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Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md). --- # Director of Software Engineering - **Company:** Usercentrics GmbH - **Location:** München, Germany - **Experience:** Experienced - **Contract:** Permanent contract - **Skills:** Adobe InDesign, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, Technical Debt, Production Code - **Published:** July 31, 2026 - **Apply:** https://www.careerjet.de/jobad/decb1fbc1448f4a3e8f526f4de8c697ca4 ## About the Role * 5+ years of experience in engineering management, including managing multi-team setups (managing managers, not only individual engineers). * A track record of taking on ambiguous, systemic problems, scaling a struggling system, working down significant technical debt, or restructuring a team's ways of working and driving them to a concrete outcome. * Strong track record of cross-functional partnership, particularly with Product, and of influencing roadmap and priority decisions as a stakeholder rather than a downstream executor. * Demonstrated ability to develop engineering managers, not only individual contributors. * Enough technical depth to engage substantively in architecture and design discussions and reason about technical trade-offs, without needing to write production code yourself. Nice-to-haves * Domain experience in AdTech, MarTech, or privacy/consent management (e.g. CMPs, tracking/consent infrastructure). * Experience operating in a multi-product or multi-brand engineering organization. ## Description Usercentrics is a global leader in data privacy and privacy-led marketing solutions. We believe there is no need for a trade-off between growth and privacy compliance. Our vision is to unlock the potential of data privacy to empower a thriving digital ecosystem. We work with companies to create a healthy balance between data-driven business and privacy-led marketing for every size of enterprise. Our customers build trust with their users through improved transparency and control to drastically improve marketing and monetization, while achieving full privacy compliance. We are actively looking for a Director of Software Engineering to lead a group of multiple engineering teams within our Product & Engineering organization. This is a hands-on leadership role and you'll own delivery, technical health, and people development for the teams under you, while partnering with the rest of engineering leadership on cross cutting priorities. We're building a more AI-native engineering organization, and this role is central to making that real within the teams you lead. How We Work: AI-Native by Default Usercentrics is actively pushing AI adoption across engineering for real efficiency gains. This isn't background context, it's a working expectation. As a Director, you're expected to actively drive AI-native ways of working within your teams: adopting AI-assisted development where it genuinely helps, and building the judgment in your teams to use it well rather than uncritically. This is a real, current expectation on how you'll run your teams from day one, not an aspirational nice-to-have. What You Will Do Own your group's outcomes * Own delivery predictability for your group from roadmap input through estimation, execution, and shipped results. * Own the technical health of the systems your teams are responsible for, including how technical debt and scaling risk are identified, prioritized, and worked down over time. * Own the growth and performance of the managers and engineers in your group, including developing your managers into stronger people leaders themselves. Solve ambiguous, systemic problems * Turn a vague or partially defined problem, a struggling system, a scaling wall, an under-resourced area into a concrete, sequenced plan, rather than waiting for it to be fully defined for you. * Diagnose root cause, not just symptoms: work out whether an underperforming or overloaded team's real issue is headcount, skill composition, process, or scope and act on the right one. * Build and maintain a realistic view of what your teams can commit to, communicate trade offs honestly to stakeholders, and close the gap when estimates and reality diverge. Lead people and influence outcomes * Treat developing the management layer under you as a primary responsibility, teaching judgment, not just assigning tasks. * Work fluently with Product, other engineering groups, and company leadership on cross-team priorities where you can't rely on direct authority. * Bring engineering-informed judgment into roadmap prioritization you're expected to help shape what gets built and when, not just execute what's handed to you. Stay technically grounded * You won't be writing production code day to day, but you're expected to understand your teams' systems well enough to follow the implications of technical decisions, engage credibly in design discussions and incidents, and ask the right questions before problems become expensive. * Connect team-level work to company-level goals, making sure your teams' priorities visibly contribute to the broader organization rather than operating in a silo. ## Related Videos - [Designing the Future of Human<>Agent Collaboration](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1447-designing-the-future-of-human-agent-collaboration) - [Resolving technical debts in software architecture](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1680-resolving-technical-debts-in-software-architecture) - [Successful talent development in tech: A joint journey of executives and talents](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1497-successful-talent-development-in-tech-a-joint-journey-of-executives-and-talents) - [Your Code as a Crime Scene](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1342-your-code-as-a-crime-scene) - [Navigating the Corporate Jungle: Life as a Developer in a large Company](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/621-navigating-the-corporate-jungle-life-as-a-developer-in-a-large-company) - [Dirty Tests And How To Clean Them](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/515-dirty-tests-and-how-to-clean-them) ## Related Articles - [Where To Find Software Engineering Jobs](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/396-where-to-find-software-engineering-jobs) - [Dev Digest 120 - Apple and peers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/455-dev-digest-120-apple-and-peers) - [Résumé-Driven Development: How IT trends affect the job market for software developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/59-resume-driven-development-how-it-trends-affect-the-job-market-for-software-developers) - [Is Software Engineering Over-Saturated?](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/418-is-software-engineering-over-saturated) - [The Ultimate Software Engineer Career Path Guide for 2023](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/146-the-ultimate-software-engineer-career-path-guide-for-2023) - [Should Tech Managers Be Developers First? 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