Senior Director, Engineering

About the role

This is a rare opportunity to build something from the ground up at a company with real scale, real revenue, and real ambition. You will be the senior engineering leader in Berlin, responsible for standing up and scaling a world-class R&D organization. You'll shape the culture, establish the operating rhythm, and ensure Berlin teams are fully integrated into Intercom's strategy from day one.

What you'll do

• Serving as the site lead and senior R&D leader in Berlin, setting the tone for R&D excellence, culture, and pace
• Hiring and developing a team who embody Intercom's values and move with impatience
• Establishing Berlin's operating rhythm — onboarding, team formation, and cross-location collaboration practices that ensure new hires are productive and connected from week one
• Owning one or more areas of ownership within Intercom's product
• Being accountable for delivering real impact for our customers
• Partnering with Product and Design leadership to shape strategy and deliver to a high bar
• Leading the definition and execution of key strategic initiatives across R&D and Intercom more broadly
• Creating an environment of urgency, accountability, and continuous improvement where teams do the best work of their careers

What you'll need

• You have deep technical knowledge and a proven track record of building and leading large, high-performing engineering organizations (100+ engineers) that ship world-class products
• You have experience as a senior engineering leader (Director+ level) at a high-growth technology company, ideally in SaaS or enterprise software
• You have stood up or significantly scaled an engineering site or hub before — you understand what it takes to build culture, hire at pace, and establish credibility in a new market
• Leadership and mentorship are core to who you are. You have a track record of developing engineering talent and building organizations where people do career-defining work
• You take ownership of everything in your domain — from strategic direction to operational details — and drive it to a high-quality conclusion
• You thrive in fast-paced, high-ambition environments. You are energized by intensity and urgency, and you bring that energy to your teams
• You are based in or willing to relocate to Berlin, and you are excited about building Intercom's presence in the Berlin tech ecosystem

Nice to have

• Experience with AI/ML products or AI-first product development
• Experience in customer support, helpdesk, or conversational AI product spaces
• You're opinionated about the work that you do, and you stand up for something you believe in
• You're humble and honest, you know your strengths, but also your weaknesses. Setting up your environment to optimize for this knowledge comes naturally to you