Senior Engineering Manager, Platform

GiveDirectly

. Own one domain of GiveDirectly’s cash delivery platform: payments, core platform, or data collection .

Posted 10/8/2026full-timeRemote • United States, United Kingdom, KenyaSenior💰 $181,130 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates strong leadership in managing software engineering teams, driving operational excellence, and fostering an inclusive engineering culture. Possesses a solid backend foundation with expertise in databases, cloud services, and APIs, while effectively collaborating with stakeholders to align technical outcomes with business objectives.

Highest-signal resume keywords

Team ManagementBackend DevelopmentTechnical JudgmentRecruitment and Talent DevelopmentStakeholder Collaboration

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

Backend DevelopmentDatabasesCloud ServicesAPIsSoftware Delivery CyclesArchitecture ReviewCode QualityTesting PracticesDeployment PracticesIncident Response

Soft Skills

Emotional IntelligenceProblem SolvingProject ManagementFostering InclusivityCreating Clarity in Ambiguity

Industry Keywords

Engineering CultureTechnical OutcomesProduct OwnershipContinuous ImprovementTalent-Dense Teams

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Cloud

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Own one domain of GiveDirectly’s cash delivery platform: payments, core platform, or data collection
Directly manage a team growing to 5–7 senior engineers, including 1:1s, goal setting, feedback, career development, performance management, recruiting, and onboarding
Own domain technical outcomes, including delivery, reliability, and major technical bets
Partner with product on roadmap, feature development, technical debt, infrastructure investments, and delivery velocity
Drive operational excellence across on-call, incident response, code quality, testing, AI, and deployment practices
Protect and scale engineering culture through open debate, product ownership, continuous improvement, and strong engineering foundations
Represent the team with stakeholders and leadership, translating technical realities into business decisions and vice versa
Review architecture and designs, set the technical quality bar, and guide sound trade-offs without becoming a bottleneck
Collaborate with field and partner teams to improve product-development practices and support cash delivery at scale
Report to the VP of Technology

Requirements

What you’ll need

Must be based in an eligible country on the specified country list
Must overlap with East Africa Time and US Eastern Time (8am–6pm) by at least 3 hours
Must be able to travel approximately 3–4 times per year to a country of operation
English language requirement
3+ years managing software engineers through full delivery cycles
8+ years of overall industry experience building production software
Strong backend foundation, including databases, cloud services, and APIs
Demonstrated ability to recruit, coach, develop, and retain engineers
Experience building and retaining talent-dense, inclusive teams during high growth
Track record of building strong engineering culture, including candid debate, product ownership, continuous improvement, and engineering craft/tooling, including agentic engineering
Ability to create clarity in ambiguity, prioritize focus, and enable senior teams to work autonomously
Strong technical judgment and experience pressure-testing architecture decisions and weighing technical and non-technical tradeoffs
Experience partnering successfully with non-technical stakeholders and leaders
Alignment with GiveDirectly Values and demonstrated emotional intelligence, problem solving, project management, follow-through, and fostering inclusivity

Benefits

Comp & perks

Annual benefits stipend: $21,393 in the United States, £2,760 in the United Kingdom, or $8,453 in Kenya
15% bonus at target performance, with potential for upside
Fully remote work
Flexible schedule, provided there is sufficient overlap with the team
Professional growth opportunities
Team retreats or field visits approximately 3–4 times per year