Director, Engineering
$245k - $315k USD
About Betterment
Betterment is a leading, technology-driven financial services company that offers investing, savings and retirement solutions for retail investors and investment advisors as well as financial wellness solutions, including a 401(k) for small and medium-sized businesses. Our team is passionate about our mission, to empower people to build wealth with confidence and ease. We’re headquartered in NYC and offer hybrid NY-based positions (four days/ week in-office, with no required office days during the summer and winter holidays).
About the role
Broker Dealer sits at the core of the Betterment platform. On a typical day, we securely move millions of dollars through our systems, ensuring every transaction passes through a sophisticated set of risk checks to meet strict regulatory requirements. The efficiency, resilience, and intelligence of this platform translate directly into value for our customers.
We’re looking for a Director of Engineering to lead this critical organization. You will be a manager-of-managers, accountable for a 30+ person engineering org spanning multiple squads focused on trading, clearing and settlement, record keeping, market data, and related capabilities.
You will use your technical background and judgment to guide managers and Senior Staff ICs, make strong engineering decisions, and ensure we deliver reliably and quickly in a highly complex, high-stakes environment. You’ll partner closely with Product, Operations, Compliance/Legal, Risk, and other engineering leaders to scale our platform, uplevel how we work, and support Betterment’s broader investing and trading strategy. Financial services experience is a plus, not a requirement.
This role is based out of our NYC office. For jobs based out of our NYC HQ, we require in office attendance Monday through Thursday, weekly. Below we've reflected the base salary range we would offer for this position. Actual salaries may vary depending on factors including but not limited to location, experience, and performance. The range listed is just one component of Betterment’s total compensation package for employees.
- New York City: The base salary range for this position is $245,000 –$315,000 annually. This range reflects the salary range across multiple levels. The actual salary offered will depend on the candidate's qualifications and demonstration of experience.
We offer a competitive equity package, health, dental and vision benefits, life and AD&D, short-term and long-term disability insurance, EAP, commuter and parking benefits FSA/HSA, and 401(k) with employer match as well as a flexible PTO policy. This job may also be eligible for variable compensation in the form of a company incentive bonus. For jobs based out of our NYC HQ, we require in office attendance Monday through Thursday, weekly.
A day in the life
- Lead an organization of 30+ engineers and consultants, including multiple Engineering Managers and Staff+ ICs.
- Build and sustain a healthy, high-performing culture grounded in accountability, constructive feedback, and strong coaching loops.
- Partner with Product and other stakeholders on prioritization, sequencing, and tradeoffs across new features, risk work, and KTLO, and be accountable for outcomes, not just activity, across the BD roadmap.
- Ensure teams deliver iteratively and predictably under real-world constraints, with fewer surprises and clearer visibility into progress.
- Partner with Principal Engineers and senior leadership to shape and ratify major engineering decisions, including replatforming efforts, key integrations, and large-scale refactors.
- Define, uphold, and evolve engineering standards appropriate for regulated, high-stakes systems: covering observability, reliability, test strategy, and change management.
- Build strong, trust-based relationships with Product, Operations, Investing, Compliance, Legal, and other cross-functional partners.
- Develop a deep leadership bench and succession plans across your org by hiring, developing, and coaching Engineering Managers and Staff+ ICs, giving them the context, autonomy, and feedback they need to grow.
What we’re looking for
- Multiple years of experience leading engineering organizations of 30+ people across multiple complex business domains (or larger).
- Proven track record as a manager-of-managers, directly managing Engineering Managers and/or Tech Leads who own teams.
- Clear examples of delivering complex, multi-team initiatives under tight constraints (time, risk, regulatory, or operational).
- Demonstrated ability to re-plan and re-sequence work as new information emerges, and to communicate tradeoffs across scope, quality, and timelines.
- Experience evolving engineering processes and rituals, designing and improving systems of work, not just operating within existing ones.
- History of improving throughput, predictability, and incident posture through changes in how teams work (e.g., planning, execution, and operational practices).
- Strong background as an engineer, with sufficient depth to support a robust technical vision and to engage credibly with Staff+ ICs on key decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to build diverse, inclusive teams and to maintain high performance and engagement through periods of change.
- Experience working with executives and cross-functional leaders, driving alignment and decisions even without direct authority.
- Proficiency running regulated, high-availability systems in complex domains (e.g., fintech, payments, healthcare, or other mission-critical transactional systems).
What being at Betterment means for you
We change lives
Join a community of innovators working to transform financial outcomes for real people. Your work will make an impact, always laddering up to our mission: making people's lives better.
We set audacious goals
We set them for the company, our customers, and ourselves—and we won’t stop until we reach them. We don’t just show up; we give our all, then celebrate our wins.
We value all perspectives
When we collaborate, we're at our best. We believe diverse perspectives lead to better outcomes and strive to uphold our supportive and inclusive community.
We invest in you with:
- A competitive suite of benefits, including: medical, dental, and vision insurance; life and AD&D insurance; STD and LTD benefits, including infertility support and World Professional Association for Transgender Health approved benefits; and generous parental leave.
- Flexible paid time off (and encouragement to use it!)
- Meaningful opportunity for community building through our 7 Employee Resource Groups
- Empowerment to own and lead change and affect the business
- Dedicated professional development opportunities
- Lunch from our in-house chef at our NYC headquarters
What happens next
We’ll take a few weeks to review all applications. If we’d like to spend more time with you, we’ll reach out to arrange next steps, which will include 3-4 sets of meetings with your future colleagues.
In the interview process, we’ll look to learn more about your skills, experiences, capabilities, and motivators. Many of our questions will be aimed at understanding how you might operate here at Betterment. Depending on the role, we may ask you to complete a case study exercise or technical assessments, as we want to collect a robust set of data points to better inform our decisions.
On average, it takes us around 3-5 weeks to make a hiring decision, depending on your availability and sense of urgency. As a best practice, we aim to interview at least 2-3 final round candidates before making a hiring decision. Please note that, as we usually receive an overwhelming number of applications for open positions, we’re unable to offer individual feedback during the interview process.
We recognize that interviewing for a new role is a big deal. We appreciate you considering Betterment as the next step in your career, and our Recruiting Team is here to support and advocate for you through the interview process!
Betterment is dedicated to providing accommodations to candidates upon request. If you need accommodations at any point throughout the interview process, please reach out to your recruiter.
Please note that in any materials you submit, you may redact or remove age-identifying information such as age, date of birth, or dates of school attendance or graduation. You will not be penalized for redacting or removing this information.
Come join us!
We’re an equal opportunity employer and comply with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. We strictly prohibit and do not tolerate discrimination against employees, applicants, or any other covered persons because of race, color, religion, creed, national origin or ancestry, ethnicity, sex, gender (including gender nonconformity and status as a transgender or transsexual individual), sexual orientation, marital status, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship, past, current or prospective service in the uniformed services, predisposing genetic characteristic, domestic violence victim status, arrest records, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law.
E-Verify Statement
Betterment participates in E-Verify. We will provide the Social Security Administration, and if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security, with information from each new employee’s Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. Please note that we do not use this information to pre-screen job applicants.
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We collect and store personal information for the purposes of candidate tracking (for this role and future opportunities). The information you provide in the course of completing your application will be kept for up to 24 months. We use tools provided by third-party service providers but do not share candidate information for any purpose other than for recruiting. To access the data that is collected, request deletion or to make updates to your candidate profile, please email team.hire@betterment.com.