Software Engineering Manager

LawnStarter; Rio de Janeiro; On-site; BRL 300,000 - 500,000; Full time

Job summary

LawnStarter in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead cross-functional delivery teams and scale services across new verticals.

You will own both delivery and people outcomes, mentor engineers, and drive performance with clear metrics. This role requires strong written communication and the ability to coordinate across time zones in a fast-growing, AI-forward environment. Join a people-first culture where fast shipping and high quality matter.

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering teams delivering software across multiple verticals.
• Strong people management, conflict resolution, and mentoring skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication across time zones.

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-functional delivery teams of 4–5 engineers and report to the Head of Engineering.
• Ensure the team ships reliably, grows professionally, and avoids bottlenecks as we scale.
• Own both delivery and people outcomes; practice async leadership and metric-driven improvement.

Skills

People leadership

Delivery leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Written communication

Distributed teams management

AI strategy

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Job description

About LawnStarter

LawnStarter is the nation's leading on-demand marketplace for lawn care and related services, with over $150M in annual bookings. We're expanding beyond lawn care to become the one-stop shop for all outdoor home services - pest control, pool cleaning, window cleaning, and more.

About Engineering at LawnStarter

Our engineering team builds the platform that connects hundreds of thousands of homeowners with over 70,000 active service pros. We operate three brands (LawnStarter, Lawn Love, HomeGnome) on shared infrastructure, and we're profitable and growing. Engineering here is fast - we ship constantly, we own our systems end-to-end, and we don't tolerate "not my problem." We have strong processes and existing engineering managers, so you're not building from scratch. You're raising the bar.

The Role

We're growing, and that means adding engineering leadership capacity to support new initiatives. You'll lead cross-functional delivery teams of 4–5 engineers, reporting to our Head of Engineering. Your job is to make sure your team ships reliably, grows professionally, and doesn't become a bottleneck as LawnStarter scales into new service verticals.

This is a people-first role. If your identity as an EM is primarily technical - if you'd rather review architecture than develop an underperformer - this isn't the right fit. If you're the manager who knows what every person on your team needs to grow, who handles conflict directly, and who can articulate team performance in metrics, keep reading.

What makes this role different:

• - You'll own both delivery AND people outcomes - neither can be delegated
• - Distributed team across time zones, so async leadership and written communication matter as much as meetings
• - We move fast and actually ship - you'll feel the difference between a team that's humming and one that's stuck
• - AI-forward is not a buzzword here - we expect you to lead your team on how to use it, not