Sr. Manager, Software Engineering

Our restaurants are only the tip of the flame. If you’re looking for a fast paced, innovative and welcoming workplace then a career with us is right for you.

What’s in it for you!

• Medical + Dental + Vision Insurance
• 401(K) Plan with match and immediate vesting
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Basic Life and AD&D/Long Term Disability
• Vacation + Sick Pay
• Bonus Compensation for eligible positions
• Casual Friday’s
• Bring your dog to work Friday’s
• Discounts of El Pollo Loco food
• Discounts on theme parks, movie tickets, sports, hotels and more.
• Employee referral bonus program

Company & Culture
For over 35 years El Pollo Loco continues to dominate the market in delivering the best citrus-marinated fire-grilled chicken. We opened our first restaurant in 1980 in Los Angeles, and today we are over 450 restaurants strong and still growing! From our products to our people, we’re truly amazing!


POSITION PURPOSE:
The Senior Manager of Software Engineering is a senior technical leader responsible for setting the vision, standards, and execution strategy for the company’s software engineering function. This role leads and develops software engineering organization while also maintaining strong technical oversight of architecture, integrations, and application platforms that support restaurant operations and Support Center functions.
Serving as both a strategic leader and hands-on technical advisor, this role oversees internal application development, enterprise integrations, API services, and modernization initiatives across multiple platforms. Our current stack includes Java-based systems, JavaScript web applications, SQL databases, and enterprise data and integration platforms. The Senior Manager ensures the engineering organization delivers secure, scalable, high-quality software aligned with business priorities and long-term technology strategy.
This leader establishes technical stack, engineering best practices, quality assurance, and delivery processes. The Senior Manager partners with cross-functional technology and business leaders—including Restaurant Technologies, Data & Analytics, Infrastructure, HR, Finance, Marketing, and Operations—to deliver resilient, scalable solutions that support enterprise growth and operational efficiency.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Leads and manages the software engineering organization, including application developers and quality assurance engineers.
• Establishes the technical direction, engineering standards, and development practices for the organization.
• Provides architectural oversight and technical leadership across application development, integrations, APIs, and data workflows.
• Guides modernization initiatives including platform upgrades, cloud adoption, system refactoring, and technical debt reduction.
• Oversees the full software development lifecycle including requirements, design, development, testing, documentation, and deployment. Brings AI capabilities into SDLC.
• Establishes and enforces coding standards, secure development practices, version control strategies, CI/CD pipelines, and documentation requirements.
• Maintains architectural ownership for applications and near real-time integrations of core systems that include Oracle Simphony POS, Oracle Fusion, DayForce HRIS, Olo, Snowflake.
• Leads the Technical QA & Documentation Manager to ensure testing strategies, release documentation, and acceptance criteria are completed prior to deployment.
• Serves as the senior technical authority and final approver for production releases, ensuring compliance with PCI/SOX controls, security standards, and rollback procedures.
• Collaborates with Restaurant Systems, Infrastructure, Data & Analytics, Finance, HR, Marketing, and Operations leadership to align engineering initiatives with business priorities.
• Oversees the design and performance of APIs, integrations, and data pipelines with emphasis on scalability, reliability, logging, and monitoring.
• Leads troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of complex system issues while driving long-term stability improvements.
• Evaluates emerging technologies, vendor platforms, and engineering tools to improve efficiency, security, and system capabilities.
• Manages engineering capacity planning, sprint planning, backlog prioritization, and delivery timelines across multiple initiatives.
• Provides leadership, coaching, mentorship, and career development for engineers, analysts, and technical leads.
• Ensures the creation and maintenance of technical documentation including architecture diagrams, integration specifications, release notes, and operational runbooks.
• Other duties as assigned by supervisor.

QUALIFICATIONS – EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, LICEN