Director, Engineering

Campfire is hiring a Director, Engineering in San Francisco, United States. It pays $250k-$350k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Campfire.

Level's read on this job

Works on AI ●●●○ is how Level rates this role: the daily work is on AI products, without building the model.
Tools and skills the posting cites include Python, Django and PostgreSQL.
Level classifies it as a lead role.
Level lists 50 other open roles at Campfire.

AI in this role

Lead multiple engineering teams building an AI-native ERP for modern finance teams.

pythondjangopostgresqlnextjsawsllmsmcp

engineering-managementsoftware-engineeringorg-designfintechdistributed-systemshiring

Campfire is building the AI-native ERP for modern finance teams, backed by a $65M Series B from Accel and Ribbit Capital. Our engineering org is ~30 people today and growing to ~100, and we're hiring Directors of Engineering to lead that scale-up. Each Director owns a segment of the org — roughly 25–40 engineers across 3–5 teams — and will report to the CTO alongside two peer Directors. This is a manager-of-managers role: you'll hire and develop engineering managers, shape team structure within your area, and own how your teams plan, ship, and operate.

Responsibilities

Own the org design for your area: team boundaries, charters, and staffing plans
Lead, coach, and hold accountable 3–5 engineering managers; develop first-time managers and grow future leaders from the IC ranks
Drive hiring for your teams: headcount planning, recruiting, interviewer training, and closing senior candidates
Run planning and delivery for your area: roadmap alignment with product, quarterly commitments, and predictable execution across teams
Uphold operational rigor expected of a financial-systems company: on-call, incident response, SLOs, and release practices that hold up to enterprise and audit scrutiny
Partner with peer Directors, security, and compliance on cross-cutting concerns — shared platform, SOC 2, enterprise security reviews, AI governance
Set and uphold engineering standards — code review, testing, observability, architecture decisions — across a Python/Django, PostgreSQL, Next.js, and AWS stack

Qualifications

10+ years in software engineering, including 5+ years managing engineers and 2+ years managing managers
Led a group of 20+ engineers with multiple managers reporting to you, through a period of rapid growth
Built or operated systems where correctness and auditability are non-negotiable: fintech, accounting, payments, or ERP
Technically credible with senior ICs — able to review architecture and weigh in on data-model and infrastructure decisions
Comfortable operating as one of several peer leaders: collaborative, low-ego, and effective at working across org boundaries
Hands-on interest in running LLMs and agents in production
Clear, direct communicator who writes well and gives hard feedback kindly

Bonus

Experience taking a product through enterprise security and compliance (SOC 2, SSO/SAML, vendor reviews)
Familiarity with revenue recognition, GAAP close, or accounting integrations (Stripe, Deel, Rippling, banks, payroll)
Experience with MCP or building integrations for AI platforms
Depth in Python and relational databases

How we rate this

Director, Engineering at Campfire rates 65 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Works on AI (AI Level 3 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Works on AI. The daily work is on AI products, without building the model.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Director, Engineering is an open job at Campfire.
Level rates this role AI Level 3 of 4: Works on AI.
The listed salary is $250k-$350k a year.
The role is based in San Francisco.
The job was posted on September 18, 2026.
Seniority: lead.
Applications are handled by Campfire. Apply on Campfire

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

Engineering ManagementSoftware EngineeringOrg DesignFintechDistributed SystemsHiringPythonDjango

Questions you could be asked

Tell me about a project where engineering management was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where software engineering was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where org design was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where fintech was part of your work. What did you do?
Tell me about a project where distributed systems was part of your work. What did you do?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: Engineering Management, Software Engineering, Org Design, Fintech, and Distributed Systems. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Show where AI is part of your daily process, not a one-off project. This role expects it to be a running habit.

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