Engineering Manager, Calc Engine — Superhuman Docs

Superhuman Labs, Inc.; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 240,000 - 320,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health care

401(k) & RRSP matching

Parental leave

Paid time off

Job summary

Superhuman Labs, Inc. is hiring an Engineering Manager for Calc Engine in a hybrid role based in San Francisco.

You will lead a small team of engineers, while staying close to the code to guide query planning, optimization, and execution for a critical database component. You will own system-wide invalidation, execution, and planning, and drive architectural decisions to scale infrastructure as usage and document complexity grow.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a small engineering team (2‑3+ years) in a hands-on EM/tech‑lead role.
• Deep experience with database internals, query optimization, and SQL execution.
• Ability to balance architecture decisions with delivery pressure and business needs.

Responsibilities

• Invalidate, execute, and plan queries for the calc engine.
• Make architectural decisions to scale infrastructure with growing usage and document complexity.
• Provide technical direction while hands-on coding and reviewing designs.
• Profile and benchmark performance to close gaps between correctness and speed at scale.
• Coordinate with teams building on top of the calc engine.

Skills

Team leadership

Database internals

Query optimization

SQL execution

Hands-on coding

Tools

TypeScript

SQLite

WebSockets

React

Job description

Engineering Manager, Calc Engine — Superhuman Docs

Location

Hub - San Francisco

Employment Type

Full time

Location Type

Hybrid

Department

Engineering, Product, Design, and Marketing Engineering

Compensation

• Zone 1 Base Pay: $240K – $320K

Superhuman offers a dynamic hybrid working model for this role. This flexible approach gives team members the best of both worlds: plenty of focus time along with in-person collaboration that helps foster trust, innovation, and a strong team culture.

About Superhuman

Grammarly is now part of Superhuman, the AI productivity platform on a mission to unlock the superhuman potential in everyone. The Superhuman suite of apps and agents brings AI wherever people work, integrating with over 1 million applications and websites. The company’s products include Grammarly’s writing assistance, Superhuman Docs’s collaborative workspaces, Mail’s inbox management, and Go, the proactive AI assistant that understands context and delivers help automatically. Founded in 2009, Superhuman empowers over 40 million people, 50,000 organizations, and 3,000 educational institutions worldwide to eliminate busywork and focus on what matters. Learn more at superhuman.com and about our values here .

The Opportunity

This team owns the full vertical: the formula language and its grammar, the AST parser, the execution planner that determines what to compute and when, execution optimization that keeps millions of concurrent user applications responsive, and the performance infrastructure that makes it all work under real-world load. You’ll lead the small team building it while staying hands‑on in the code yourself.

The hard part is building a database building block for non‑technical users who are converting their rituals & processes into production software. This means we have to deliver a product that’s cost-sensitive, enterprise‑grade, and never predictably accessed.

What You’ll Own

Invalidation, execution, and query planning for the calc engine

Architectural decisions to scale the infrastructure as usage and document complexity grow

Technical direction alongside a small team (~5 engineers) — reviewing code and designs, giving fast feedback, and still writing code yourself

Performance: profiling, benchmarking, and closing the gap between “correct” and “fast” at scale

Coordination with the teams building on top of the calc engine

What We’re Looking For

You’ve worked on the internals of a database system — query optimization, query planning, SQL execution, storage‑engine internals (B‑Trees, LSM Trees, etc.), or HTAP (hybrid transactional/analytical processing) systems. You don’t need to have built one from scratch; owning a piece of one (a query or storage engine inside a larger system) counts.

2‑3+ years as an EM or tech lead managing a small team (~5), staying close to the code. This is a player‑coach role — roughly half management, half hands‑on — not a step away from engineering.

You want to build a real product, not just go deep on infrastructure for its own sake.

Nice‑to‑have: TypeScript, SQLite, Operational Transforms, WebSockets, OPFS, and React. None of these are gates — strong engineers pick them up fast.

What Success Looks Like

Six months in, you’re not just leading the team — you’re one of the people reviewing the hardest query‑planning and execution tradeoffs, and the team has someone to turn to who’s actually worked inside a database before.

Compensation and Benefits

Superhuman offers all team members competitive pay along with a benefits package encompassing the following and more:

Excellent health care (including a wide range of medical, dental, vision, mental health, and fertility benefits)

Disability and life insurance options

401(k) and RRSP matching

Paid parental leave

20 days of paid time off per year, 12 days of paid holidays per year, two floating holidays per year, and flexible sick time

Generous stipends (including those for caregiving, pet care, wellness, your home office, and more)

Annual professional development budget and opportunities

Superhuman takes a market‑based approach to compensation, so base pay may vary by location. Our US locations are categorized into two compensation zones based on proximity to our hub locations.

Base pay may vary considerably depending on job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. The expected salary ranges for this position are outlined by compensation zone and may be modified in the future.

Equal Opportunity Statement

At Superhuman, we value our differences, and we encourage all to apply—especially those whose identities are traditionally underrepresented in tech organizations. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, political belief, or any other characteristic protected by law. Superhuman is an equal opportunity employer and a participant in the US federal E-Verify program (US). We also abide by the Employment Equity Act (Canada).