Software Engineering Manager

Novatalent; Los Angeles (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

New hire stock equity

Hybrid workplace

Free lunch, snacks, & coffee

Top-tier health insurance

Job summary

Sift is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead and scale our engineering team in a hybrid Los Angeles setting. You will drive the technical execution of our product roadmap, ensure robust engineering practices, and collaborate with customers and hardware teams on challenging solutions.

You will report to the Co-Founder and CTO, shaping the company’s technical vision while growing a high‑performing, durable engineering organization in a fast‑moving startup environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years in software engineering with at least 2 years leading engineering efforts.
• Bachelor's degree in CS, data science, engineering, math, physics, or STEM.
• Strong experience designing and building large-scale, distributed systems or web applications using Go, Python, or an equivalent language.
• Demonstrated track record of mentorship and accelerating team growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team of engineers and mentor their growth.
• Collaborate with go-to-market, product, and engineering to build and champion a long-term technical roadmap.
• Work closely with customers, including hardware engineers, to understand their problems and find efficient solutions.
• Drive execution to deliver high-quality projects on time and aligned with company goals.
• Establish and refine engineering processes, including code reviews, sprint planning, and post-mortems.

Skills

Go

Python

Distributed systems

Mentorship

Leadership

Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS or STEM

Tools

Kafka

Flink

Beam

PostgreSQL

Timescale

Docker

Kubernetes

Terraform

Job description

About the Role:

Sift is hiring a hands‑on engineering manager to lead and scale our engineering team. In this role, you’ll be instrumental in driving the technical execution of our product roadmap while ensuring our engineering practices are solid and scalable. You’ll work closely with our engineers, product team, and customers to solve complex technical challenges and deliver innovative solutions to customers building satellite constellations, renewable energy, and autonomous transportation. You will also have the unique opportunity to build and refine our engineering processes from the ground up. We’re looking for an Engineering Manager who thrives in dynamic, high‑growth environments and is passionate about building exceptional teams and products. This is a rare opportunity to shape an early‑stage company’s success by driving engineering excellence. You will report to our Co‑Founder and CTO and play a critical role in aligning the team’s efforts with Sift’s long‑term technical vision.

In This Role, You’ll:

• Lead a team of engineers, accelerate their growth by providing thoughtful feedback and technical mentorship, and effectively manage their performance.
• Collaborate with go‑to‑market, product, and engineering to build and champion a long‑term technical roadmap that reduces the operational burden, ensures scalability, and mitigates risk.
• Work closely with customers, including hardware engineers, to understand their problems and find efficient solutions.
• Drive execution, ensuring high‑quality projects are delivered on time and aligned with company goals.
• Establish and refine engineering processes, including code reviews, sprint planning, and post‑mortems, that increase velocity, maintain product quality, and ensure high technical standards.
• Track and report key engineering metrics (e.g., error rates, shipping velocity) to ensure continuous improvement and efficient execution.
• Help scale the engineering team.
• Contribute to the codebase, working on high‑impact features and helping solve critical technical challenges.

The Skillset You’ll Bring:

• 7+ years of experience in software engineering, preferably B2B SaaS, with at least 2 years of experience leading engineering efforts from analyzing requirements to scoping, shipping, and operating in production.
• Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, engineering, math, physics, or STEM discipline.
• Strong experience designing and building large-scale, distributed systems or web applications using Go, Python, or an equivalent language.
• Deep systems background and value technical excellence. You deliver well‑engineered and durable solutions, leading technical discussions, design, and code reviews.
• A demonstrated track record of successful mentorship and accelerating reports growth, being an effective multiplier for the team.
• Self‑starter, able to navigate ambiguity and changing priorities in a start‑up environment.
• Proven ability to balance hands‑on development with team management.
• Team player with excellent communication skills and a collaborative work ethic.

Bonus Points:

• Experience working with in-stream data processing and analytics using Apache Kafka, Flink, Beam, or similar
• Experience with relational and non‑relational databases, e.g. PostgreSQL, Druid, Pinot, Timescale, or similar
• Experience with data exploration tools like Grafana, Jupyter Notebooks, Metabase, PowerBI, or similar
• Strong understanding of DevOps principles; version control, testing, continuous integration, build, deployment and monitoring

Engineering at Sift:

• Web frontend & backend: Go, React, TypeScript, WebAssembly, D3.js, WebGL, and Tailwind
• Data: Parquet, Flink, Kafka, Redpanda, Beam, DuckDB, Timescale, QuestDB, InfluxDB, and Druid
• Infrastructure: GitHub Actions, AWS, Azure, GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform

Location:

Sift headquarters is located in Los Angeles (El Segundo), and we work in a hybrid environment. We work closely with hardware companies building everything from autonomous vehicles to spacecraft, and many of them are based in L.A. As a customer‑centric company, it’s essential to be nearby for site visits and collaboration.

Benefits:

• New hire stock equity
• Hybrid workplace
• Free lunch, snacks, & coffee
• Top-tier health insurance: Medical, Vision, Dental