Head of Engineering/Product

Company Description

Founded in 2020, Picky began as a global skincare review community for K-beauty enthusiasts. Today, it has evolved into the largest influencer marketing platform for K-beauty brands, connecting brands with a global network of beauty and skincare creators. Picky specializes in influencer acquisition, management, and content strategy, empowering brands to enhance their marketing efforts through impactful, scalable campaigns. With a focus on delivering value and simplifying the process of creator collaboration, Picky helps brands expand their reach and achieve their goals.

What the role owns

1. Tech direction and roadmap — across consumer platform and B2B Translate business strategy into a buildable technical plan the team can quote.
2. AI strategy — clear thesis on where AI fits in product and ops. Hands-on enough to use modern AI tooling personally and pick what the team adopts.
3. Team performance — leads engineering and design through the Tech Lead. Owns hiring, calibration, retention.
4. CEO and board alignment — single point of accountability for technical decisions to leadership and board. Translates between business and engineering.
5. Cross-team alignment — sales, ops, partner teams.
   

What we're looking forMust-haves

• 8+ years spanning product or engineering leadership at companies that shipped under pressure. Has held a "Head of" or VP-level or Founder role.
• Business + tech. Reads a P&L, knows what CAC/LTV implies, evaluates build-vs-buy with numbers — and reasons about architecture, system design, and AI trade-offs at a senior level.
• Hands-on AI. Uses modern AI tools daily and has a clear thesis on where AI changes their team's output. An operator, not a fan.
• Lead, push, control. Comfortable telling a strong-willed senior engineer "I hear you, the answer is still no" without burning the relationship. Operates well in a team that has been under-led.
• Western/US-style operating cadence. Comfortable in a bottom-up culture; able to coach an English-speaking team on initiative-taking norms.
• Onsite in Seoul. Daily presence with the team is non-negotiable

What success looks likeFirst 90 days

• Tech Lead role formally filled (internal promotion default)
• One full function (support, partner ops, fulfillment) scoped for AI-assisted upgrade with a named owner
• Trust signal from the team — engineers reporting up directly with friction, not around

First 12 months

• Engineering throughput materially up per engineer; AI-assisted workflow is the team default
• Tech is no longer the ceiling — CEO and board are debating market and ambition, not capacity
• Creator identification / data warehouse — owned, scoped, in flight