Engineering Operations Lead

The Cardano Foundation is an independent, Swiss-based not-for-profit organization. The Foundation is tasked with advancing the public digital infrastructure Cardano and works to anchor it as a utility for financial and social systems, thus empowering the digital architects of the future.

The Foundation facilitates the worldwide advancement of Cardano in enterprise applications. It develops infrastructure tooling—including where there may not be an immediate commercial use case—plus strengthens operational resilience, and drives diversity of on-infrastructure use cases as well as the development of sound and representative governance.

Another significant part of the Cardano Foundation’s mission is to engage with and support the Cardano community. The Foundation assists the development of tools the community can use to leverage Cardano to solve problems in new ways.

What You’ll Be Doing:

As the Deputy Director of Engineering at Cardano Foundation, you will play a pivotal role in assisting the Director of Engineering in managing, organizing, and structuring the Engineering unit. Your primary responsibility will be to streamline and implement processes that align with other departments, such as the Project Management Office and the Product Management Division, to ensure seamless collaboration and delivery of cutting-edge blockchain solutions. This position offers an exciting opportunity to work at the forefront of blockchain technology and contribute to the success of the foundation's mission.

Departmental Management:

• Collaborate closely with the Director of Engineering and Team Leads to execute the department's strategic vision and goals.
• Develop department and organizational goals and monitor progress toward them.
• Assist in managing and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Engineering unit.
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence within the Engineering team.
• Facilitate recurring meetings and follow up on defined actions, maintain decision logs and keep track of planned and actual activities.
• Be a checkpoint and source of validation for the department management when it comes to operational decision making.

Process Optimization:

• Identify areas for process improvement within the Engineering unit and implement streamlined workflows.
• Ensure alignment of engineering processes with other departments, particularly the Project Management Office, Legal, Product Management, Partnerships, IT Infrastructure and Marketing.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Engineering processes.
• Help team members to unblock process related challenges and inform about company wide guidelines and collaboration best practices.

Cross-Functional Collaboration:

• Work closely with the Project Management Office to ensure efficient project execution, resource allocation, and delivery of blockchain solutions.
• Collaborate with the Product Division to align engineering efforts with product development and feature delivery.
• Facilitate effective communication and cooperation between engineering and other departments.
• Install a light weight, efficient and accurate demand management for the engineering unit.

What We Look For In You:

• The candidate has a background in project management or organizational development, with experience in controlling, reporting and planning and tracking of complex operations.
• 10+ years of experience in project management or team leadership, with a strong understanding of processes and implementation of operational excellence in organizations.
• Proven experience in process optimization and project management within a technical or financial environment.
• Strong people management skills including excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• The ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.
• Familiarity with agile methodologies and the ability to adapt to a fast-paced, dynamic work environment.
• Proficient English language and communication skills.
• Overview of blockchain technology in general and Cardano in particular. 
• You are open, kind and respectful of others’ opinions, as well as act with integrity when engaging in academic or technical discussions.
• Bachelor's degree in Business Management, Organization Management, Computer Science, or a related field (Master's degree preferred).
• Self motivated, independent and well organized. Someone who works well on their own and with a team.

Nice To Have:

• A solid understanding of blockchain technology and ecosystems.
• An in-depth Cardano specific knowledge about its intricacies and features on governance and technical level are optional but beneficial to shorten the on boarding process.

About Us

Cardano Foundation has incredible employees from over 24 nationalities, across 3 continents which you will work collegiately to grow the Foundation. 

Here at Cardano Foundation’s we are transparent, inclusive, passionate and innovative. As such our mission is to have a positive impact on global change and breed a harmonious working environment for our employees to flourish. 

Benefits:

• Our employees have the flexibility and freedom to work from home with flexible working hours. 
• All Cardano Foundation employees will have access to a personal annual learning budget dedicated to personal professional and personal development. 
• A day a year is dedicated to a departmental team activity fun day out. 
• Cardano Foundation gives the opportunity to its employees to dedicate a volunteering day to help the greater community or to be an expert in your field of work within the blockchain community. 
• Employees are given additional day off for their birthday. 
• Cardano Foundation also rewards days off as per established work anniversaries milestones.

Cardano Foundation strives to provide a diverse, inclusive and welcoming working environment. We are committed being a discrimination free organisation - including discrimination free space with regards to age, religion, race, nationality/ethnic origin, disability, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.