Engineering Manager, Agent Handler

Merge Labs; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 230,000 - 270,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity compensation

Competitive salary

Medical/dental vision

Job summary

Merge Labs in San Francisco is seeking a hands-on Engineering Manager to lead the Agent Handler team. You’ll own the roadmap, balance speed and reliability, and ship early-stage AI-driven products with an emphasis on 0-to-1 execution.

You’ll manage 5–8 engineers, stay close to code and architecture, recruit talent, and collaborate with product, design, and GTM to turn customer signals into shipped software. Experience leading 5+ engineers and strong backend stack is required.

Qualifications

• 6+ years of engineering experience with 1+ years in management.
• Experience leading teams of 5+ engineers in fast-paced environments.
• Strong product orientation - ownership of roadmaps and outcomes.
• Hands-on leadership able to work directly on code and architecture.
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams and hiring internal talent.
• Familiarity with Django, Python, Postgres, AWS, Kubernetes.
• Interest in AI/ML or developer tooling and curiosity for AI in side projects.
• Ability to balance priorities and cross-functional initiatives to drive outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of 5-8 engineers building new products from early traction toward product-market fit
• Stay hands-on with technical decisions and architecture in high-ambiguity areas
• Own the roadmap, balancing fast experimentation with reliability for enterprise
• Partner with product, design, and GTM to ship features from customer signals
• Drive adoption of AI-enabled development and automation across the team
• Build a high-performance culture centered on ownership, speed, and low-ego leadership

Skills

Engineering management

Hands-on leadership

Product mindset

Cross-functional collaboration

Team building

Tools

Django

Python

PostgreSQL

AWS

Kubernetes

Job description

Merge is the leading provider of agentic tools and customer-facing integrations for frontier LLMs, Fortune 500 organizations, and B2B SaaS companies. Our platform offers three core products: Merge Unified, which enables businesses to add hundreds of integrations to their products with a single API, Merge Agent Handler, which empowers AI agents with secure access to thousands of third-party tools, and Merge Gateway, the control plane for running AI in production. Merge's enterprise-grade platform handles the entire integration lifecycle, from authentication and security to monitoring and maintenance. Thousands of companies trust Merge to accelerate product development, unblock sales, reduce customer churn, and save engineering resources - allowing them to focus on their core product.

Who are we looking for?

Merge is looking for a hands-on Engineering Manager to lead engineering for one of our new Products org, Agent Handler, the products extending Merge beyond synced data into tools, and actions for the AI era. These are early, fast-moving bets, and this role is squarely about taking them from 0 to 1: finding product-market fit, shipping fast, and building the team around what's working.

You’ll lead a team of 5-8 engineers while staying deep in the code, the architecture, and the product itself. We’re looking for someone who is genuinely AI-native (you build with AI tooling daily and push your team to do the same), product-minded (you think in terms of users and outcomes, not just tickets), and energized by ambiguity. You’ve built 0-to-1 products before and know the difference between that and scaling a mature one. You set direction, then roll up your sleeves and help ship it.

What will you be doing?

• Lead a team of 5-8 engineers building new products from early traction toward product-market fit

• Stay hands-on with technical decisions and architecture, especially in high-ambiguity or high-impact areas

• Own the roadmap for your products, balancing fast experimentation with the reliability bar enterprise buyers expect

• Partner directly with product, design, and GTM to turn customer signal into shipped product

• Drive adoption of AI-enabled development and automation across the team

• Build a high-performance culture centered on ownership, speed, and low-ego leadership

What experience is required?

• 6+ years of engineering experience with 1+ years in management

• Experience leading teams of 5+ engineers in fast-paced, startup environments

• Strong product orientation - experience owning or deeply influencing product roadmaps and business outcomes

• Demonstrated ability to operate as a hands-on leader (not purely a people manager)

• Experience building and scaling engineering teams, including hiring and developing internal talent

• Familiarity with modern backend systems and infrastructure (e.g., Django, Python, Postgres, AWS, Kubernetes)

• Interest or experience in AI/ML or developer tooling, or demonstrated curiosity (e.g., actively exploring AI in side projects)

• Ability to balance priorities, tradeoffs, and cross-functional initiatives to drive business outcomes

Compensation

• The salary compensation range for this role is $230,000 to 270,000

• Actual compensation packages are based on a wide array of factors unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, years & depth of experience, certifications. In addition to cash compensation, all employees receive an equity compensation package.