Senior Engineering Manager

Astronomer is the biggest commercial developer of Apache Airflow, a community-driven open-source tool that’s leading the market in data orchestration. We’re a globally-distributed and rapidly growing venture-backed team of learners, innovators and collaborators. Our mission is to build an Enterprise-grade product that makes it easy for data teams at Fortune 500’s and startups alike to adopt Apache Airflow. As a member of our team, you will be at the forefront of the industry as we strive to make Apache Airflow the de-facto standard in data orchestration.

Your background may be unconventional; as long as you have the essential qualifications, we encourage you to apply. While having "bonus" qualifications makes for a strong candidate, Astronomer values diverse experiences. Many of us at Astronomer haven't followed traditional career paths, and we welcome it if yours hasn't either.

About this role

As a Senior Engineering Manager at Astronomer, you will play a pivotal role in leading and guiding a team of talented engineers. Your primary goal will be to foster a high-performing and innovative engineering culture, ensuring that our products meet the highest standards of quality and efficiency.

In this role, you will collaborate extensively with leadership across various departments, including Engineering, Product Management, Customer Support and Field engineering. It's a great opportunity to work on some of the most challenging problems in data orchestration while contributing to the development of Astronomer’s next-generation product suite.

What you get to do:

• Lead and mentor a team of talented software engineers, providing guidance and support to ensure their growth and development.

• Collaborate closely with the Engineering Tech lead, Product Managers, Engineering Director, and other stakeholders to align engineering projects with company goals and customer needs.

• Engage actively with the customers & the customer support team to understand customer issues and feedback, ensuring that customer insights are integrated into development processes.

• Manage the entire lifecycle of engineering projects, from conception and design through development, testing, deployment, and support.

• Implement best practices in coding, testing, and deployment, striving for excellence in software engineering.

• Foster an agile and collaborative work environment, promoting continuous learning and innovation within the team.

• Ensure projects are on track, resources are allocated efficiently, and deadlines are met. 

• Use metrics and data-driven insights to monitor progress and make informed decisions.

• Ensure the reliability and scalability of our software solutions, addressing any technical challenges and optimizing performance.

• Manage technical debt, including long term technical architecture decisions and balance product roadmap.

What you bring to the role:

• Deep prior experience in software engineering, with multiple years of experience in a people management role.

• Strong technical background in distributed systems, data engineering, cloud computing, and modern software development practices.

• Proven track record of leading successful engineering teams and delivering high-quality software products.

• Proven expertise in setting clear expectations and goals for the engineering team, ensuring alignment with the company’s objectives and strategies.

• Demonstrated ability to develop detailed project execution plans, including the proactive identification and effective communication of potential risks.

• Strong verbal & written communication, leadership, and problem-solving skills.

• Experience with agile methodologies and a passion for continuous improvement.

• Deep knowledge of architecture design, data structures, algorithms, online services, frameworks, and their tradeoffs

• Experience with software development best practices, such as code reviews, testing, CI/CD, version control, build & test automation, and debugging

• Experience with cloud-native technologies like Kubernetes and Docker

• Display flexibility in working hours to accommodate for the distributed nature of the team, which may include occasionally starting the day early to sync with team members in different time zones.

Bonus points if you have:

• 5+ years of experience managing or directing software engineering teams

• Experience with Apache Airflow or similar data workflow management tools; or expertise in ML/AI, particularly in MLOps.

• Contributions to open-source proj