Golang Job: Director Engineering

A better internet is possible, one that empowers people to choose how their personal information is used. This might seem daunting, or even impossible, but at Proton, building this better internet is what we do every day.

Proton was founded in 2014 by a group of scientists who met at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Our first product, Proton Mail, is now the world’s largest encrypted email service. Subsequent Proton products, such as Proton VPN, Proton Calendar, and Proton Drive, use end-to-end encryption that gives our users full control over how and with whom their data is shared.

Today, Proton is making privacy universally accessible to more than 50 million registered users, including journalists, some of the world’s largest organizations, and people in more than 180 countries. Our diverse and dynamic team is made up of more than 400 members representing over 30 different nationalities. While we are based in Geneva, Switzerland, we have offices in Zurich, Prague, London, Vilnius, Skopje, Taipei, and many more employees working remotely around the world.

New York Times journalists, some of the world’s largest corporations, and millions of ordinary citizens use our products so they can choose who, if anyone, sees their information. Join us at one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies to help us solve challenging problems and build new products that will reach hundreds of millions of people. We want to create more than just one of the world’s most impactful tech companies, we want to create a new internet that serves the interests of all people. We need you, your voice, your ideas, and your ambition to make it happen.

Purpose of the role

As Engineering Director for Proton Drive, you will lead four teams building end-to-end encrypted online storage products serving millions of Proton customers worldwide. You will be responsible for defining your organizational structure, ensuring best practices in code quality and architectural design, and maintaining alignment across mobile, web, and desktop clients. You will lead design and development of systems and customer experiences at scale, and partner with product managers to develop strategic direction for your teams. As a member of the Proton engineering leadership team, you will advocate for making continuous investments in developer productivity and code quality, while ensuring fast feature delivery for your customers. You will report directly to the VP of Engineering.

What you will do

• Serve as head of engineering for Proton Drive
• Lead through others, and develop the next generation of engineering leaders at Proton
• Inspire, coach, and develop your teams
• Optimize your organizational structure, and continuously raise the bar on hiring
• Build relationships with senior leaders, and advance your long-term platform and engineering vision
• Lead technical design and platform discussions
• Drive continuous improvement in our DevOps practices, and improve lead times and time to market while maintaining exceptional standards of product quality
• Hold yourself and your teams accountable to high engineering standards
• Develop efficient processes, and motivate your team to operate with high velocity, ownership, and accountability
• Contribute to Proton's technology and open source communities
• Foster an inclusive and diverse environment for your team to show up and give their best each day

Technologies we use

• Applied cryptography (PGP, TLS, etc.)
• REST APIs
• Event architectures
• HTTP networking
• SQL, Redis
• PHP (Symfony), Golang, Python
• iOS, macOS (Swift)
• Android (Kotlin, Jetpack)
• Web (Typescript, React)

• 10+ years software engineering experience in progressively complex roles
• 5+ years directly leading and managing engineers
• Demonstrable experience as a manger of managers
• A history of collaboration with senior leaders in engineering, product, and analytics on developing technical and product strategy
• A curious, passionate, and growth-oriented mindset
• Deep experience as a hands-on software engineer creating well-crafted, maintainable code
• Practical experience leading DevOps and SRE initiatives and driving best practices
• Experience with cryptography preferred
• Eagerness to share your ideas, and openness to those of others

Why you should join Proton

• Be part of a movement - Proton is not just a product or service but a community-driven movement united by a shared vision of online freedom. Our services are open source, audited, and supported by community contributions. We give back to our community by maintaining core encryption libraries and by supporting other organizations furthering the same goals as us.
• Work with smart and dedicated people - Our team is diverse, collaborative, and tight-knit with people coming from all walks of life, including many of the world’s top academic institutions and organizations, such as MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, Cambridge, and ETH.
• Join a strong brand - Our encrypted email service - Proton Mail - has grown to be a staple of online security and privacy. Proton has been featured in multiple popular television and film productions, such as Mr. Robot, Knives Out, Sounds of Metal, and more.
• Grow with us - We’re one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups, doubling in size every year. Our growth gives you limitless career and educational opportunities as well as the opportunity to work side-by-side with many world-leading experts in their fields.
• Have your voice heard - We value your opinion and encourage you to speak up and share your ideas and thoughts. At Proton, no problem is someone else’s problem. We collectively strive to do the right thing and be the undisputed best in the world at everything we do.
• Benefits – these vary by location and type of contract but expect support on your vacation, parental leave, refreshment if working from the office, learning and development opportunities, equity for shared success, flexible working hours and remote work, company events and team building activities.

Proton uses the Recruitee recruitment platform for a more effective hiring process and a better candidate experience. Your data will always be kept confidential and is not shared with any third parties. Keep in mind that you will receive emails from the email address [email protected] or other addresses on the protonmail.recruitee.com domain.

Due to recent scams, please be careful with any suspicious emails pretending to be Proton team and forward them to [email protected]. Proton will never ask for payments from candidates.
Proton does not accept unsolicited resumes from any sources other than directly from a candidate. Proton will not pay a fee for any placement resulting from the receipt of an unsolicited offer, even in a situation when the relevant candidate is employed by Proton.
By applying to a role at Proton, you acknowledge that we will process and store your personal data for at least the duration of the hiring process and as necessary to enter a contractual relationship with you.