About the roleRippling brings together the systems businesses use to manage their people, payroll, and operations. Behind that experience is a platform that allows teams to model complex data, connect it across products, and build applications that adapt to how each business works.
We're looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to help shape that foundation. You'll lead engineers working on capabilities that many teams depend on, from shared data and query systems to the tools used to build and customize applications. This is a role for someone who enjoys turning hard technical problems into simple, reliable building blocks-and helping a strong team do the best work of their careers.
What you will do- Lead and grow a team responsible for Rippling's core cloud infrastructure and production platform
- Define the long-term strategy for infrastructure scalability, reliability, and operational excellence
- Own Kubernetes platform architecture, cluster management, and production infrastructure lifecycle
- Drive infrastructure automation through Infrastructure as Code and platform self-service capabilities
- Establish best practices around observability, monitoring, incident response, and disaster recovery
- Partner with engineering teams to improve system reliability, deployment safety, and operational efficiency
- Lead large-scale infrastructure initiatives spanning multiple engineering organizations
- Develop and mentor engineers while maintaining a strong culture of ownership and technical excellence
- Drive improvements in cost efficiency, capacity planning, and cloud resource management
What you will need- 8+ years of software engineering experience, including significant work on platform, data, backend, or distributed systems.
- 4+ years of engineering management experience leading teams that build and operate production systems.
- Strong technical depth in system design, data modeling, APIs, and scalable service architecture.
- Experience building shared platforms or infrastructure adopted by multiple products or engineering teams.
- The ability to engage deeply in technical design, evaluate tradeoffs, and guide engineers through difficult implementation decisions.
- Experience leading systems through growth, including changes to performance, reliability, and data architecture.
- A track record of developing senior engineers and helping them grow into broader technical leadership.
- Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills, with the ability to bring clarity to ambiguous, high-impact problems.
Additional InformationThis role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.
A variety of factors are considered when determining someone's compensation-including a candidate's professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.
The pay range for this role is:
207,000 - 345,000 USD per year (US San Francisco Bay Area)
