Engineering Manager, External Platform at Figma

The Briefed; New York (NY); On-site; USD 258,000 - 376,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement benefits

Parental leave

Mental health benefits

Paid time off

Job summary

Figma's External Platform team builds and operates mission-critical platforms that power how customers build on top of and with Figma. As an Engineering Manager, External Platform, you'll lead a team of senior engineers working at the intersection of engineering, operations, and platform strategy.

You'll collaborate closely with major customers, Legal, and Program Management to turn shared goals into durable, scalable outcomes. The team's focus is on platform reliability and extensibility.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of engineering management experience leading high-performing, fast-moving teams.
• 8+ years of total engineering experience, ideally including staff engineer level as an IC.
• Experience managing platform teams with a focus on reliability and extensibility.
• Proven track record mentoring engineering leads.
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams and org structures.

Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and support a team of engineers building foundational infrastructure for Figma's AI products.
• Partner with customers and engineering/product leads to define technical strategy and manage day-to-day execution.
• Hire, coach, and develop senior and staff engineers to scale the team.
• Engage deeply with technical details to deliver a robust AI platform with urgency.
• Build an inclusive team culture through thoughtful hiring and team-building.

Skills

Engineering management

Platform experience

Mentoring

Staff-level IC

Cross-functional leadership

Tools

MCP infrastructure

LLMs

AI gateways

Job description

Figma's External Platform team builds and operates mission-critical platforms that power how customers build on top of and with Figma. The team owns MCP, REST API, and gateway integrations that support millions of users working across design and code.

As an Engineering Manager, External Platform, you'll lead a team of senior engineers working at the intersection of engineering, operations, and platform strategy. You'll collaborate closely with major customers, Legal, and Program Management to turn shared goals into durable, scalable outcomes.

The team's focus is on platform reliability and extensibility. You'll oversee the platform supporting Figma's fastest-growing products and provide APIs and frameworks that internal teams and customers can build on.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguous, cross-functional environments, amplifies the impact of strong individual contributors, and drives results through scalable platform solutions.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, grow, and support a team of engineers building foundational infrastructure for Figma's AI products.
• Partner with customers and engineering and product leaders across Figma to define technical strategy and manage day-to-day project execution.
• Hire, coach, and develop senior and staff engineers to scale the team.
• Engage deeply with technical details and decisions when needed to help deliver a robust AI platform with urgency.
• Build an inclusive team culture through thoughtful team-building and hiring practices.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of engineering management experience leading high-performing, fast-moving teams, ideally in the AI platform space.
• 8+ years of total engineering experience, ideally including experience at the staff engineer level as an individual contributor.
• Experience managing platform teams with a focus on reliability and extensibility.
• A proven track record of motivating, mentoring, and developing experienced engineering leads.
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams and organizational structures as they grow.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with MCP infrastructure and integrations.
• Experience with large language models (LLMs) and AI gateways.
• A background in related infrastructure domains.

Compensation and Benefits

Figma determines job level and compensation based on several factors, including qualifications assessed during the interview process, relevant skills and experience, potential impact, role scope, market conditions, and work location.

Annual base salary range: $258,000–$376,000 USD

Figma offers equity and a competitive benefits package that includes:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance.
• Retirement benefits with employer contributions.
• Parental leave and reproductive or family planning support.
• Mental health and wellness benefits.
• Paid time off, paid sick leave, holidays, and other leave benefits in accordance with applicable laws.
• Employer-provided flexible paid time off for eligible exempt employees, subject to manager approval.
• Company recharge days, cell phone and home internet reimbursements, and lifestyle spending accounts may also be available.
• Annual bonus plans for eligible non-sales roles and sales incentive compensation for most sales roles.

Equal Opportunity and Inclusion

Figma celebrates and supports differences, recognizing that a team with diverse perspectives, experiences, and opinions helps its employees, products, and community flourish.

Figma is an equal opportunity workplace committed to fair employment opportunities regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.