*This position is open to candidates in the **Seattle, WA **area. You will have a hybrid remote/in-office schedule where you will work from our casual, pet-friendly office at least **3 days a week**.* We are seeking a highly hands-on Software Engineering Manager to lead teams responsible for building, operating, and evolving mission-critical platforms. This role is ideal for a leader who remains deeply technical, actively contributes to architecture and code, and takes ownership of production outcomes. This is not a purely managerial role. Success requires strong technical judgment, direct involvement in engineering execution, and a passion for building resilient systems while developing high-performing technical teams. **Key Responsibilities: ** Hands-On Technical Leadership: - Serve as a hands-on technical leader, actively contributing to system design, architecture, code reviews, and implementation - Bring deep expertise in C#, .NET Framework, and .NET Core, applying best practices directly to production systems - Drive an AI-forward engineering culture, bringing demonstrated experience with AI tools such as Codex or Claude Code to improve developer efficiency and throughput - Apply SOLID principles, object-oriented design, and established design patterns to build maintainable, scalable software - Lead development of RESTful APIs and backend services - Guide teams in effective use of asynchronous programming patterns (async/await) and distributed processing - Leverage AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude, Codex, Copilot) to improve personal effectiveness and evangelize responsible usage across teams - Partner with senior engineers and architects to evolve systems while maintaining stability and operational excellence Production Ownership & Incident Management: - Own the health, reliability, and operational readiness of production systems - Lead and personally contribute to production incident resolution, including hands-on debugging - Drive structured incident response, root cause analysis, and preventative actions - Establish and maintain monitoring, alerting, and observability practices using DataDog - Ensure teams are prepared for on-call rotations and production support responsibilities Execution & Delivery: - Ensure work is well-scoped, well-designed, and delivered predictably - Hold teams accountable for quality, test coverage, and long-term maintainability - Ensure unit testing practices using MSTest and Moq are consistently followed - Drive a shift-left mindset, encouraging quality, security, and operational thinking early in development - Promote continuous improvement through innovation, experimentation, and adoption of new technologies (including AI) Best Practices, Standards & Compliance: - Define and enforce coding standards and software development best practices - Ensure compliance with relevant security and regulatory frameworks (e.g., ISO, SOX, PCI DSS) - Stay current on evolving software, security, and data protection trends - Champion secure coding practices and operational excellence Cross-Team Collaboration & Leadership: - Work effectively with engineering, product, operations, and business stakeholders - Navigate competing priorities and align teams toward clear technical outcomes - Influence through credibility, clarity, and technical leadership - Communicate technical risks, trade-offs, and production impacts clearly to leadership Talent Leadership & Mentorship: - Recruit, hire, and retain high-performing engineers - Personally assess technical depth, problem solving, and ownership during interviews - Build a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous learning - Mentor engineers at all levels with strong emphasis on technical growth and system thinking - Develop senior engineers into future technical leaders **Qualifications** Required: - 3+ years as a Software Engineering Manager or Tech Lead with hands-on responsibilities - Strong expertise in C# / .NET, including .NET Framework and .NET Core - Solid understanding and applied experience with SOLID principles, Object-oriented design & design patterns, REST APIs, SQL and relational database design - Experience building and maintaining unit tests using MSTest and Moq - Experience with Azure DevOps for CI/CD - Production monitoring and alerting experience using DataDog - Strong system design and troubleshooting skills in live production environments - Excellent written and verbal communication skills - Comfortable handling performance management, including difficult conversations when necessary - Experience working with Agile development methodologies Strongly Preferred: - Experience with RabbitMQ or similar message-driven systems - Strong background in Azure, including: SQL Azure, Azure Web Apps / Services, Azure Service Bus - Nice to Have - Experience with containerized environments (Docker, Kubernetes) - Some experience with JavaScript, Angular, and TypeScript - Exposure to or integration experience with marketing platforms such as Marketo - Experience in regulated or mission-critical domains such as insurance or financial services **Additional Information** **Compensation: ** - The base salary range for this position is $155,000 - $160,000, on a full-time schedule. - Along with base compensation, Trupanion employees are currently eligible for monthly bonuses. - We want all employees to be invested in Trupanion's success, so we grant Restricted Stock Units to all new team members. Our new hire grants vest over 4 years. **Benefits and Perks:** - Full medical, dental, and vision benefits at no cost to the employee - Four weeks of paid time off and 9 paid float holidays (you can decide which days are most important to you!) - Five-week sabbatical after five years of employment - Open, casual, pet-friendly, and fun office environment - Free medical health insurance for your pet (1 dog or cat) - Paid time off to volunteer at nonprofit organizations - Seattle Office Amenities: Free on-site gym, free dog walking services for office pets during business hours, free parking, and paid ORCA cards.