact and efficiency.
• Build systems and rituals that enhance collaboration, velocity, and accountability across distributed engineering teams, reinforcing a culture of continuous learning and high performance.
• Maintain deep fluency in modern web technologies, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and mobile platforms (iOS & Android) to provide credible technical leadership and direction.
• Foster an engineering culture where individual contributors thrive, grow, and stay—not because of perks, but because of challenge, clarity, and caliber.

🎯 Requirements

• 8+ years leading engineering teams, including managing managers and scaling organizations of 40+ engineers in fast-paced, high-growth environments
• Strong technical foundation in modern web technologies, iOS & Android apps, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and data-intensive applications
• AI-native track record: shipped AI-native products to production at consumer scale and driven measurable productivity gains from AI tooling (e.g., percent AI-assisted code, reduced cycle time, lower defect rates) with cited metrics
• Demonstrated performance management track record: raised engineering standards, made hard people decisions, and can articulate outcomes from those actions
• Experience building and scaling two-sided marketplaces or high-traffic consumer products where conversion, retention, and UX are mission-critical
• Proven people-first leadership: built cultures where ICs thrive, grow, and retain, understanding that retention without a performance bar is tenure

🏖️ Benefits

• Competitive salary, bonus, and equity aligned to experience and market benchmarks (Zone 1: $300,000–$350,000 TTC; Zone 2: $278,000–$323,000 TTC; Zone 3: $255,000–$297,000 TTC)
• 100% premium coverage for medical, dental, and vision for employee and all dependents
• Unlimited Flexible Time Off plus 12 company holidays, quarterly recharge days, and a week-long holiday break
• Home office reimbursement covering furniture, supplies, monthly internet, and cell phone expenses
• Health & wellness reimbursement for gym memberships or qualifying wellness expenses
• Generous parental and family leave, fertility benefits, and employer-sponsored stipends for family-forming services

Skills & Technologies

iOS

Android

Remote

$300k-350k

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Apartment List, Inc.

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About Apartment List, Inc.

Apartment List is a leading online marketplace dedicated to simplifying the apartment search process for renters and property managers. The platform utilizes a data-driven approach to match renters with apartments that best fit their preferences, budget, and location needs. By providing comprehensive listings, virtual tours, and personalized recommendations, Apartment List aims to reduce the stress and time involved in finding a new home. For property managers, the service offers tools to attract qualified leads, manage listings efficiently, and streamline the rental application process, ultimately helping to fill vacancies faster and reduce operational costs within the residential real estate industry.

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