The Opportunity

Encore Fire Protection is in the middle of a meaningful technology transformation. We are modernizing the platforms, integrations, and data infrastructure that power a nearly $700M company on a path to $1.5B — and we need an engineering leader who can build and run the team that makes it happen.  

As an Engineering Manager, you will lead Encore’s software engineering function: managing a team of developers and engineers, owning our deployment pipelines and cloud infrastructure, and partnering with Product and Data leadership to ship reliable, scalable solutions. You are as comfortable in a 1:1 coaching a junior developer as you are reviewing a pull request or debugging a production issue.  

This is a player-coach role. You will not manage from a distance. You will be close to the code, close to the team, and close to the business problems we are solving. If you want a role where you can build a team, set an engineering standard, and see the direct impact of your work on a company that is growing fast — this is it. 

 

Your Path to Success 

 

In Your First 90 Days:  

You will spend meaningful time learning before you lead. That means getting to know the team individually — their strengths, their frustrations, and what they need from a manager. It means mapping the current state of our environments, pipelines, integrations, and technical debt without immediately trying to fix everything. And it means building relationships with your peers in Product, Data, and the broader Digital Transformation org so you understand the roadmap you’re being asked to execute against. You make an impact by not making an impact.  

 

Post-90 Days:  

You will take ownership of engineering delivery — managing sprint cadences, release quality, incident response, and team capacity against an active and growing backlog. You will begin establishing engineering standards: code review norms, deployment protocols, documentation expectations, and on-call practices that create consistency and reliability as the team scales. You will have a clear point of view on the biggest technical risks in our environment and a plan to address them.  

 

Long-Term Vision:  

As your tenure at Encore deepens, you will help shape not just the team but the engineering culture — how we hire, how we onboard, how we grow talent from within, and how we make technical decisions that hold up as the company doubles in size. You will be a key voice in platform and tooling strategy, a trusted partner to Product and Data leadership, and a manager whose direct reports are themselves growing into senior individual contributors and future leaders. Your work will be the foundation that allows Encore’s technology organization to scale without breaking. 

 

Key Responsibilities

You will serve as both the technical and people leader for Encore’s engineering function, operating at the intersection of team management, platform reliability, and product delivery:   

 

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of software engineers and DevOps practitioners, including hiring, performance management, career development, and day-to-day coaching  

• Own the reliability, availability, and performance of Encore’s engineering environments, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud infrastructure (GCP, AWS, Azure)  

• Partner with Product and Data leadership to translate roadmap priorities into engineering plans with clear timelines, resource requirements, and risk assessments  

• Establish and enforce engineering standards: code quality, peer review, branching strategy, deployment protocols, incident response, and documentation  

• Drive planning, backlog refinement, and release management, ensuring the team delivers with consistency and predictability  

• Lead incident management and post-mortem processes, building a culture of blameless learning and continuous improvement  

• Manage vendor and integration relationships relevant to the engineering stack, including ServiceTrade, Workato, Snowflake, and third-party API partners  

• Identify and address technical debt proactively, balancing near-term delivery pressure with long-term platform health  

• Contribute hands-on to architecture discussions, code reviews, and technical decisions — this is a player-coach role  
• Represent engineering capacity and constraints clearly to senior leadership, enabling informed prioritization decisions 

What You Bring to the Table

• 7+ years in software engineering or DevOps, with at least 3 years in a people management role leading engineering teams  

• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure preferred), containerization, and CI/CD pipeline management  

• Proven ability to manage delivery in an environment with competing priorities, active technical debt, and a business that moves fast  

• Experience managing integrations between SaaS platforms, internal APIs, and data infrastructure — familiarity with iPaaS tools like Workato is a plus  

• Strong grasp of software development lifecycle practices: Agile/Scrum, code review standards, release management, and incident response  

• Track record of hiring, developing, and retaining engineering talent — including building the culture and norms that make a team worth staying on  

• Clear, direct communicator who can translate technical constraints into business language and push back constructively when the ask doesn’t make sense  
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience 

 

What Will Make You Stand Out? 

 

We are not looking for someone who manages tickets and runs standups. We are looking for a technical leader who is genuinely invested in the people on their team and the quality of what gets shipped. Come ready to share:  

  

• A production incident or environment failure you owned end-to-end — what broke, what you did, and what you changed so it wouldn’t happen again  

• How you’ve managed an engineer who was technically strong but struggling — and what the outcome was  

• The engineering standard or process you’re most proud of building from scratch  

• How you balance technical debt against feature delivery when the business is pushing hard for both  

• A time you pushed back on a product or business request on technical grounds — and how you handled the conversation 

Beyond the Paycheck

At Encore, we’re all about creating a culture where success is celebrated. We recognize that our work makes people’s lives safer, and we reward those who contribute to our growth. Here’s what you can expect: 

 

• Competitive Salary: Compensation commensurate with your experience, with the opportunity to earn performance-based bonuses tied to your personal effectiveness and contributions to the team.  

• Purpose-Driven Work Environment: We believe in working smarter, not harder. You’ll be part of a culture that values results, and we empower our team to focus on impactful work.  

• Flexible Dress Code: Upon joining, you’ll receive branded Encore swag, and we believe in dressing for the objective, not the occasion. Most days, you can enjoy a casual work environment, but we’ll dress up when the situation calls for it.  

• People-Focused Culture: We know our greatest strength is our people. That’s why we’ve built a culture that encourages experimentation, learning, and improving together. You’ll have the space to share your ideas and help shape a company that is constantly growing.  

• Tools for Success: Access to leading-edge web-based productivity tools.  

• Health and Wellness: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage to keep you and your family healthy.  

• Retirement Planning: Participation in our Fidelity 401(k) plan with a company match, helping you save for your future.  

• Life Insurance: Company-paid life insurance policy of $50,000 to give you peace of mind.