Director of Engineering, Vivid Seats
Business to Consumer
Salary not provided
+ Bonus incentives
Expert level
Chicago
Ticket exchange and resale platform
Open for applications
Ticket exchange and resale platform
501-1000 employees
B2CMarketplaceEntertainmentEvents
Open for applications
Salary not provided
+ Bonus incentives
Expert level
Chicago
501-1000 employees
B2CMarketplaceEntertainmentEvents
Company mission
Vivid Seats' mission is to empower every fan to get to the live events that shape their most vivid moments and memories.
Role
Who you are
- A proven track record of leading multiple high-performing engineering teams, preferably in the ecommerce industry
- A proven ability to develop engineering managers and hire, retain and motivate diverse engineering teams
- Passionate about building a customer-driven, product focused engineering team
- Experience developing and achieving stakeholder and engineer buy-in to execute a long-term technical strategy
- Expertise establishing and managing teams in multiple locations
- Demonstrable experience of partnering with product and UX teams on creating best-in-class customer-facing products
- Several years' experience in running a blended team of full-stack developers and mobile developers
- Several years' experience of making full-stack architectural decisions including experience with enterprise asynchronous system architecture and scaling
- Effectively managing teams with modern web and native app frameworks, as well as supporting business services and databases
- Customer facing or consulting experience with the ability to promote and secure platform adoption
- Experience in a fast paced, Agile, continuous delivery and operational environment
- Creativity, fearlessness, and an unwavering commitment to putting the customer first
- Hands on development experience in the B2C technology space, either web or native apps at similar scale like Vividseats
What the job involves
- As the Director of Engineering B2C, you will oversee the engineering talent and technical strategy for multiple domains and technical areas focused on our consumer-facing web and native e-commerce properties and the business services supporting them. This role will be directly responsible for the systems supporting our e-commerce marketplace
- You’ll lead multiple teams and take ownership of best practices championing our B2C offerings. As a cross functional leader, you will also ensure successful initiatives by aligning objectives, foster collaboration and empowerment amongst teams, communicate clearly, and manage resources effectively while maintaining a strategic focus and driving towards results
- The B2C channel is our primary marketplace and is a major factor in the future growth of Vivid Seats. This leader will guide teams and technologies that enable Vivid Seats to expand features in our ticket marketplace to drive more engagement to our product
- The Director of Engineering will partner with Product stakeholders, functional business leaders, and the CTO to develop our innovative product and technology vision, grow and lead the technology team, and rapidly execute the development plan
- Coach and develop individual contributors and engineering managers
- Foster a high performing engineering culture of ownership and collaboration which attracts and retains a diverse spectrum of top engineering talent
- Assess talent and performance, playing an integral role in onboarding top talent and helping them grow professionally
- Own the quality, scalability, security, and performance of applications, systems, and integrations
- Measure and improve team engagement and productivity
- Set and drive the technical strategy and execution plan for the B2C domain as well as plan out new capabilities to allow the business to respond quickly to the market
- Represent Vivid Seats as a brand ambassador to the technology community
- Partner with the B2C product team to enable business value creation, as well as the stability and scalability of our solutions
- Partner with other peers in the Software Engineering department to drive the technology strategy forward
- 30 days in
- Acclimate Vivid Seats’ values and organizational goals to understand how your department drives initiatives forward
- Understand your teams’ contributions and potential growth areas and the needs of stakeholders that rely on your deliverables to bring business objectives to life
- Set weekly touch points with direct reports to understand their role, motivations, and needs, building trust and leading with empathy
- Partner with the product and UX to understand the product vision and current roadmap
- Partner with CTO and Product leaders to align on technology vision and roadmap
- Familiarize with the B2C technology operational metrics
- 90 days in
- Empower and coach team members to achieve personal and functional goals that correlate to department objectives
- Develop and lead initiatives for your team that enhance process, drive innovation, and build on Vivid Seats values
- Actively support the engineering managers and product managers to focus ahead by reviewing their rolling roadmap
- Actively respond strategically to the B2C operational metrics by refining the technical roadmap and/or processes as required
- Identify within the teams how ways of working can be improved with the objective of increasing velocity and results
- Propose to the CTO a go-forward technology strategy for the teams that person is responsible for
- 180 days in
- Monitor and evolve team deliverables, individual goals, and overall performance to ensure alignment with broader initiatives of your department and the organization while coaching your team to grow skill sets
- Collaborate with stakeholders to confirm accurate prioritization and refine processes for collaboration and best practices
- Meaningfully contribute to department roadmap exercises that balance current needs with future strategic initiatives
- Proactively work with the UX and product teams on the strategic technical capability roadmap to accelerate feature development
- Be a thought leader for B2C technologies within the company, supporting and guiding other verticals in the business
Our take
Founded in 2001, Vivid Seats is one of the leading online ticket marketplaces. The event tickets market is one of the biggest out there, expected to reach almost $85 billion by 2027, and the company has secured its place within it with partnerships with big players like ESPN, RollingStone, and the NBA.
The company's strategy has so far been based on massive public exposure through heavy spending on digital advertising, which has brought it great success to date. Its connects millions of buyers with thousands of ticket sellers each year, covering hundreds of thousands of different events.
Vivid Seats boasts high revenues and sustained growth, and went public in 2021. Following its listing on the NASDAQ, the company has been focusing on expanding operations and broadening its tech capabilities. A recent development is the company's Vivid Picks app, which combines live event and gaming experiences to target changing trends in the events ticket space.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
42% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
May 2014
$5.2m
SERIES A
Mar 2012
$3.9m
ANGEL
Total funding: $9.7m
Company benefits
- Health, dental and vision packages: BCBS PPO, HSA and HMO plans, mental heath and telehealth programs.
- Retirement and savings programs, continuing education opportunities, and rewarding performance incentives.
- PTO, mental health days, and maternity/paternity policies.
- Company-wide town-halls, hackathons, product demos, in-office happy hours, holiday and summer events, company-sponsored sports leagues and competitions.
- Gym membership fees, wellness weeks, access to on-site treadmill desks, bike storage, fitness classes, and inspiring office spaces.
- Hybrid working arrangements at accessible office locations. Company-provided laptops, monitors, & software in-office. Room for ideas (open floorplan with plenty of meeting rooms, quiet areas, and whiteboards), and coffee. We’re talking good coffee.
Company values
- We Raise the Bar: We shape our industry – we are the competition. We’re ambitious and disciplined teammates who make smart plays and get better every day.
- We Create Exceptional Experiences: Whether we’re engaging a fan, seller, partner, or teammate, we don’t compromise when it comes to their experience. We hold ourselves accountable and lean into every connection to make the moment count.
- We Embrace Change: In our world, the only constant is change and we’re ready for it. As a team, we’re energized by working with speed and agility to anticipate; we’re unafraid to be self-critical and we drive relentlessly to get the best results.
- We Enhance Communities: We invest in our communities inside and out. We’re united in raising awareness around causes close to our hearts and are passionate about giving back.
- We Commit as a Team: Above all else , we’re one team that trusts and supports each other –our unity gives us the strength to tackle even the most difficult challenges facing our business. Driven in our pursuit of the optimal, we constructively voice our perspectives, and when the best play is called, we move forward together.
Company HQ
West Loop Gate, Chicago, IL
Articles
Leadership
Eric Vassilatos
(Co-founder)Also Principal at Magnolia Capital and Managing Partner at SkyBox capital.
Stan Chia
(CEO)Board Director at 1871, and Board Member at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Former COO of GrubHub.
Salary benchmarks
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