Director of Engineering

Director of Engineering at LILT AI

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About LILT

AI is changing how the world communicates — and LILT is leading that transformation. We’re on a mission to make the world’s information accessible to everyone, regardless of the language they speak. We use cutting-edge AI, machine translation, and human-in-the-loop expertise to translate content faster, more accurately, and more cost-effectively without compromising on brand, voice, or quality. At LILT, we empower our teammates with leading tools, global collaboration, and growth opportunities to do their best work. Our company virtues—Work together, win together; Find a way or make one; Quicker than they expect; Quality is Job 1—guide everything we do. We are trusted by Intel Corporation, Canva, the United States Department of Defense, the United States Air Force, ASICS, and hundreds of global Enterprises. Backed by Sequoia, Intel Capital, and Redpoint, we’re building a category-defining company in a $50B+ global translation market being redefined by AI.

What You’ll Do

As Director, Engineering, you’ll lead one of our software development teams. You will be responsible for supporting the career development of the engineers on your team and you will be building and deploying core backend services and frontend applications that are part of the LILT platform. You’ll work closely with our product management and design organizations to ensure we are building the right software for our customers from the private and public sectors, the translator community, and our services team in a reliable and scalable fashion.

We are looking for candidates who have a strong technical background and a solid product vision and can help guide teams and design organizational structure and processes but aren’t afraid of rolling up their sleeves and getting down in the weeds on a technical challenge. You’ll need to be open to experimenting, and iterating on processes as the company grows. You’ll need to be empathic, supportive, and excited to teach as well as learn.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership
• Support and execute on the Engineering Vision : Setting the technical direction for the team, through quarterly OKRs, based on the organization’s direction while aligning the team with LILT’s overall goals and business objectives.
• Prioritize Projects & Resources : Determine which projects to pursue and allocate limited resources (people, budget, technology) effectively to support LILT’s overall goals and business objectives.
• Build & Manage High-Performing Teams : Recruit, hire, and develop talented engineers, fostering a healthy, positive, and productive work environment.
• Operational Excellence
• Innovation & AI Adoption : Constantly evolve our software development processes, driving the thoughtful adoption of AI-assisted engineering tools to bring a competitive advantage to LILT.
• Ensure Project Delivery : Oversee the execution of engineering projects and ensure projects are completed with high quality.
• Implement & Maintain Engineering Processes : Establish and enforce engineering best practices, methodologies, and standards across the organization, effectively managing the backlog while adding functionality.
• Manage Risks & Dependencies : Identify and mitigate technical risks while managing dependencies between different projects, teams, and departments.
• Communication & Collaboration
• Communicate Effectively : Clearly communicate technical decisions and priorities to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Collaborate with Cross-Functional Teams : Work effectively with other departments to ensure alignment and support for engineering initiatives as well as for customer enablement & support.
• Build Strong Relationships
• Fostering positive relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including public and commercial customers, vendors, and partners.

Experience

Skills & Abilities

Education

Our Story

Our founders, Spence and John, met at Google working on Google Translate. As researchers at Stanford and Berkeley, they worked on language technology to make information accessible to everyone. They set out to build something better and formed LILT. LILT has been a machine learning company since its founding in 2015, prioritizing investments in Large Language Models, human-in-the-loop systems, and agentic AI. We’re only beginning the next phase of LILT’s journey.

What Sets Our Platform Apart

LILT in the News

LILT is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fair employment and the elimination of discriminatory practices. Information collected as part of your application is subject to LILT’s Privacy Policy. We may use AI-assisted tools in the evaluation process, and all final hiring decisions are made by people. If you require accommodations or would like to opt-out of AI in our hiring process, please contact recruiting@lilt.com.

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