Director, Software Engineering (Location Platform)

Join Our Mission: Director of Engineering, Location Platform

Are you an experienced engineering leader passionate about building foundational technology that impacts millions globally? Do you thrive at the intersection of strategy, scalability, and real-time systems? If so, come lead the team building the core location platform powering Life360, the app dedicated to keeping families safe and connected.

About Life360

Life360 is on a mission to keep people close to the ones they love. With approximately 83.7 million monthly active users across over 150 countries, our category-leading mobile app and Tile devices provide essential peace of mind through services like location sharing, safe driver reports, and crash detection. We’re more than an app; we’re a household name providing indispensable support for the moments that matter most in everyday family life. We’re a rapidly growing, remote-first company with over 500 employees shaping the future of family safety technology.

The Location Platform Team

Our team is the engine behind Life360’s signature experience. We build and maintain the robust, scalable foundation necessary for the app’s real-time, insightful, and delightful location-forward features. This includes the complex work of precisely collecting and delivering location and sensor data from member devices, directly powering the app experience and enabling future product innovation. We relentlessly focus on app performance and reliability, ensuring a seamless experience for our massive global user base.

Your Opportunity as Director of Engineering

As the Director of Engineering for the Location Platform, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the technology that is fundamental to Life360’s success. You will lead a talented engineering team, directly influencing strategic technical decisions and driving the innovation that keeps our platform at the forefront of the market. This isn’t just a management role; it’s an opportunity to impact millions of lives by ensuring families worldwide can rely on Life360 for safety and connection.

What You Will Do

In this key engineering leadership position, you will:

• Provide leadership, coaching, and mentorship to your engineering managers and senior engineers, fostering a high-performance, collaborative culture.
• Define and own the long-term technical vision and strategic roadmap for the Location Platform, ensuring it meets current needs and anticipates future growth.
• Translate business goals into concrete technical initiatives, delivering innovative, reliable, and scalable solutions.
• Drive strong cross-functional collaboration with Product Management, Analytics, Design, and Infrastructure teams to align efforts and deliver impactful user experiences.
• Serve as a key technical voice, effectively communicating the team’s strategy, progress, and needs to executive leadership.
• Guide critical architectural decisions to ensure the platform remains secure, maintainable, and capable of supporting long-term business objectives.
• Shape the team’s talent strategy, including strategic hiring, development, and succession planning.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders across the company, advocating for the platform’s needs and celebrating its successes.
• Champion operational excellence, establishing rigorous standards and using data-driven methodologies to continuously optimize platform performance.
• Foster a culture of innovation, encouraging experimentation with new technologies and approaches to maintain technical leadership.
• Contribute to the broader Life360 engineering community, sharing knowledge and staying ahead of industry trends.

What You Bring

Required Qualifications:

We are looking for a leader with a strong technical foundation and proven leadership experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with a minimum of 5 years in senior engineering leadership roles (Senior Manager, Director, or equivalent).
• Demonstrated success leading engineering teams in fast-paced, high-growth environments, particularly within platform development or infrastructure.
• Solid understanding of cloud technologies (AWS, Azure, GCP) and experience with mobile development platforms (iOS, Android).
• Familiarity with real-time systems and/or location-based technologies.

Preferred Qualifications:

Additional experience that would be highly beneficial:

• Experience with real-time communication protocols (e.g., gRPC, MQTT), microservices architecture, Kubernetes, and modern CI/CD pipelines.
• Proven ability to successfully lead complex, cross-functional projects and strategic initiatives.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with an emphasis on data-driven decision-making.
• Exceptional communication and collaboration skills, capable of articulating complex technical concepts to diverse audiences.
• A commitment to operational excellence, continuous learning, and fostering innovation.
• Alignment with Life360’s core values: Be a Good Person, Be Direct With Respect, Members Before Metrics, High Intensity High Impact.

Our Culture & Benefits

Life360 is a Remote-First company, meaning you can perform this role from anywhere within the US or Canada. Our culture is guided by our mission and values, fostering a trusted environment where you can bring your authentic self to work and make a real difference.

Comprehensive Benefits:

We care for our employees’ well-being and offer a competitive package:

• Competitive compensation and benefits.
• Medical, dental, vision, life, and disability insurance plans (100% paid for US employees; supplemental plans for Canadian employees).
• 401(k) in the US with company match; RRSP with DPSP plan in Canada.
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
• Flexible PTO and 12 company-wide days off.
• Learning & Development opportunities.
• Equipment, tools, and reimbursement to support a productive remote work environment.
• Free Life360 Platinum Membership for your circle.

Compensation

For US-based candidates, the anticipated salary range is $213,500 to $313,500 USD. For Canada-based candidates, the range is $250,500 to $294,500 CAD. Final base pay will consider factors such as location, background, experience, and skills. Our comprehensive compensation package includes salary, benefits, and equity.

Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion

We believe that a diversity of ideas, perspectives, and backgrounds is essential for creating a stronger, more innovative workplace. We are committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone feels empowered to contribute their unique voice and feels they belong. We are an equal opportunity employer and encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply, even if you don’t meet every single qualification listed. Your experience could be exactly what we’re looking for to help us build something meaningful.