Senior Manager, API Platform & Cloud-Native Engineering

Optimum; Plano (TX); On-site; USD 111,000 - 183,000; Full time

Job summary

Optimum is seeking a highly experienced Manager of Software Engineering to lead a talented team building our internal omni-channel API platform, serving broadband, video, mobile, and customer-support apps. You will drive the technology roadmap, partner with cross-functional teams, and deliver scalable, reliable software across cloud environments.

The role requires deep expertise in service-based architectures, API platforms, and modern DevOps practices, with strong leadership and communication

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience.
• Minimum 7 years of professional software development experience, including 3+ years in a leadership role managing or leading engineering teams.
• Strong technical background in service-based architectures, API platform engineering, and distributed systems.
• Hands-on experience with Go, Java, or Python, and production use of gRPC, Protocol Buffers, and cloud-native platforms.
• Proficiency with cloud environments including GCP, AWS, and private clouds, and familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure-as-code practices.
• Experience with distributed data stores such as Cloud Spanner, messaging systems such as Pub/Sub or Kafka, and caching using Redis.
• Proven ability to lead and inspire engineering teams, foster collaboration, and drive measurable results.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of software engineers across API, service, and integration workstreams.
• Drive the development and execution of the platform technology roadmap in alignment with product priorities across broadband, video, mobile, and customer-support domains.
• Establish and gain acceptance for technology roadmaps aligned with product roadmaps, ensuring clear connection between business intent and engineering delivery.
• Partner with product, design, and business stakeholders to drive multi-team technology feasibility, delivery planning, and quality outcomes across agile delivery cycles.
• Establish and gain acceptance for technical solutions, serving as a go-to expert for platform capabilities spanning Go, gRPC, Protocol Buffers, and cloud-native service delivery.
• Articulate technology vision, principles, and roadmaps to diverse audiences, tailoring communication appropriately for engineering teams, leadership, and business partners.
• Effectively and respectfully drive technical team interactions, persuasively influencing architecture, software design, implementation, and incident recovery.
• Advise team members on the quality of software designs, code, tests, and documentation, promoting engineering standards across the platform.
• Lead effective brainstorming and design sessions to generate innovative ideas and solutions for platform evolution and modernization.
• Proactively build strong relationships with product, design, and business/operations counterparts within and across teams.
• Understand and articulate the financial benefits and costs of platform capabilities, incorporating this information into prioritization and decision-making.
• Thoroughly vet and refine requirements to clearly articulate their intent before committing engineering capacity.
• Establish clear cost and time commitments to stakeholders and ensure they are met with appropriate team support and escalation.
• Champion platform engineering practices — including CI/CD, test automation, observability, and DevSecOps — that enable teams to deliver reliably across GCP, AWS, and private cloud environments.
• Support modernization initiatives that reduce legacy integration complexity and accelerate migration toward gRPC-based, contract-first service delivery.
• Oversee hiring, performance management, and career development for direct reports, building a developer-friendly environment that attracts and retains top engineering talent.
• Consistently communicate with stakeholders about expectations and proactively share knowledge to elevate others across the organization.
• Contribute to a structured knowledge base and engineering practices that allow teams to create, maintain, and extend platform documentation and standards.

Skills

Service-based architectures

API platform engineering

Distributed systems

Go/Java/Python

Clouds: GCP/AWS/Private

CI/CD pipelines

Infrastructure as code

Distributed data stores

Messaging systems

Caching (Redis)

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience

Job description

Optimum is seeking a highly experienced Manager of Software Engineering to lead a talented team building our internal omni-channel API platform, serving broadband, video, mobile, and customer-support apps. You will drive the technology roadmap, partner with cross-functional teams, and deliver scalable, reliable software across cloud environments.

The role requires deep expertise in service-based architectures, API platforms, and modern DevOps practices, with strong leadership and communication