Senior Engineering Manager

Stepful

$188K — $253K *
Education, Government & Non-Profit
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 2+ years of management experience overseeing software engineers.
  • 6+ years of software product development with a full-stack engineering backdrop.
  • Strong commitment to hands-on involvement in code and architecture discussions.
  • Track record of collaborating with Product and Design teams throughout the project lifecycle.
  • Passion for mentoring and fostering the growth of engineering talent.

Responsibilities

  • Lead a team to achieve impactful outcomes while creating a sustainable work pace.
  • Provide regular feedback and develop personalized growth plans for engineers.
  • Cultivate a psychologically safe and trusting team environment aligned with company values.
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure timely alignment and delivery of projects.
  • Set stakeholder expectations clearly and adhere to commitments on delivery and priorities.
  • Contribute to the codebase through reviews and hands-on technical involvement while ensuring high engineering standards.

Benefits

  • Subsidized Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance options
  • 401(k) retirement plan
  • Flexible spending accounts (FSA), health savings accounts (HSA), and commuter benefits
  • Open vacation policy with guidance for 15 days PTO annually
  • 10 recognized public holidays in 2026 and additional work-from-anywhere days
Full Job Description
Engineering Manager
The opportunity:

As an Engineering Manager at Stepful, you'll lead a team of Product Engineers building the end-to-end experiences that help our students succeed-from enrollment and program completion to landing their first healthcare job. This is a hands-on management role where you will stay close to the codebase (roughly 20% of your time) while shaping what we build and leading engineers to do the best work of their careers.
What you'll do:
  • Team Leadership & Development:
    • Lead your team to deliver impactful outcomes at a sustainable pace-removing blockers, improving processes, and driving continuous improvement.
    • Develop engineers through regular feedback, personalized development plans, and opportunity matching.
    • Foster a high-trust, psychologically safe team culture grounded in Stepful's mission and values.
    • Recruit, interview, and onboard new engineers to scale our builder culture.
  • Product Delivery & Collaboration:
    • Partner closely with Product, Design, Data, and Operations to shape discovery and ensure we are building the right things at the right time.
    • Communicate clearly with stakeholders, setting expectations upfront and following through on delivery commitments.
    • Balance competing priorities with a bias for action and clear decision-making.
  • Technical Excellence (Hands-on):
    • Contribute roughly 20% of your time to the codebase through code reviews, architecture design, documentation, and individual contributions.
    • Uphold high engineering quality and guide system evolution through technical roadmapping and leading by example.
    • Oversee projects across our core pillars: Learning Experience (adaptive learning/AI feedback), Careers (ranking algorithms and partner matching), and Human Connection (LLM-driven internal tools).
What you'll bring:
  • 5+ years of direct experience managing software engineers.
  • 6+ years of experience building software products, with a strong full-stack engineering background.
  • A "builder" mentality-you are eager to go deep in code reviews, ask technical questions, and stay involved in architecture.
  • Proven experience partnering with Product and Design teams through the full discovery, planning, and execution lifecycle.
  • A genuine love for developing others and seeing engineers grow in their careers.
Bonus points if:
  • You have experience at a high-growth startup (B2C, B2B2C, EdTech, or HealthTech).
  • You have a track record of improving engineering systems (CI/CD, developer experience, velocity).
  • You have experience building and maintaining happy, high-performing engineering teams during periods of rapid scale.
Benefits and Compensation:
  • Subsidized Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance plan options
  • 401(k)
  • FSA, HSA and commuter benefits
  • Open vacation policy, including:
    • Guidance of 15 days PTO annually
    • Stepful closed the last week of December
    • 15 work-from-anywhere days
    • 10 public holidays observed for 2026

New Hire Base Salary Bands:
Senior Manager - $188,000-$253,000

Compensation for this role will fall within the pay range listed and will be determined based on job-related factors including, but not limited to, skills, experience, qualifications as well as interview evaluation. Ranges are market-dependent and may be modified in the future. Please note we do not have a bonus structure at this time so all cash compensation will come in the form of base salary. The total compensation package will also include our benefits package and an equity (ISOs) package.

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