Senior Manager, Software Engineering

Lever, Inc.; Saint Louis Park (MN); On-site; USD 180,000 - 200,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Employee Stock Option Plan

Medical, Dental, Vision

HSA/FSA

401(k) with employer match

Flexible Time-Off

Paid Parental Leave

Short-Term Disability

Long-Term Disability

Life Insurance

Job summary

Total Expert is seeking an experienced engineering leader to guide Product and Engineering teams, driving continuous delivery and architectural direction. This role blends coaching with hands-on technical contribution, including AI-assisted development tooling to boost productivity and quality.

You will help shape sound decisions, align with stakeholders, and advance the Total Expert platform across scalable microservices. A growth mindset and scale-up experience are essential.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in a team-based event-driven distributed microservices environment.
• 5+ years of experience managing a software team and providing technical direction.
• Experience leading de-monolithing and transitioning to distributed system architectures.
• Working knowledge of PHP and other OO languages (C#, Java).
• Experience leading Agile/Lean groups (Scrum/Kanban).
• Experience implementing automated unit testing to improve quality and velocity.
• Hands-on with AWS (RDS, EC2) and relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL).

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Product and Engineering leaders to set priorities and provide technical direction.
• Participate in architectural discussions and design reviews with hands-on contribution.
• Coach team members on problem analysis, estimation, software design, development, and testing in Agile environments.
• Drive Agile processes with focus on quality and lean principles.
• Champion AI-assisted development practices to improve productivity and quality.

Skills

Team leadership

Distributed microservices

Architectural design

Agile/Lean

Empathetic leadership

PHP

C#

Java

AWS

SQL (MySQL/PostgreSQL)

Tools

Claude Code

GitHub Copilot

Job description

Total Expert is the Customer Operating System for financial services. Our purpose-built platform combines a system of context with a system of action that enables humans and AI Assistants to engage in the moments that matter and earn customers for life. Since 2016 Total Expert has enabled more than seven trillion dollars of funded loan volume.

Total Expert is looking for an experienced engineering leader to join its Product and Engineering organization to expand and support the Total Expert platform and the teams that build it. As a Senior Manager, Software Engineering, you will be leading engineering teams responsible for driving continuous delivery of value to our customers. You will collaborate closely with Product and other stakeholders to create alignment and set technical direction.

We are looking for a leader who excels at both coaching technologists and staying hands-on: participating actively in architectural conversations, contributing to technical design, and rolling up their sleeves to help resolve issues when the team needs it. A genuine passion for leading technologists using cutting-edge technologies and practices, including AI-assisted development tooling, is essential.

What you’ll be doing:

• Collaborate with Product and other Engineering leaders to set priorities, manage work in progress, and provide technical direction.
• Actively participate in architectural discussions and technical design reviews, bringing hands‑on expertise to shape sound decisions.
• Coach team members on problem analysis, estimating, software design, development, and testing within an Agile software methodology.
• Drive and develop the team’s Agile development processes with a focus on quality and lean principles.
• Champion AI‑assisted development practices within your teams, including the use of tools like Claude Code and similar automation tooling to improve developer productivity and quality.
• Champion and support department‑level objectives and process improvements across our Engineering teams to increase velocity and produce effective quality software that our customers love.
• Ongoing management and professional development of team members including goal setting, mentoring on software development practices, technical skill building, and expanding domain knowledge into related technologies or new areas of the Total Expert platform.

What we are looking for:

• Passion for building great products, innovating, and solving complex customer problems.
• An equal passion for enabling great teams through listening, empathizing, serving, and inspiring.
• Someone that thrives in scale‑up culture: has a growth mindset, is resilient, adaptable, and curious.
• 10+ years of experience working within a team‑based event‑driven distributed microservices environment.
• 5+ years of experience managing a software team and providing technical direction to team members.
• Experience leading engineering teams through de‑monolithing and transitioning to distributed system architectures.
• Working knowledge of PHP and other object‑oriented languages (e.g., C#, Java) is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated technical depth: able to engage meaningfully in architectural conversations, contribute to design decisions, and assist in debugging or resolving complex issues alongside the team.
• Experience leading groups of software and quality engineering team members using Agile or Lean development practices such as Scrum or Kanban.
• Demonstrated experience identifying, implementing, and measuring team processes to improve quality, flow, and developer experience.
• Familiarity with AI‑assisted development tooling (e.g., Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or similar) and a track record of integrating AI into engineering workflows to drive productivity.
• Experience working closely with, or managing, quality‑focused team members on projects and support requests.
• Experience creating or driving best practices around leveraging automated unit testing to improve quality and increase velocity.
• Hands‑on experience with AWS (RDS, EC2) and relational databases (MySQL, PostgreSQL)

Compensation/Benefits:

The anticipated base salary range for this role is $180,000 - $200,000 annually. Final total compensation offered is dependent upon the selected individual's qualifications and experience. This position is also eligible for an annual discretionary bonus based on company performance and other factors. As an employee of the company, you will be eligible to participate in the Employee Stock Option Plan. Total Expert offers a competitive range of benefits including Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA (Health Savings Account), FSA (Flexible Spending Accounts), company paid Life Insurance, Short‑Term Disability, Long‑Term Disability, Flexible Time‑Off (FTO), Paid Parental Leave, and 401(k) with employer match.

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa at this time.