Head of Software Engineering
Sage
Head of Software Engineering
Sage is on a mission to improve the quality of life for older adults, starting with those residing in senior living communities. Falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths among adults over 65. At the same time, fall prevention and emergency response systems for older adults are archaic and ineffective. This issue is exacerbated by the inefficient procedures that operators of these communities are forced to use to provide care to their residents. Sage's integrated software aims to reinvent how we care for and respond to older adults in times of need. We aim to build a platform that gives caregivers the means to provide care for modern aging.
Sage is a growing team of ambitious, multi-disciplinary entrepreneurs. We are a software-enabled, mission-driven company, and are focused only on the problems that are central to achieving that mission. At Sage, we work hard and fast but also know that to build a truly successful company, we need to treat our work as a marathon, and not a sprint. The journey matters. We know when to slow down, take breaks, and have fun.
About this Role
We’re looking for a Head of Software Engineering to lead our software engineering team into its next chapter. You’ll be responsible for scaling our engineering organization, defining and executing our technical strategy, and serving as a critical thought partner to the executive team. As the team’s most senior software engineering leader, your primary focus will be on building, developing, and supporting a world-class team of engineers – and fostering a culture that values excellence, pride in your work, and relentlessly focusing on our users.
This role requires someone who is strategic, inspirational, and operational. You should be a strong systems thinker who can decompose complex, ambiguous challenges into clear roadmaps and guide the team toward execution. You’ll also be an active mentor, ensuring that Sage remains a place where engineers come to do the best work of their careers. While you won’t be expected to ship code daily, you should have the technical depth and credibility to dive into the weeds when needed. This role reports to the CTO and will partner closely with Product, Design, and Operations.
Some examples of what you could be doing on any given day include the following:
- Building, leading, mentoring, and growing a high-performing engineering team while acting from a place of kindness and humility.
- Partnering with the CTO to define the future trajectory of the software engineering team.
- Driving architectural and infrastructure decisions to ensure reliability, scalability, and speed.
- Partnering closely with Product to define Sage’s technical roadmap and align it with company goals.
- Helping the team deconstruct large, ambiguous technical problems into a believable set of deliverables.
- Ensuring operational excellence through high standards of code quality, testing, and documentation.
- Supporting team members’ growth through thoughtful feedback, career development conversations, and hiring practices.
- Creating systems for onboarding, recruiting, and team rituals that reinforce our values and culture within the engineering organization.
- Being a steward of Sage’s engineering brand – representing the company externally to attract top-tier talent.
Minimum Qualifications
- 10+ years of engineering experience, with 5+ years in a people management role.
- Experience scaling an engineering team from early-stage through growth, ideally at a startup or in a fast-paced environment.
- Demonstrated excellence in one or more technical domains (e.g., backend, infrastructure, data, frontend)—with enough range to credibly support engineers across the stack.
- Proven ability to lead through influence and build trust across cross-functional teams.
- Outstanding communicator, able to distill complex topics for a variety of technical and non-technical audiences.
- Comfortable navigating between high-level strategy and low-level technical conversations.
- Strong systems thinker with the ability to decompose complex problems into actionable plans.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working in or building HealthTech products.
- Experience with technical hiring and scaling teams during high-growth phases.
- A track record of fostering team cultures grounded in trust, growth, and accountability.
- Previous experience as a Head of Engineering or Director/Manager looking to step into a top-level leadership role.
Benefits
Our headquarters are located near New York City's Union Square. We believe in cross-team collaboration. We think good ideas can come from anyone, and we've designed our processes to encourage participation from all. While we take our mission seriously, we don't take ourselves too seriously. We like to host off-sites, outings, and team meals where we can connect as people, not just as colleagues. We offer office lunches several days a week and a fully stocked snack bar.
Our benefits package for employees includes competitive base compensation along with stock options. The expected annual salary for this role is between $250,000 and $300,000, depending upon the job level, which will depend on your level of expertise, your experience, and your qualifications. We feel that you should be paid well for your contributions to our mission, and that you should stand to gain as we grow and succeed. We also provide fully-paid health insurance coverage for all of our employees.