Tech Lead Manager, Lending

Chime; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 199,000 - 275,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus eligibility

Equity package

Benefits

Job summary

Chime's Lending org seeks an Engineering Manager to lead a fast-moving squad focused on real-time money movement and lending platforms. You will manage 3–5 engineers, own technical direction, and drive high-quality product outcomes.

You will partner with Product, Design, Analytics, and Data leaders, hire and coach the team, mentor engineers, and advocate for sustainable engineering practices, AI-enabled workflows, and a culture of ownership.

Qualifications

• Experience leading software engineering teams and delivering impact.
• Strong ability to shape technical direction and maintain code quality.
• Familiarity with hiring, coaching, and performance feedback processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead a squad of 3–5 engineers, including 1:1s, coaching, and promotions.
• Own the squad's architecture and technical direction, including design reviews and planning.
• Identify tech debt and promote sustainable engineering practices.
• Drive hiring and staffing for the squad and foster a high-performing team.
• Mentor engineers on technical and product growth and create paths toward Staff Engineer.
• Partner with Product and Design on scope, dependencies, and quarterly planning.

Skills

People management

Technical leadership

Code reviews

Hiring & staffing

Job description

About The Role

Chime serves millions of members on a mission to help them unlock financial progress. Chime's Lending org builds the products and platforms that give members access to fair, transparent credit and liquidity when they need it most, from Earned Wage Access through MyPay, to flexible overdraft with SpotMe, to longer-term Instant Loans, and the platforms that power credit decisions, funding, repayments, and servicing behind the scenes.

About The Role

Chime serves millions of members on a mission to help them unlock financial progress. Chime's Lending org builds the products and platforms that give members access to fair, transparent credit and liquidity when they need it most, from Earned Wage Access through MyPay, to flexible overdraft with SpotMe, to longer-term Instant Loans, and the platforms that power credit decisions, funding, repayments, and servicing behind the scenes.

We operate some of Chime's most consequential systems. Our teams build real-time money movement and decisioning infrastructure at scale, including underwriting and eligibility, ledgering and reconciliation, capital markets workflows, repayment systems, and financial transactions that must be correct, resilient, and auditable.

Why this role

• A meaningful problem. Helping engaged members get more value over time is one of the highest-leverage things we can do for members and for the business.
• Real ownership. This is a newer team with clear executive support and meaningful surface area. You'll have room to shape both the technical direction and the team itself.
• Strong cross-functional partners. You'll work day-to-day with senior Product, Analytics, Marketing, Design, and Data leaders who are deep in the problem.
• A team to build. You'll hire, coach, and grow a group of engineers, and define the culture as it scales.

The base salary offered for this role and level of experience will begin at $199,000.00 and up to $275,000.00. Full-time employees are also eligible for a bonus, competitive equity package, and benefits. The actual base salary offered may be higher, depending on your location, skills, qualifications, and experience.

In this role, you can expect to

• Author and ship scoped, incremental features hands-on
• Own the squad's technical direction, architecture, and code quality - leading technical design discussions, code reviews, and technical planning, with support from the team and Tech Leads
• Identify technical debt and advocate for sustainable engineering practices as an active, ongoing codebase contributor
• Provide full people management for 3-5 direct reports, including 1:1s, career coaching, performance feedback, and promotion decisions
• Drive hiring and staffing for the squad, building an inclusive, high-performing team and owning its health and engagement, with support from the Director of the area
• Mentor product engineers on technical and product growth, modeling ownership and craft
• Build a path for engineers on the squad toward Staff Engineer or a future TLM role
• Partner with Product and Design on sprint scope and delivery commitments, surfacing technical dependencies and capacity needs into quarterly planning.

To thrive in this role, you

• Have direct experience in lending, payments, or other regulated financial/transactional systems
• Have managed engineers directly with full people-management ownership (1:1s, career coaching, performance feedback, promotion decisions, hiring) for a small team, while staying hands-on technically yourself
• Use AI coding tools and workflows as a core part of how you build and lead, with a track record of introducing AI-driven practices that measurably improved a team's velocity
• Can tie-break technical disagreements and make speed-vs-durability calls under real delivery pressure, while partnering closely with a PM and Design on scope, dependencies, and quarterly planning
• Have a bias toward ownership and action over process, and are comfortable being the one person accountable for both what ships and how the team is doing
• You hold a high quality bar through design and code review rather than delegating it entirely.

A Little About Us

At Chime, we believe that everyone can achieve financial progress. We