Tech Lead Manager — Developer Platform & CI/CD

Northwood Space; Torrance (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Northwood Space is seeking a Tech Lead Manager to own the patterns engineers use to build, test, and release software across FPGA, embedded, DSP, cloud, and ground teams. You will lead a small team of internal tooling and developer experience engineers while staying hands-on in code, running sprint planning, and people management within the framework set by the Head of Platform.

This player-coach role requires ownership of CI/CD tooling, developing shared frameworks, and guiding cross-team

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software or platform engineering experience, including 2+ years in a tech lead role.
• Ownership of CI/CD or build framework adopted by multiple teams with different toolchains.
• Experience building developer platforms or paved paths for other disciplines.
• Strong proficiency in systems language (Rust, Go, or C++) and Python.
• Hands-on with GitLab CI, container builds, and artifact management.
• Ability to write clear technical standards and drive adoption.
• Experience delivering internal applications/tools to non-engineers.

Responsibilities

• Own the build, test, and release frameworks across Northwood's repos, including build system, GitLab CI templates, artifact management, and versioning conventions.
• Provide reusable pipelines and build components with fast checks that fail early.
• Define guardrails for repo owners and make the compliant path the easiest path.
• Partner with domain leads to understand friction and prioritize it on the tooling roadmap.
• Own internal software development for internal use across engineering and business functions.
• Collaborate across teams to support product development and operator workflows.
• Lead the Development team as a player-coach with sprint planning, code reviews, and hands-on contributions.

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Mentoring

Sprint planning

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering, or related field

Equivalent practical experience

Tools

GitLab CI

Container builds

Artifact management

Monorepo tooling

Job description

Northwood Space is seeking a Tech Lead Manager to own the patterns engineers use to build, test, and release software across FPGA, embedded, DSP, cloud, and ground teams. You will lead a small team of internal tooling and developer experience engineers while staying hands-on in code, running sprint planning, and people management within the framework set by the Head of Platform.

This player-coach role requires ownership of CI/CD tooling, developing shared frameworks, and guiding cross-team