Senior Engineering Manager (API & Auth Platform)

Betterment; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) match

Health insurance

Paid parental leave

Sabbatical after 6 years

In-person collaborative culture

Employee resource groups

Job summary

Betterment seeks a Sr Engineering Manager to lead a team stewarding GraphQL API frameworks, authentication and internal tooling. You will align with engineering and product leadership to drive technical direction, and partner with IT, security, and compliance to ensure compliant internal APIs.

You will influence AI tooling integration while maintaining a secure, scalable, and observable platform that supports customer-facing and internal applications across Betterment’s services.

Qualifications

• Experience leading a team of senior/staff engineers.
• Proven ability to set technical direction for API platforms.
• Strong understanding of authentication/authorization and security practices.
• Experience with governance and incident response within large engineering org.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a team building the API, authentication, and internal tooling platform.
• Set technical strategy for GraphQL API frameworks powering customer-facing and internal apps.
• Ensure authentication/authorization systems remain current with industry best practices.
• Collaborate with IT, security, and leadership on governance, access, and permission models.
• Build trust across disciplines and guide AI tooling integration while maintaining regulatory compliance.
• Oversee incident response and observability to support developers and operations.

Skills

Team leadership

Engineering coaching

GraphQL

API platforms

Security & IAM

Incident response

Observability

Cross-team collaboration

Tools

OAuth 2.0

OIDC

Passkeys

Job description

• The API & Auth Platform team enables product teams across Betterment to build and operate APIs quickly, enjoyably, and securely. As Sr Engineering Manager, you will lead a team of senior/staff engineers stewarding our shared GraphQL API frameworks, authentication and access control systems, and internal tooling platform
• You will work directly with engineering and product leadership to drive the technical direction of the GraphQL API frameworks powering our customer-facing web and mobile applications. You will also collaborate closely with operations, customer support, and compliance partners to ensure our internal APIs let teams operate Betterment systems with the rigor our customers and regulators expect
• As AI tooling reshapes how we build and operate our systems, you will have significant influence over how Betterment’s APIs support AI agents and tooling safely in a regulated financial services environment
• Lead and grow a team of senior/staff engineers building the API, authentication, and internal tooling platform that every Betterment team relies on
• Drive technical strategy for the GraphQL API frameworks powering our customer-facing and internal apps, including agentic tooling for AI-native API development workflows
• Ensure Betterment’s authentication and authorization systems remain current with industry best practices
• Sequence your team roadmap to balance reliability, security, developer experience, and platform capabilities — e.g. secure, first‑party MCP access to Betterment APIs
• Work alongside the product teams who build on your platform every day. Develop broad Betterment domain expertise in the process
• Hold the line on the standards that keep shared systems healthy. Make them visible and easy to meet, and ensure teams understand the “why” behind them
• Partner with IT and security on platform governance so engineering teams can build on the API platform and ops teams can operate through it with confidence — as new AI identity and access patterns take shape
• Partner with department leaders on a permission model that fits evolving team workflows and incorporates new AI tooling, including MCP servers and connectors
• Cultivate efficient, blameless incident response across your team and the teams building on the API platform. Invest in observability that serves both developers and internal tool users
• Translate Betterment’s strong culture of accountability into platform operating procedures — clear ownership, security, and iteration

Benefits

• Compensation & Ownership: Competitive, benchmarked salary. Equity for everyone, including new hire, performance, and refresher grants.
• Retirement: 401(k) match from day one, including Student loan matching. Zero management fees.
• Health & Wellbeing: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage. One Medical membership. Fertility and LGBTQIA+ transition support.
• Time Away: Flexible time off. Paid parental leave for all parents. Four-week sabbatical in year six.
• In-Office Culture & Flexibility: An in-person, collaborative culture, with no required office days during the summer and winter holidays.
• Growth & Development: Free Coaching for everyone and continuous development.
• Community & Care: Chef lunches, guest speakers, company gatherings, heritage celebrations, and seven Employee Resource Groups.
• Employee Support: Dedicated benefits advocate and EAP access.

Experience managing shared API platforms — ideally GraphQL. An appreciation for the frameworks, conventions, and developer tooling that let product teams introduce new capabilities, support existing usage, and gracefully retire legacy functionalityExperience partnering with IT, security, and business leaders on governance, access, and permission models. Ability to build trust across disciplines and adapt as AI tools introduce new identity and access patternsExperience managing senior and staff ICs; ability to coach engineers through technically complex challenges while maintaining team momentum. Capable of meaningful architectural direction, code review, and hands‑on work in our codebaseHands‑on experience with modern authentication/authorization patterns (OAuth 2.0, OIDC, passkeys), with an understanding of the importance of adoption, long‑term support, and security testingPrincipled approach to balancing the need to move quickly today with the need to move quickly tomorrow, with an appreciation of how to meet high standards for customer quality and regulatory requirementsProven track record leading a team that owns a shared platform used by engineering, operations, and customer support teams. Experience leading projects that affect multiple teams’ software systems, tooling, and development workflows