Senior Manager, Software Development Engineering

About the team

The Rich Media (RMX) team is reimagining virtual touring at Zillow—building immersive, next‑generation experiences that combine mobile devices with ML/AI and computer vision to give shoppers the feeling of “being there.” We partner across product, research, and engineering to capture, process, and present rich media that elevates Zillow’s core experiences.

About the role

This is a zero‑to‑one leadership role to build and lead a new, senior team spanning machine learning engineering, computer vision, full‑stack/web, and native iOS. You’ll drive high‑profile programs across teams and disciplines, set a strong technical and operational foundation, and deliver ML/CV‑powered mobile experiences with measurable customer impact.

As a Senior Manager, Software Development Engineering, You Will Get To:

• Establish, grow, and lead a high‑performing team (senior SDEs, ML engineers, applied scientists, full‑stack/web, and iOS) to ship novel, high‑quality user experiences powered by ML/AI and computer vision.

• Define and drive a portfolio roadmap with Product and Design; decompose cross‑team programs into reliable, low‑risk execution plans; and align stakeholders through clear communication.

• Introduce AI‑accelerated engineering practices (tools and agents) to improve learning velocity, productivity, and product quality.

• Build the technical foundation—architecture, quality mechanisms, observability, and a healthy on‑call—to support rapid iteration and durable operations across mobile and services.

• Hire, mentor, and sponsor talent; foster an inclusive, feedback‑rich culture; create growth paths for senior ICs; and partner with recruiting to attract top talent.

• Lead cross‑org collaboration with adjacent platform, data, and product teams to align on interfaces, standards, and shared investments.

• Operationalize quality: set and inspect standards for reliability, performance, and cost; ensure SLOs, error budgets, incident reviews (RCAs), and runtime cost controls are owned and improved.

This role has been categorized as a Remote position. “Remote” employees do not have a permanent corporate office workplace and, instead, work from a physical location of their choice, which must be identified to the Company. U.S. employees may live in any of the 50 United States, with limited exceptions.

In California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Washington state, and Washington DC the standard base pay range for this role is $206,700.00 - $330,300.00 annually. This base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations. In Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Vermont the standard base pay range for this role is $196,400.00 - $313,800.00 annually. The base pay range is specific to these locations and may not be applicable to other locations.

In addition to a competitive base salary this position is also eligible for equity awards based on factors such as experience, performance and location. Actual amounts will vary depending on experience, performance and location. Employees in this role will not be paid below the salary threshold for exempt employees in the state where they reside.

Who you are

• Proven success building and leading high‑performing engineering teams that deliver and operate complex systems, including influence across teams you don’t directly manage.

• Deep experience with native iOS development and mobile constraints (sensors, offline workflows, performance, memory, energy), and strong fluency partnering with full‑stack/web and platform teams.

• Hands‑on leadership taking ML/AI and/or computer vision from research to production in collaboration with applied scientists and ML engineers.

• History of driving multi‑team initiatives, making sound decisions in ambiguity, and aligning diverse stakeholders on product and technical outcomes.

• Strong commitment to quality and operational excellence: SLOs, on‑call health, incident/RCAs, code/design reviews, and cost stewardship.

• Demonstrated aptitude for hiring, coaching, and addressing performance; a track record of growing senior ICs and emergent leaders.

• Experience building mobile experiences that blend on‑device ML/CV with cloud pipelines and near‑real‑time feedback; or adjacent systems such as low‑latency media, offline‑first operation, or scalable data/compute.

• Familiarity with experimentation, measurement, and learning systems for ML‑driven features.

• Here at Zillow - we value the experience and perspective of candidates with non-traditional backgrounds. We encourage