At SandboxAQ, we are committed to competitive, equitable, and transparent compensation; we continuously benchmark our salaries and total compensation to premium markets to ensure our competitiveness. Individual pay within the above range is determined by job-related skills, experience, education, and geographic location.

With a focus on pay equity and ensuring opportunity for future salary progression, our typical practice is to hire within the first half of the base salary range for a given role and level. This approach allows us to reward performance and increasing expertise consistently as your career develops with us.

We use two geographic pay tiers to reflect the pay differences in local markets:

• Tier 1: Applies to candidates located within 75 miles of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, Boston, and Washington, DC.

• Tier 2: Applies to candidates located in all other Locations in the US.

About SandboxAQ

SandboxAQ is a high-growth company delivering AI solutions that address some of the world's greatest challenges. The company’s Large Quantitative Models (LQMs) power advances in life sciences, financial services, navigation, cybersecurity, and other sectors.

We are a global team that is tech-focused and includes experts in AI, chemistry, cybersecurity, physics, mathematics, medicine, engineering, and other specialties. The company emerged from Alphabet Inc. as an independent, growth capital-backed company in 2022, funded by leading investors and supported by a braintrust of industry leaders.

At SandboxAQ, we’ve cultivated an environment that encourages creativity, collaboration, and impact. By investing deeply in our people, we’re building a thriving, global workforce poised to tackle the world's epic challenges. Join us to advance your career in pursuit of an inspiring mission, in a community of like-minded people who value entrepreneurialism, ownership, and transformative impact.

The Opportunity

The Cybersecurity Group at SandboxAQ is looking for a Director of Software Engineering to be responsible for building, leading, and scaling high-performing software teams that deliver reliable, high-quality products. This role partners closely with Product Managers, our Platform Engineering teams, and other cross-functional leaders to translate business strategy into technical execution while maintaining strong engineering standards.

In this role, you will own engineering outcomes for Product Engineering, lead multiple teams through maturing and early stage startup to a scalable engine of delivery. You help shape the technical direction that supports both our Cryptographic Posture Management, and AI Security Posture Management products. You will balance delivery, people leadership, and technical judgment while developing managers and engineers to operate effectively at scale.

Key Responsibilities

• Own delivery and quality for multiple engineering teams

• Lead and develop engineering managers

• Translate business priorities into execution plans

• Drive technical strategy aligned to the product roadmap

• Set and uphold engineering standards

• Ensure operational excellence and system reliability

• Partner closely with Product and cross-functional leaders

• Identify and mitigate execution and organizational risks

• Build scalable team structures and processes

• Hire, retain, and grow engineering talent

Essential Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of software engineering experience

• 4+ years leading managers or multiple teams

• Strong track record of delivering complex systems

• Experience defining and executing technical strategy

• Excellent cross-functional communication skills

• Proven ability to scale teams and processes

• Sound technical judgment and operational mindset
  

Highly Desired Skills & Experience

• Languages: Kotlin, Golang and Rust

• Infrastructure: AWS, Kubernetes

• Developer Tools: GitHub, CI/CD pipelines, API documentation tools

• Monitoring: DataDog

Why Join Us?

We offer a comprehensive and competitive benefits package designed to support your health, financial well-being, and life outside of work.

• Compensation: Competitive base salary, performance-based incentives or bonuses (where applicable), and equity participation.

• Benefits: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents with generous employer premium contributions, retirement savings with company matching, paid parental leave, and inclusive family-building benefits.

• Work-Life Balance: Flexible paid time off, company-wide seasonal breaks, and support for flexible work arrangements that enable sustainable performance.

• Career Development: Opportunities for continuous learning and growth through on-the-job development, cross-functional collaboration, and access to internal learning and development programs.

SandboxAQ Welcomes All

We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging and respect, where diverse perspectives are actively sought and valued. Our multidisciplinary environment provides ample opportunity for continuous growth - working alongside humble, empowered, and ambitious colleagues ready to tackle epic challenges.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status.

Accommodations: We provide reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities in job application procedures for open roles. If you need such an accommodation, please let a member of our Recruiting team know.

Read: Guidance for candidates on using AI Tools in interviews

Compensation Range: $222,934 - $384,000