About Us

Discover your dog more than fur deep with the most comprehensive DNA test on the market. Designed by world leaders in dog genetics, in partnership with Cornell University, the Embark DNA Test tells owners what breeds make up their pets, how to prevent future possible health problems, and what features and traits their pet might have. Help us end preventable disease in dogs and improve the lives of pets and their people through genomics.

Embark is the only dog DNA test using a research-grade DNA microarray, letting us give our customers the most accurate and comprehensive results on the market. More importantly, it allows us to do ongoing research into the genetics of dogs, which are a fantastic population for genetic discovery due to selective breeding over time. Our research focuses on mapping new traits and diseases, improving personalized veterinary medicine, and developing new breeding programs to eliminate preventable diseases in pets.

Interested in joining? We’re looking for highly motivated and driven employees who will help us stay on the cutting edge of creativity and innovation in the fast-growing consumer genetics space.

The Role

Embark’s Breed+Health and Breed Identification DNA test consumer offerings, and our DNA Test for Dog Breeders are the central pillars of our value proposition, and as the VP of Engineering, you will be leading the engineering team responsible for selling and delivering them. You will work hand in hand with Product, Marketing, and Science teams to develop product roadmaps to continue our very rapid growth. You will be responsible for building and scaling a diverse team of engineers and engineering managers. You will partner with our CTO to support innovation. This is an Executive position that demands a strong technical understanding coupled with strong leadership and planning abilities.

Responsibilities

You will make the Engineering organization execute effectively and ensure we meet our business goals.

• Build, recruit and lead a world-class team of software engineers and managers


• Lead a multi-talented team of software engineers to deliver against our product roadmap


• Introduce and develop a strong management layer to the Engineering team


• Help your managers and engineers grow their skills and experience


• Measure and improve the happiness of the engineering team


• Build and maintain a culture of execution, quality, collaboration, mentorship, and open feedback in engineering


• Manage competing priorities for product features, performance, security, and cost-efficiency


• Ensure projects and teams are well designed, well-staffed, and well run


• Define clear and appropriate processes within and across teams


• Monitor and report on metrics and KPIs


• Work closely with senior leaders of Product, Marketing and Science


• Drive quarterly OKRs around company goals

This is a management position and you will not be expected to write or review code yourself. However, you will need to be able to identify and hire strong engineers and managers, and coach and mentor engineers and managers on software development and architecture.

Year 1 expectations

We will define success by accomplishing these things in your first year:

• Double the size of the Engineering team


• Create Engineering career tracks that enable the growth of the existing team


• Put in place a robust prioritization and resource allocation process


• Launch multiple new product features designed to delight our customers


• Internationalize the digital experience and support launch outside the US


• Launch a revamped DNA Test for Dog Breeders

Our Ideal Candidate

• You are excellent at recruiting software engineers and managers. You led the growth of a software engineering team from 15 or fewer people to 50 or more people


• You are an inspiring manager and mentor who excels at building teams.


• You have demonstrated a strong executive presence including the ability to create and implement technical strategies with budgets and timeframes that align with business needs


• You have a proven track record of successfully delivering complex B2C web experiences and corresponding e-commerce activities


• Experience with AWS, nodeJS, Postgres, WordPress, Shopify is preferred


• Experience with complex data pipelines and genetic data is a bonus


• You have hands-on experience with architecture, development, program + product management, QA, performance and operations, and the ability to lead the team through technical challenges in implementation


• You have strong interpersonal and leadership skills


• You excel at bringing order to chaos.


• You know how to use data to influence decision-making.


• You have strong technical experience and can actively engage in technical discussions.


• You have experience with matrix orgs, cross-functional teams, and dotted-line reporting structures.

What We Offer

• Dog-friendly office near South Station, Boston


• Perks tailored for dog lovers including subsidized dog-walking services and paw-ternity leave


• Startup perks with big-company benefits


• Competitive salaries, all-inclusive health care, and equity participation


• A flexible vacation policy along with paid maternal and paternal leave


• Fully-stocked office snack bar and regular office events


• New iMacs and MacBook Pros, or laptops running Linux


• Continuing education including attending conferences

Embark is an equal opportunity workplace and values diversity at our company. We are committed to equal employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, citizenship status, sexual orientation, age, disability status, marital status, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other characteristics protected by federal, state or local laws. See also EEO is the Law.