Senior DevEx Lead: Backend, Platform & AI-Driven Delivery

Kelly Services; Waltham (MA); Hybrid; USD 173,000 - 234,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical Insurance

Dental Benefits

Vision Benefits

Life Insurance

Disability Insurance

Flexible PTO

Parental Leave

401(k)

Job summary

Motion Recruitment Partners is seeking an Engineering Manager (Developer Experience) in the United States to build and lead a new DevEx team. This hands-on leadership role combines backend engineering leadership with platform optimization and automation across CI/CD, Kubernetes, IaC, and observability.

The role emphasizes technical credibility, architecture influence, and driving AI-enabled improvements throughout the software development lifecycle, with a hybrid work setup and production

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience.
• 2+ years leading engineers as an Engineering Manager, Technical Lead, Team Lead, or similar role.
• Strong prior hands-on experience as a Backend Software Engineer.
• Background in Backend Engineering, Platform Engineering, Developer Experience, DevOps, or related disciplines.
• Experience leading technical projects from design through implementation and production.
• Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and modern software delivery practices.
• Technical knowledge of Kubernetes (K8s) and containerized environments.
• Experience with Infrastructure-as-Code.
• Familiarity with modern build tools such as Maven, Gradle, or Nx.
• Experience with automated testing frameworks and software quality practices.
• Understanding of application and infrastructure observability.
• Experience operating in cloud-based, fast-moving engineering environments.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and stakeholder management skills.
• Strong interest in leveraging AI to improve software engineering processes.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead a new Developer Experience team consisting of Backend and DevOps engineers.
• Drive technical strategy focused on improving developer productivity and the software development lifecycle.
• Identify engineering bottlenecks and develop tools, automation, and platforms that improve efficiency.
• Lead platform initiatives from design and architecture through implementation and production rollout.
• Establish standards and best practices across CI/CD, Kubernetes, Infrastructure-as-Code, build systems, testing, and observability.
• Partner closely with Engineering, Platform, Infrastructure, and DevOps teams to understand and solve developer challenges.
• Help define and implement an AI-driven software development lifecycle.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and automation opportunities that improve engineering effectiveness.
• Mentor engineers while remaining actively involved in technical discussions, architecture reviews, and strategic technical decisions.
• Build a scalable, self-service platform experience that allows developers to move faster and deliver software more efficiently.

Skills

Backend Eng

DevOps

CI/CD

Kubernetes

IaC

Observability

AI in Dev

Communication

Stakeholder mgmt

Leadership

Tools

Maven

Gradle

Nx

Job description

Motion Recruitment Partners is seeking an Engineering Manager (Developer Experience) in the United States to build and lead a new DevEx team. This hands-on leadership role combines backend engineering leadership with platform optimization and automation across CI/CD, Kubernetes, IaC, and observability.

The role emphasizes technical credibility, architecture influence, and driving AI-enabled improvements throughout the software development lifecycle, with a hybrid work setup and production