Head Of Platform Engineering (eastern Time Zone Preferred) - Remote Eligible

Technical Leader for Platform Engineering Team

Geomagical Labs is crafting visual AI experiences for tens of millions of users around the world, on web & mobile apps, in partnership with IKEA. We are the creators of the pioneering IKEA Kreativ app, which allows customers to scan photorealistic models of their indoor spaces, then reimagine them with new furniture in life-like 3D, from anywhere – changing home commerce along the way.

About the Role

We have an opening for a hands-on technical leader of our cloud-based Platform Engineering team. Platform Engineering builds and runs our backend services for IKEA Kreativ used by tens of millions of users a year (product catalog, search, identity, 3D assets, room models, etc.), hosts AI pipelines, operates our cloud auto-scaling infrastructure, and provides DevOps foundations.

You will be expected to be a wise, can-do leader and technologist, and also a great collaborator & teammate.

In This Role You Will:

1. Manage a direct staff of 3-5 engineers & SREs in the USA - building a high-performance team with excellent productivity and camaraderie. Mentor & nurture the team by fostering skill development and high-performance culture, to support the business & staff.
2. Build close, productive and trusted co-development partnerships with our sister team at IKEA in Europe (Amsterdam & Sweden).
3. Serve as a wise, can-do, entrepreneurial leader. We value hands-on technical skill, to be able to wisely synthesize viewpoints, direct strategy, mentor teams, and build influence and respect. Expectations will vary from time-to-time, but we anticipate 70% of your time will be managing/planning & 30% hands-on building/analyzing.
4. Lead the planning and execution of the Platform Engineering team's roadmap, ensuring alignment with business goals and other teams.
5. Direct the development of processes and tools to ensure the reliable operation of a scalable, high-availability platform, including automated testing, monitoring systems and SLAs, and incident management practices.
6. Oversee the technical architecture and operations for IKEA Kreativ's backend endpoints & APIs, data store, infrastructure, and data pipelines - in collaboration with IKEA.
7. Manage and plan infrastructure, cybersecurity, data pipelines, and operations - to increase resilience and reduce operational costs - in collaboration with IKEA.
8. Partner with AI research teams to build & operate robust real-time data processing & MLOps infrastructure to support machine learning, and computer vision pipelines.
9. Operate with autonomy and accountability – able to execute independently and reliably, and nurture a team culture that does the same.
10. Shape our business strategy, by understanding the business context, being a thought-partner, and guiding our service with thoughtful questions and new ideas.