Work with me

An experienced engineering and product executive in your corner

I work with CTOs, CPOs, VPEs, VPPs, CEOs, and founders at startups with roughly 10–150 engineers. I've led engineering at New Relic, Gremlin, and a string of startups, and since 2020 I've worked as an advisor and engineering leader for companies across the startup world.

Book an intro call

Looking for coaching for yourself rather than your company? See options for individual leaders.

Led engineering at or advised

and 25+ more

Are we a fit?

We're probably a good fit if:

You lead a software company, usually seed to Series C, with roughly 10–150 engineers.
You want an experienced partner for the hard parts: scaling the organization, getting delivery unstuck, or making a high-stakes leadership hire.
You want an organization that is both effective and humane.

I work across most industries. We're probably not a fit if you see people as interchangeable resources. If you're not sure, an intro call is the quickest way to find out.

How I help

Executive advising

Regular working sessions with you and/or your leadership team: weekly, biweekly, or monthly. You bring the context, I bring the pattern recognition, and we leave with concrete next steps. Part sounding board, part problem solving.

Engineering leadership hiring

Hiring a CTO, VP, or Head of Engineering. I help define the profile you actually need, design an interview process that tests for running an organization, interview your finalists, and help your new leader land well. I often partner with your executive recruiter.

Organization assessment

An outside look at how engineering is really working: delivery, quality, structure, and leadership. You get a clear picture of what's in the way and a short list of the changes that will matter most. Useful as a sanity check or for due diligence.

How it works

Intro call
A short conversation about what's going on and whether I'm the right person to help. No pitch.
A sample working session
Before you commit, we work on a real problem together, so you can see what working with me is actually like.
Monthly retainer
Advising runs on a simple monthly retainer at the cadence that suits you. Either of us can end it at any time. Hiring and assessment projects are scoped individually.

Where I'm most useful

Hiring engineering leaders: I've hired my own replacement repeatedly since 2020, and interviewed more CTO and VP candidates than almost anyone.
AI acceleration: Making AI-assisted development actually pay off: measuring the delivery of value instead of activity, change management and organizational focus, plus a view informed by what's working across the industry.
Delivery and execution: When shipping stalls: incremental delivery, CI/CD, and lightweight project management.
Organization design for growth: Team structure, roles, and coordination that keep working as you add teams.
Leveling up new leaders: Supporting promising but less experienced leaders through the parts of the job that are counterintuitive.
Quality and reliability: Tech debt, incident response, and on-call practices that teams are proud of.

What clients say

“We brought Jade onboard for a three-month commitment where he quickly identified a set of process improvement[s] and was able to make the engineering team feel appreciated and seen. At the end of the commitment, Jade helped us recruit a full-time VP of Engineering who … was able to be productive in his first week.”

CEO & co-founder, Venture-backed security startup

“He took a deep look at our systems and processes, implemented some lightweight solutions, and tee'd the organization up very well for our incoming Engineering leader. Jade also played an important role in hiring the new leader.”

CEO, Series D data analytics company

“We came to every meeting with abstract ideas, and walked out with concrete steps to make it happen.”

Advisory client, Venture-backed startup

“[Startup] life would have been considerably worse without Jade. I dropped my therapist but kept Jade.”

Advisory client, Venture-backed startup

“He was skillful at describing and weighing the tradeoffs of different approaches to solving organizational problems and was careful to pay close attention to the specifics of our context before advising.”

VP of Engineering, coaching client, Developer tools startup

“Jade helped align every component of our hiring process by detailing how each stage should be focused and evaluated … allowing us to achieve our aggressive headcount goals.”

Recruiting lead, Venture-backed security startup

What an engagement looks like

PE-backed software company

From stuck to shipping before an acquisition

Situation: The company was preparing for an acquisition, and every plan depended on engineering delivering. Nobody was confident it could.
What I did: Started with an assessment: weak organizational leadership, little automation, and outdated practices. Then led the org through the fixes: feature flags, trunk-based development, lighter code review, fewer meetings, observability and on-call, and the team's first use of AI agents.
How long: Six months
Result: Twice as many things delivered and about 50% more value shipped. PR review time halved. The first no-drama peak season in the company's history.

Series A startup

Hiring the right engineering leader

Situation: Growing fast without engineering operations experience. Hiring wasn't working, people were overwhelmed and isolated, and the team felt disconnected from leadership.
What I did: Advised the founders on high-impact, low-effort fixes for each problem to hold things together until the hire. Defined the profile of the leader they needed, designed the interview process, and sorted out problems with their executive recruiter.
Result: They hired the leader they needed. In the CEO's words: “Jade was crucial in navigating a critical company transition.”

Seed-stage startup

Getting delivery back on track before product-market fit

Situation: The company had scaled ahead of product-market fit. Delivery was slipping, and the leadership team wasn't working well together.
What I did: Ongoing advising with the CEO and leadership team: team structure, role definitions, and meeting structure, with engineering focused entirely on reaching product-market fit and better decision-making.
Result: The CEO's summary: engineering delivery was “completely solved.”

Let's talk

Tell me what's going on, and I'll tell you honestly whether I can help. If I can't, I'll try to point you to someone who can.

Book an intro call

Prefer email? jade at rubick dot com.

For individual leaders

Help for you personally

Everything above is advising for companies. If you're a manager or leader working on your own growth, these are the ways I can help, from free to one-on-one.

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Management course

A five-month email course for engineering managers who are new or still finding their footing. Work through it at your own pace. Learn more.

One-on-one coaching

$625 per session

This is my reduced individual rate. It applies when the contract is with you personally rather than with your employer. I can invoice in other currencies, and further discounts are sometimes available internationally.

Many companies will cover coaching for their leaders, so it's worth asking.

To get started, email jade at rubick dot com with a few lines about your role and what you'd like to work on.