Senior Engineering Manager

Nectar; Palo Alto (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Nectar, based in Palo Alto, is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to guide and scale our core engineering teams. This role blends technical leadership with product strategy, overseeing real-time data systems and AI workflows while promoting a high-performing culture.

You will partner with product, design, and enterprise teams to translate roadmaps into executable plans, driving delivery excellence and architectural integrity as we grow from ~50 engineers to the next phase.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of software engineering experience with 3+ years of people management.
• Proven track record hiring, onboarding, and developing engineers and tech leads.
• Ability to align technical execution with product goals and manage team bandwidth.

Responsibilities

• Directly manage, mentor, and grow a team of Software Engineers and Tech Leads.
• Translate product roadmaps into actionable engineering plans and ensure predictable delivery.
• Oversee architectural design and code quality for high-volume real-time data systems and AI workflows.
• Establish agile practices, sprint planning, and delivery metrics to improve team performance.
• Collaborate with Customer Success and Sales to deliver business value through tech initiatives.
• Partner with Talent Acquisition to recruit and onboard engineering talent.

Skills

Team Leadership

People Management

Product Strategy

Business Acumen

Technical Background

Delivery Execution

Communication

Tools

AWS

TypeScript/React

Postgres

ClickHouse

Job description

We're living through a fundamental shift in how people discover, evaluate, and purchase products. The next generation doesn't respond to traditional marketing -- they build relationships with brands through authentic social interactions, seek recommendations from communities they trust, and expect personalized experiences that feel human, not corporate.

At Nectar Social, we're building the AI-native social operating system that enables this new era of commerce. We believe every social interaction should deepen the relationship between brands and their communities while creating genuine value for both sides.

Founded by ex-Meta product and engineering leaders, we've raised over $30M in total capital from investors including GV and True Ventures. We work with brands like Oura Health, Caraway, e.l.f. Cosmetics, Kosas, OLIPOP, and many more. We're building the future of social commerce -- where community, conversation, and commerce converge.

The Role

We are looking for a Senior Engineering Manager who operates with a strong product mindset to lead, support, and scale our core engineering teams. Our engineering organization includes groups focused on customer-facing product development as well as a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) function that moves fast across the full stack on high-priority enterprise initiatives. In this role, you will manage software engineers and tech leads building high-throughput systems that ingest large volumes of social data, run real-time AI agents, and deliver insights through analytics and automation.

This is a senior management role that bridges technical execution, team development, and product strategy. You will be responsible for fostering a high-performing engineering culture, driving delivery excellence, and helping guide your teams as our engineering organization scales from ~50 people into our next phase of growth.

What You'll Be Doing

• Team Leadership & People Management: Directly manage, mentor, and grow a team of Software Engineers and Tech Leads. Conduct regular 1:1s, support career progression, and foster an inclusive, high-performance engineering culture.
• Product & Strategic Execution: Partner closely with Product Managers, Designers, and engineering leadership to translate product roadmaps into executable engineering plans, manage capacity, and ensure predictable project delivery.
• Technical Quality & Architecture: Oversee technical design and code quality within your teams. Guide architectural trade-off decisions for high-volume real-time data systems and AI agentic workflows without needing to write production code daily.
• Delivery Excellence & Process: Establish and refine agile practices, sprint planning, and operational processes. Track delivery velocity, system reliability, and code quality metrics to continuously improve team performance.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work alongside Customer Success and Sales to understand customer pain points and ensure technical initiatives deliver strong business value.
• Hiring & Team Building: Partner with Talent Acquisition to recruit, interview, and onboard exceptional engineering talent to expand your teams.

What We're Looking For

• Experience Level: 7+ years of software engineering experience, with 3+ years of direct people management experience leading software engineering teams.
• Team Growth & Development: Track record of recruiting, onboarding, and developing high-performing engineers and tech leads.
• Product & Business Acumen: Ability to align technical execution with product goals, break down complex requirements into milestones, and manage team bandwidth effectively.
• Technical Background: Solid technical background in software development to meaningfully evaluate architectural designs, guide technical decisions, and hold teams to high engineering standards.
• Execution & Process: Proven experience improving team delivery cadences, code review practices, and incident response processes in fast-paced environments.
• Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills with the ability to bridge technical and non-technical discussions across teams.

Bonus Points

• Domain Expertise: Experience managing engineering teams in B2B SaaS, social data platforms, developer tools, or marketing technology, or a passion for working in the social space, empowering brands to work with creators and connect with their communities.
• AI & Data Infrastructure: Familiarity with teams building or deploying AI-powered systems, real-time analytics platforms, or agentic frameworks.
• Tech Stack Alignment: Familiarity with modern cloud and data stacks such as AWS, TypeScript/React, Postgres, and ClickHouse.
• Cross-Platform Experience: Experience overseeing engineering teams working across both web and native mobile applications.