Engineering Manager (AI-Native Platform) - Remote

First American; Santa Ana (CA); Hybrid; USD 149,000 - 198,000; Full time

Job summary

First American is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead distributed, cloud-native software teams responsible for AI-powered systems. You will partner with Product Management, Design, Architecture, Security, and other engineering leaders to drive strategy into outcomes while building authentic, high-performing teams.

The role emphasizes operational excellence, measurable delivery, and responsible AI adoption, with a focus on scalable, secure, observable software and a strong culture of ownership

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience building production software systems, including leadership of engineering teams.
• Proven track record delivering cloud-native, distributed software in production.
• Experience establishing engineering processes to improve delivery, quality, and reliability.
• Ability to partner with Product, Design, Architecture, Security, and stakeholders.
• Experience adopting AI-assisted development tools to accelerate delivery.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Build high-performing engineering teams and foster inclusive, safe environments.
• Own delivery for one or more teams with clear priorities and planning.
• Collaborate across Product, Design, Architecture, Security, and Business to align roadmaps.
• Champion AI-native engineering practices across the lifecycle.
• Establish operational excellence with reliable, observable, and secure software.
• Develop and improve engineering systems, processes, and on-call readiness.
• Provide technical leadership and guide architectural decisions.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Cloud-native architectures

Distributed systems

Operational excellence

People management

AI-assisted development

Tools

Kubernetes

Terraform

OpenAI

Azure OpenAI

Anthropic

Databricks

Cursor

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

OpenTelemetry

Grafana

Datadog

Prometheus

C#/.NET

Python

Java

Job description

Who We Are

Join a team that puts its People First! Since 1889, First American (NYSE: FAF) has held an unwavering belief in its people. They are passionate about what they do, and we are equally passionate about fostering an environment where all feel welcome, supported, and empowered to be innovative and reach their full potential. Our inclusive, people-first culture has earned our company numerous accolades, including being named to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list for eleven consecutive years. We have also earned awards as a best place to work for women, diversity and LGBTQ+ employees, and have been included on more than 50 regional best places to work lists. First American will always strive to be a great place to work, for all. For more information, please visit www.careers.firstam.com.

What We Do

Remote Work Welcome
Be part of a transformative engineering organization that is shaping how First American builds and delivers world-class AI-native technology products that power the real estate industry.
We are looking for an Engineering Manager who thrives at building high-performing engineering teams, creating an environment where engineers can do their best work, and delivering meaningful business outcomes through strong execution, technical leadership, and operational excellence.
As an Engineering Manager, you will lead one or more distributed engineering teams responsible for designing, building, and operating modern cloud-native and AI-powered software systems. You'll partner closely with Product Management, Design, Architecture, and fellow Engineering leaders to translate strategy into outcomes while developing engineers, improving engineering effectiveness, and fostering a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous learning.

What You'll Do

Build High-Performing Engineering Teams

• Create an inclusive, psychologically safe environment where engineers are empowered to grow, collaborate, and deliver exceptional results.
• Coach engineers through regular feedback, career development, performance management, and mentoring while raising the overall technical and leadership capability of the team.
• Build strong hiring pipelines, make thoughtful hiring decisions, and continuously raise the engineering talent bar.

Drive Delivery Excellence

• Own predictable delivery for one or more engineering teams by establishing clear priorities, effective planning mechanisms, and strong execution discipline.
• Remove obstacles, manage competing priorities, and ensure teams consistently deliver high-quality software aligned with business objectives.
• Measure team health using engineering and operational metrics, continuously improving velocity, quality, and customer outcomes.

Partner Across Functions

• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Design, Architecture, Security, and Business stakeholders to align roadmaps, clarify priorities, and ensure engineering investments deliver measurable customer and business value.
• Help translate ambiguous business problems into executable engineering plans while balancing technical health with product delivery.

Build AI-Native Engineering Teams

• Champion the responsible adoption of AI across the software development lifecycle.
• Ensure engineers effectively leverage AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar technologies to accelerate software development while maintaining high standards for quality, security, and engineering judgment.
• Partner with technical leaders to evaluate opportunities for AI-powered products and agentic systems while ensuring appropriate governance, observability, and operational safeguards.

