Vice President of Engineering

Our client, a Silicon Valley-based industry leader in retail AI solutions, is now looking for an experienced Vice President of Engineering to join its expanding team.Location: Poland \ Europe Type: Remote, Full-time Start date: ASAP About Company:The company is the industry leader in retail AI solutions — a Silicon Valley-based startup headquartered in San Francisco, with operations in Canada, the UK, multiple EU countries, and a tech hub in Poland.A Deep Learning-first organization, their mission is to automate and optimize brick-and-mortar retail through deep learning computer vision. Their technology has been deployed at scale with some of the world's top retailers, processing hundreds of millions of images per day across tens of thousands of stores globally. Recently named Confluent's inaugural Data Streaming Startup of the Year, they've earned recognition for taking on the most demanding engineering challenges at the core of their business. They are looking for smart, creative, and passionate people who want to help build a great and enduring company.  About Role:We are looking for a hands-on VP of Engineering to lead and grow our globally distributed engineering teams. They are looking for an individual who is hands-on with development, cares deeply about architecture decisions, and can credibly engage with engineers at every level of the stack. The core challenge in this role is scale. The company processes a massive, rapidly growing volume of image and shelf data in real time across geographies and retail environments. The systems that got them here need to evolve — and the right candidate will be the person who figures out how. That means driving down COGS, reducing latency, increasing reliability, and building infrastructure that can support millions of deployed cameras without missing a beat. You will oversee backend, infrastructure, deep learning, embedded, and frontend engineering teams. Beyond the technical work, you are a builder of teams and culture - someone who can hire exceptional engineers, earn their trust, and create the environment where they do their best work.Responsibilities:Lead and grow our globally distributed engineering organization, with a strong presence in EuropePersonally engage with the hardest scaling problems - architectural decisions, performance bottlenecks, cost reductionOversee scalable, data-heavy backend infrastructure built on Python, FastAPI, Kafka, and related technologiesWork closely with engineering teams to understand backend needs and ensure data persists in usable formats for frontend, middleware, diagnostics, and deep learning pipelinesDrive development of deployment monitoring tools, blue/green and canary deployment strategies, and CI/CD practices that support smooth, zero-downtime releasesBuild and improve processes and tooling that create an outstanding developer experience across the teamCollaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless integration of backend infrastructure with frontend UIs and deep learning systemsRecruit, hire, and onboard new engineers as we continue to scaleSet clear objectives, performance expectations, and development goals; provide regular coaching and feedbackFoster a team environment that encourages creativity, ownership, and continuous improvementRequirements:Bachelor's degree or higher in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or equivalent10+ years of experience in distributed systems and software development5+ years of experience leading high-performing engineering teamsStrong, hands-on experience with Python; you can read and write production code, not just review itDeep experience with data-intensive applications, microservices, and REST APIsExperience with CI/CD tools, Docker, and cloud deploymentsExperience with deployment strategies (blue/green, canary) and production reliability at scaleUnderstanding of AI and machine learning techniques is a requirementStartup mentality - you take ownership, move fast, and know how to prioritizeFlexible enough to coordinate across time zones with our global teamFluent in English (Upper-Intermediate or above). Polish is a plus, but not requiredWhy Join:Strong Values and Mission - They are a tightly-knit team with an ambitious mission and a strong set of core values, which define our approach to business and have successfully guided us since inception.Exceptional Team - They are a team of hard-working, fun-loving professionals from some of the most eminent universities, research labs, and tech companies of our time. We pride ourselves on recruiting exceptional individuals to help us redefine the state-of-the-art.Outstanding Partners - The company works with the largest retailers in the world and has a world-class roster of investors, advisors, and partners to support & advise us in our endeavors.The company offers:Competitive Salary & Attractive StockPaid Time OffTeam RetreatsEducation grantsOriginally posted on Himalayas