Senior Software Engineering Leader | Hybrid Work & Impact

Pho Prime, LLC; Costa Mesa (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Great workplace culture

Competitive pay and bonus potential

Health, dental, vision insurance

HSA savings account

401(k) with company match

Paid vacation & holidays

Employee assistance program

Job summary

El Pollo Loco is seeking a Senior Manager of Software Engineering to lead and shape our engineering organization. You will set the vision, standards, and execution strategy for software platforms that support our restaurant operations, with strong oversight of architecture, integrations, and API delivery.

You will partner with cross-functional teams including Restaurant Technologies, Data & Analytics, Infrastructure, HR, Finance, Marketing, and Operations to deliver scalable, secure, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree preferred in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, or related field.
• 8–12 years of progressive software development experience.
• At least 5 years in a technical leadership role (Engineering Manager, Lead Developer, or similar).
• Prior experience with application development.

Responsibilities

• Leads and manages the software engineering organization, including application developers and QA engineers.
• Establishes the technical direction, engineering standards, and development practices.
• Provides architectural oversight across application development, integrations, APIs, and data workflows.
• Guides modernization initiatives including platform upgrades, cloud adoption, and debt reduction.
• Oversees the full SDLC, including design, development, testing, and deployment with CI/CD and QA alignment.
• Enforces coding standards, secure development, version control, and release governance.
• Maintains architectural ownership for applications and near real-time integrations.
• Collaborates with cross-functional leadership to align initiatives with business priorities.

Skills

Software architecture

Leadership

API integration

CI/CD pipelines

Git version control

Data workflows

Cloud adoption

Team development

Education

Bachelor’s degree preferred in CS/IS/Engineering

Tools

Git

CI/CD tools

ETL platforms

APIs

Job description

El Pollo Loco is seeking a Senior Manager of Software Engineering to lead and shape our engineering organization. You will set the vision, standards, and execution strategy for software platforms that support our restaurant operations, with strong oversight of architecture, integrations, and API delivery.

You will partner with cross-functional teams including Restaurant Technologies, Data & Analytics, Infrastructure, HR, Finance, Marketing, and Operations to deliver scalable, secure, and