Engineering Manager

Swiftly, Inc.; United States; On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Swiftly is seeking an Engineering Manager to join a cross-functional product team focused on enabling on-vehicle hardware systems and devices. You will guide architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and drive delivery across edge devices, cloud services, and data processing pipelines.

You should have deep experience with real-time data systems, hardware-software integration, and a growth mindset. A strong focus on impact, collaboration, and inclusive culture is essential for success at Swiftly.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience leading engineering teams and mentoring engineers.
• Experience delivering end-to-end products spanning cloud SaaS and embedded hardware.
• Strong ability to clarify goals, break down work, and manage competing priorities.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Engineers and Product Manager to understand customer needs and define impactful solutions.
• Contribute hands-on and mentor the team.
• Guide the team to balance technical excellence with rapid delivery as products scale.
• Maintain and improve hardware lab; support remote development, testing, and debugging.
• Stay informed on AI tooling to improve development efficiency and product quality.
• Provide transparent progress updates and cross-functional alignment.
• Define onboard architecture and implementation processes with customer-site collaboration.
• Foster a supportive, inclusive, growth-oriented, and outcome-focused team culture.
• Help reports be proud to work at Swiftly, tracking retention and satisfaction.

Skills

Leadership

Python

Java

JavaScript/TypeScript

MQTT

SQL databases

Linux

Containerization

AWS

Edge devices

Job description

Company Description

Swiftly is on a mission to help cities move more efficiently. We are the leading transit data platform for agencies to share real‑time passenger information, manage day‑to‑day operations, and improve service performance. Today, over 200 transit agencies in 12 countries – including LA Metro, MARTA, SEPTA, and MBTA – rely on Swiftly to improve on‑time performance by up to 40% and increase passenger information accuracy by up to 50%. The result is better service reliability, increased ridership, and more efficient transit operations. Even though Swiftly's HQ office is located in San Francisco, CA, we are open to candidates in most locations across the U.S. as well as Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. At this time we are unable to provide Visa sponsorship.

Engineering at Swiftly

Engineering at Swiftly is not only about writing code - we believe in creating empowered product teams that work together to conceptualize new features and bring them to life. Each team aims to strike a balance between delivering incremental improvements, creating prototypes to test new ideas and mitigate risks, and building scalable software using industry best practices. We’re guided by a mission to positively impact transit riders, and we embrace humility and intentionality in how we make technical decisions so that we best meet our customers’ needs.

The Role

Swiftly is looking for an Engineering Manager to join a cross‑functional product team enabling our transit agency customers to operate and manage on‑vehicle hardware systems and devices. Your team’s work spans technology stacks connecting cloud‑native services interfacing with Swiftly’s core data engine to a variety of embedded/IoT devices running onboard public transit buses, trains, and ferries. We seek Engineering Managers who are curious about problems to solve and orient toward impact by being flexible in their specific contributions to help their team succeed. You will be responsible for growing and supporting a high‑performing team, ensuring engineers have the context, support, and technical direction they need to do their best work. You will drive delivery of products across the full vertical, from software running on edge devices in the field, the communication layers that connect those devices to the cloud, and backend services that configure, control, and process data from those devices. You should bring deep familiarity with real‑time data systems, consumer or commercial devices, and hardware and software integrations – enough to guide architectural decisions, mentor engineers, and engage credibly in technical discussions. Above all else, we value candidates with a growth mindset, the aptitude to learn, and strong motivation to deliver impact to customers.

What You’ll Do

• Partner with the team's Engineers and Product Manager to understand customer needs, define impactful solutions, set milestones and goals, and deliver valuable products to market
• Contribute to our products hands‑on and as a technical mentor/partner
• Guide the team to balance technical excellence with rapid delivery, evolving practices as products scale
• Maintain and improve our physical hardware lab if local to San Francisco, else contribute to solutions for remote development, testing, and debugging needs
• Stay apprised of developments in AI tooling, capturing improvements that drive efficiency and effectiveness of the team as product development evolves
• Proactively seek feedback and share progress, learnings, and blockers to drive alignment cross‑functionally
• Help define and refine our onboard architecture and implementation processes, including through observational customer site visits and collaboration with partners
• Manage team members with a focus on enabling a supportive, inclusive, growth‑oriented, and outcome‑focused culture on the team
• Create an environment where your direct reports are proud to work at Swiftly, as measured by employee retention and employee satisfaction scores

What Will Set You Up for Success

• 3+ years of experience in engineering team leadership and people management, with a track record of developing engineers and building high‑performing teams while remaining hands‑on with technical contributions
• Proven experience guiding teams toward outcomes and delivering end‑to‑end products spanning cloud‑based SaaS environments and embedded hardware in the field
• Strong ability to support team execution by clarifying goals, breaking down work effectively, and managing competing priorities across multiple product surfaces
• Proficiency with languages and technologies in our stack: Python, Java, Javascript/Typescript, MQTT, SQL databases
• Experience with communication protocols and paradigms of multiple varieties: serial interfaces (RS‑232, J1708, CAN), network protocols (HTTP/REST, UDP v. TCP), and messaging patterns (MQTT, pub/sub, store‑and‑forward)
• Fluency with Linux including imaging, system administration, containerization, process management, networking, and security
• Familiarity with approaches to remote deployment and update mechanisms (eg. OTA updates, A/B partitioning, configuration management, edge container orchestration)
• A testing and quality mindset, with strong opinions on system validation, automated testing, observability, and monitoring
• Experience with cloud‑native architectures and services (AWS preferred)
• Comfortable applying modern AI tools and techniques in the software development lifecycle to accelerate development
• You seek and internalize feedback (a core Swiftly value!), are humble in technical debate, and committed to blameless learning and improvement
• You are excited to be part of a mission‑driven company improving public transit. Regardless of your why, it is important that you care about the work we do