Lead Productivity Engineer AWS/Python/Kotlin - Boston

Kelly Services; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 234,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Base salary

Annual bonus

Equity program

Hybrid work environment

Medical, dental, vision

401(k)

PTO

Job summary

Kelly Services in Boston, MA is seeking a Lead Productivity Engineer to head a team focused on developer productivity, infrastructure, and automation. The role blends leadership with hands-on technical contributions across software delivery and internal tooling.

You will mentor engineers, drive CI/CD and observability initiatives, and shape engineering strategy while collaborating across teams. The position is hybrid in Boston with major impact on engineering efficiency.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience
• 2+ years leading engineers or technical initiatives
• Strong hands-on background in backend software engineering
• Experience with cloud-native environments
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and modern software delivery
• Experience with Kubernetes and containerized apps
• Familiarity with Infrastructure-as-Code tools
• Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Experience improving engineering productivity and development workflows

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineers focused on productivity and delivery
• Remain technically engaged with architecture discussions and automation initiatives
• Improve development, testing, deployment, and operational workflows
• Build and enhance internal tools to boost developer efficiency
• Drive automation, CI/CD, observability, testing, and reliability initiatives
• Partner with engineering teams to identify bottlenecks and improve performance
• Establish best practices for software delivery and workflows
• Evaluate emerging technologies to help teams work more effectively
• Lead strategic initiatives from planning to production deployment
• Shape long-term engineering strategy and organizational effectiveness

Skills

Leadership

Backend engineering

Cloud-native

CI/CD

Developer productivity

DevOps

Engineering strategy

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication

Observability

Tools

Kubernetes

Infrastructure-as-Code

CI/CD tooling

Job description

$180000 - $234000

Job DescriptionA high-growth B2B SaaS company is seeking a Lead Productivity Engineer to lead and develop a team focused on developer productivity, software delivery infrastructure, development automation, and internal engineering tooling.

While this role includes hands-on technical contribution, it is not an individual contributor position. The Lead Productivity Engineer will be responsible for mentoring engineers, providing technical direction, driving strategic initiatives, and managing a team focused on improving how software is built, tested, deployed, and operated across the organization.

The company is investing heavily in engineering efficiency, AI-powered development workflows, automation, and developer tooling as it continues to scale. This role offers a unique opportunity to combine leadership with technical execution while influencing engineering practices across the entire organization.

Location: Boston, MA (Hybrid) Required Skills & Experience

• 10+ years of software engineering experience
• 2+ years of experience leading engineers, engineering teams, or major technical initiatives
• Strong hands-on background in backend software engineering
• Experience working within cloud-native environments
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and modern software delivery practices
• Experience with Kubernetes and containerized applications
• Familiarity with Infrastructure-as-Code tools and automation frameworks
• Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills
• Experience improving engineering productivity and development workflows

Desired Skills & Experience

• Experience leading Developer Productivity, Infrastructure, DevOps, Developer Experience, or Platform Engineering teams
• Experience building internal developer tooling and self-service engineering capabilities
• Experience managing backend and infrastructure-focused engineers
• Experience supporting large-scale SaaS applications in production environments
• Familiarity with observability, monitoring, and engineering performance metrics
• Experience implementing AI-assisted development tools and workflow automation
• Experience supporting rapid software release cycles
• Experience working within high-growth technology organizations

What You Will Be DoingDaily Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of engineers focused on engineering productivity and software delivery
• Remain technically engaged by contributing to architecture discussions, technical design reviews, automation initiatives, and key engineering projects
• Improve development, testing, deployment, and operational workflows across the engineering organization
• Build and enhance internal tools that improve developer efficiency and reduce operational friction
• Drive initiatives around automation, CI/CD, observability, testing, and infrastructure reliability
• Partner with engineering teams to identify bottlenecks and improve software delivery performance
• Establish best practices for software delivery, monitoring, automation, and development workflows
• Evaluate emerging technologies that help engineering teams work more effectively
• Lead strategic engineering initiatives from planning and architecture through production deployment
• Help shape long‑term engineering strategy and organizational effectiveness

The Offer

• Base Salary: $180,000 - $234,000
• Annual Performance Bonus
• Equity Participation Program
• Hybrid Work Environment
• Opportunity to influence engineering strategy across a growing SaaS organization
• Significant visibility with senior engineering leadership

You will receive the following benefits

• Medical Insurance
• Dental Benefits
• Vision Benefits
• Paid Time Off (PTO)
• 401(k)

Applicants must be currently authorized to work in the US on a full-time basis now and in the future.

All applicants must be currently authorized to work on a full-time basis in the country for which they are applying, and no sponsorship is currently available. Employment is subject to the successful completion of a pre‑employment screening. Accommodation will be provided in all parts of the hiring process as required under MRP’s Employment Accommodation policy. Applicants need to make their needs known in advance.