Software Engineering Manager

kadence; New York (NY); On-site; USD 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Kadence is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead a cross-functional team of backend and AI engineers building production-grade AI-powered software for tax and accounting professionals. You’ll shape architecture, drive delivery velocity, and partner with product and design to set priorities and roadmaps.

You’ll guide AI features from concept through production while collaborating with research teams to translate emerging capabilities into reliable tools used by professionals.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience
• 3+ years of experience managing engineering teams
• Track record delivering scalable, production-grade backend systems
• Strong knowledge of backend engineering, system architecture, and cloud infrastructure
• Ability to contribute to architecture discussions, design decisions, and code reviews
• Experience partnering with Product, Design, and other cross-functional leaders
• Strong communication skills and stakeholder alignment
• Comfort in fast-moving environments with evolving priorities

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of backend and AI engineers
• Improve engineering processes, code reviews, rituals, and delivery velocity
• Partner with Product and Design to set priorities, roadmaps, and ownership
• Define technical direction for AI-powered professional workflows
• Scope and guide AI features from concept to production
• Collaborate with research and applied AI teams to turn capabilities into products
• Identify and remove cross-team blockers
• Understand the tax and accounting ecosystem and automation opportunities

Skills

Leadership

Backend engineering

Python

AWS

Cloud infrastructure

Architecture discussions

Cross-functional collaboration

Tools

LLM orchestration

Agent frameworks

Job description

We're partnering with a global technology organization to hire an Engineering Manager for a high-growth team building AI-powered software for tax and accounting professionals.

The team combines the speed and autonomy of an AI startup with the stability, resources, and customer reach of a well-established global business. You'll lead a talented group of backend and AI engineers developing production-grade systems that help professionals navigate complex workflows more efficiently.

This is an excellent opportunity for a technically credible engineering leader who enjoys building teams, improving how software gets delivered, and helping shape practical applications of generative and agentic AI.

What you'll do

• Lead, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of backend and AI engineers
• Improve engineering processes, code-review practices, team rituals, and overall delivery velocity
• Partner with Product and Design to establish priorities, roadmaps, and clear ownership
• Help define the technical direction for AI-powered and increasingly agentic professional workflows
• Scope and guide AI features from early concept through production deploymentCollaborate with research and applied AI teams to turn emerging capabilities into reliable products
• Identify and remove cross-team blockers that slow engineering execution
• Develop an understanding of the tax and accounting ecosystem and its opportunities for automation

What we're looking for

• 8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience
• 3+ years of experience managing engineering teams
• A track record of leading teams that deliver scalable, production-grade backend systems
• Strong knowledge of backend engineering, system architecture, and cloud infrastructure
• The technical depth to contribute meaningfully to architecture discussions, design decisions, and code reviews
• Experience partnering with Product, Design, and other cross-functional leaders
• Strong communication skills and the ability to align stakeholders around clear goals
• Comfort operating in a fast-moving environment where priorities can evolve quickly

Preferred experience

• Building or managing teams that have shipped AI-driven or agentic systems into production
• Familiarity with LLM orchestration, retrieval-augmented generation, agent frameworks, or AI evaluation pipelines
• Strong knowledge of Python and AWS
• Experience working with modern LLM APIs and productionizing them reliably
• Leadership of blended backend and AI/ML engineering teams
• Exposure to tax, accounting, legal, financial services, or another regulated professional domain

Why consider this opportunity?

• Lead a team working on meaningful, production-scale applications of generative AI
• Join an environment that offers startup-style ownership with the backing of a global organization
• Influence both engineering execution and the longer-term direction of the product
• Work alongside experienced product, design, research, and AI engineering teams
• Benefit from flexible working arrangements, comprehensive benefits, and strong professional-development support

If you're an engineering leader who wants to help turn cutting-edge AI capabilities into trusted tools for complex professional work, I'd be happy to share more details.