US Engineering Team Lead / Head of Engineering

Job Description

Job Description

SSH is a global leader in defensive cybersecurity and a pioneer of secure communications. Our solutions protect access and defend secrets when people, applications, and systems communicate.

We are hiring a US Engineering Team Lead / Head of Engineering to build, lead, and scale our US engineering function.

About the role

This role is intentionally designed with flexibility in level. Depending on your experience and leadership depth, the position may be offered at either Engineering Team Lead or Head of Engineering level. Scope, seniority, and compensation will be aligned accordingly.

You will be a hands-on technical leader with a strong consultative and customer-facing mindset. You will guide the design, implementation, and delivery of secure, scalable solutions while acting as a trusted technical authority for customers and internal teams.

You will work closely with Product, Sales, Customer Success, Marketing, and with R&D and Engineering teams in Finland, ensuring strong alignment between customer needs, field learnings, and product development.

What you’ll do

• Lead the US engineering team with a hands-on, architecture-first approach and provide technical direction

• Act as the primary technical escalation point for complex customer and field issues

• Support pre-sales activities including technical discovery, solution design, and proofs of concept

• Serve as a trusted technical advisor to customers deploying secure identity and access management solutions

• Build strong, structured collaboration between US engineering and Finland-based R&D and engineering teams

• Define and improve processes for cross-time-zone communication, documentation, and handoffs

• Ensure customer requirements, field learnings, and escalation insights are clearly fed back into Product and Engineering

• Promote best practices around security, reliability, and operational excellence

• Foster a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement

Additional scope at Head of Engineering level:

• Own the long-term technical and organizational strategy for US Engineering

• Scale the team, including hiring, structure, and performance management

• Drive cross-regional execution and alignment across engineering functions

What we’re looking for

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Computer Engineering, or a related field

• 10+ years of experience in Linux/Unix operations, systems engineering, or security-focused infrastructure roles

• 3+ years of experience leading engineering teams with a hands-on technical leadership approach

• Strong background in identity and access management, authentication, authorization, or related security domains

• Experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, and GCP

• Deep expertise in Unix/Linux services and protocols (TCP/IP, SSH, SFTP, DNS, LDAP, firewalls)

• Proven architectural and design skills for complex, security-sensitive environments

• Proficiency in scripting languages such as Shell, Python, Go, or Perl

• Experience with configuration management and automation tools (Ansible, Puppet, Chef)

• Familiarity with virtualization and infrastructure platforms (VMware or similar)

• Strong experience working directly with customers in a consultative, customer-facing engineering role

• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate effectively across time zones

• Comfortable owning technical escalations and operating effectively in high-pressure situations

Compensation

For candidates based in New York, the expected compensation range for this role is:

• Base salary: $130,000 – $190,000

• On-target earnings (OTE): $175,000 – $260,000

Final compensation will depend on experience, role level (Engineering Team Lead vs. Head of Engineering), scope of responsibility, and location.

Work model & travel

This is a remote role within the United States and requires approximately 25% travel for customer engagements, internal collaboration, and company events.

Interested? Apply now to help shape and lead SSH’s US engineering function and play a key role in delivering world-class cybersecurity solutions.