Manager of the Technical Staff – Next.js

Webhosting; San Francisco, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 230,000 - 340,000; Full time

Job summary

Vercel in San Francisco is seeking an Engineering Team Lead to build and guide the Next.js team. You will be an engineer first, leader second, writing production code, reviewing PRs, and shaping framework decisions.

You'll partner with Product, Design, and other engineers to drive performance, reliability, and developer experience while growing the team. This is a hands-on role focused on architecture, mentoring, and recruiting, with opportunities to influence core framework development and

Qualifications

• Extensive experience leading engineering teams.
• Strong expertise in Next.js and React.
• Proven ability to set technical direction and architecture.
• Hands-on coding, debugging production issues, and mentoring.

Responsibilities

• Lead major technical initiatives and coach engineers.
• Review code, debug production issues, and shape architecture.
• Define rendering, caching, routing, and tooling decisions for Next.js.
• Collaborate with Product, Design, and Platform teams to ship reliably.

Skills

Next.js

React

Open source

Leadership

Code review

Issue debugging

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Performance profiling

Job description

Manager of the Technical Staff – Next.js

Job Description

About Vercel:

Vercel is the agentic infrastructure company. We free people and agents to ship what’s next.

For more than a decade, Vercel has shaped how the web is built. As the team behind Next.js, v0, and AI SDK, we create products that help builders move from idea to production with speed, security, and exceptional developer experience.

Now, software is entering a new era, and the next generation of products will not just be used by people. They will be built, extended, and operated by agents.

We are building the platform for that future, trusted by companies likeOpenAI, PayPal, Ramp, Supreme, and millions of developers worldwide. Whether you’re building our products, supporting our customers, growing our community, or shaping our story, you’ll help define what comes next.

About the Role

The Next.js team builds the open source framework that powers millions of applications and shapes how developers build for the web. Our work sits at the intersection of React, framework architecture, developer experience, infrastructure, performance, and production reliability.

We are looking for an Engineering Team Lead to help build and lead a team working on Next.js. This is a hands‑on player/coach role for an experienced engineer who wants to remain close to the code while helping a small team do its best work.

You will be an engineer first and a manager second. You will contribute directly to the framework, lead major technical initiatives, review code, debug complex production issues, and help make architectural decisions. You will also support the engineers around you through clear direction, thoughtful feedback, and practical coaching.

This is not a traditional people management role. You will spend the majority of your time on technical leadership and engineering execution. You should be comfortable owning difficult parts of the codebase while creating enough context and clarity for others to move quickly.

You will work closely with Product, Design, and engineers across Vercel to guide the evolution of Next.js across rendering, caching, routing, build systems, and developer tooling.

What You Will Do

• Build and ship Next.js:Write production code, review pull requests, debug difficult issues, and contribute directly to the framework and its supporting systems.
• Lead major technical initiatives:Take ownership of complex projects from initial exploration through architecture, implementation, rollout, and production follow‑through.
• Set technical direction:Make sound architectural decisions across rendering, caching, routing, build systems, runtime behavior, and developer tooling.
• Stay close to real problems:Investigate performance regressions, production failures, and developer pain points. Turn what you learn into practical improvements to the framework.
• Raise the engineering bar:Establish strong patterns for code quality, testing, performance, reliability, observability, and incremental delivery.
• Coach through the work:Help engineers grow through pairing, design reviews, code reviews, technical feedback, and shared ownership of challenging problems.
• Provide focused people leadership:Set clear expectations, give candid feedback, support career development, and help maintain a high‑trust and accountable team.
• Improve team execution:Create lightweight planning and decision‑making practices that clarify ownership, reduce unnecessary coordination, and help the team ship consistently.
• Partner across Vercel:Work with Product, Design, Infrastructure, Developer Experience, and other engineering teams so framework changes integrate cleanly across the Vercel platform.
• Champion open source:Work in public, engage thoughtfully with contributors, and balance community needs with the team’s product and technical priorities.
• Help grow the team:Participate in recruiting, assess technical talent, and help new engineers become productive in a complex codebase.

Bonus

Compensation

The San Francisco, CA base pay range for this role is $230,000 to $340,000. Actual salary will be based on job‑related skills, experience, and location. Compensation outside San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location.

The total compensation package may include benefits, equity‑based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program, depending on the role. Your recruiter can share more details during the hiring process.

Vercel is committed to fostering and empowering an inclusive community within our organization. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Vercel encourages everyone to apply, even if they do not meet every qualification listed in the job description.