Establish Operational Excellence

• Build engineering systems that enable reliable software delivery through strong operational practices.
• Ensure teams consistently deliver software that is:

• * secure
• * observable
• * resilient
• * scalable
• * maintainable

• Drive continuous improvements through metrics, postmortems, incident reviews, SLOs, automation, and engineering health initiatives.
• Champion operational discipline as an everyday engineering practice rather than a reactive activity.

Develop Engineering Systems

• Create mechanisms that improve team effectiveness and predictability.
• This includes:

• * planning and estimation
• * sprint and release processes
• * engineering metrics
• * on-call readiness
• * documentation
• * technical debt management
• * development workflows
• * continuous improvement

• Continuously identify opportunities to simplify processes, reduce friction, and improve engineering productivity.

Provide Technical Leadership

• Guide technical decision-making without becoming the bottleneck for engineering execution.
• Review architecture and design proposals, encourage sound engineering tradeoffs, and ensure solutions remain maintainable, scalable, and aligned with organizational standards.
• Partner with senior and staff engineers to evolve technical direction while empowering engineers to make strong technical decisions independently.

What You'll Bring

• 7+ years of experience building production software systems, including experience leading engineering teams

• Demonstrated experience managing software engineers and building high-performing engineering teams
• Strong experience delivering cloud-native, distributed software systems in production
• Experience establishing engineering processes that improve delivery predictability, software quality, and operational excellence
• Strong understanding of modern software architecture, cloud infrastructure, APIs, distributed systems, and software engineering best practices
• Experience using business and engineering metrics and operational data to improve team effectiveness and customer outcomes
• Experience coaching engineers through performance, career growth, feedback, and mentorship
• Experience partnering effectively with Product Management, Design, Architecture, and cross-functional stakeholders
• Strong understanding of iterative, metrics driven software development and continuous delivery; you live and breathe DORA.
• Experience adopting AI-assisted software development tools to accelerate delivery of business value.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence, align stakeholders, and drive decisions across technical and business teams
• Strong judgment balancing customer needs, technical health, organizational priorities, and long-term sustainability

Ideally, You'll Also Have Experience With

• AI platforms such as OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, or Databricks
• AI-assisted development tools including Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar
• Modern backend development using C# (.NET), Python, Go, Java, TypeScript, or similar technologies
• Kubernetes and containerized application platforms
• Infrastructure as Code using Terraform, CDK, or similar technologies
• Observability platforms including OpenTelemetry, Grafana, Datadog, Prometheus, or similar
• Engineering organizations operating in highly regulated industries such as Financial Services, Insurance, or Healthcare
• Leading geographically distributed engineering teams

Pay Range: $148,600.00 - $198,200.00 AnnuallyThis hiring range is a reasonable estimate of the base pay range for this position at the time of posting. Pay is based on a number of factors which may include job-related knowledge, skills, experience, business requirements and geographic location.

** Note that the following statements only apply to candidates who will be working from an unincorporated area within Los Angeles County. **

First American will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest or conviction records, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws (e.g., the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers and the California Fair Chance Act).

First American intends to conduct a review of an applicant's criminal history in connection with a conditional offer. First American reasonably believes that a criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following material job duties for this position potentially resulting in the withdrawal of the conditional offer of employment: handling of confidential, proprietary or trade secret information belonging to First American or its customers, administrating or facilitating financial transactions, and the ability to meet customer-imposed criminal history requirements.

What We Offer

By choice, we don't simply accept individuality - we embrace it, we support it, and we thrive on it! Our People First culture is inclusive for all employees - not just because it's the right thing to do, but because it's the key to our success. We are proud to foster an authentic and inclusive workplace For All. You are free and encouraged to bring your entire, unique self to work. First American is an equal opportunity employer in every sense of the term.Based on eligibility, First American offers a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental, vision, 401k, PTO/paid sick leave and other great benefits like an employee stock purchase plan.