Engineering Manager

Engineering at Ada

Everyone at Ada is an “Ada Owner”, this refers not just to the fact that you share in the equity, but also the expectation we have of you, and the agency you are given, to influence and shape our technical roadmap. True to our value of “Always Be Improving”, we are a team of folks who have the drive to grow themselves, and others around them, resulting in a challenging, but fulfilling environment.  

With AI and LLMs central to our business, staying proficient and evolving alongside advancements in this field is crucial for success. 

The Role

As an Engineering Manager overseeing our Email and Messaging SDKs teams, you will lead a group of 8-10 talented engineers in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, product managers, and designers to execute Ada’s ambitious roadmap. 

You’ll play a pivotal role in fostering a high-performing team, enabling customers to deploy Ada on Email, where our AI agent delivers a seamless, human-like user experience. On the Messaging SDKs team, you’ll empower customers with modern, reliable Web and Mobile SDKs, enabling fast, high-quality generative conversations that drive increased engagement and conversation volumes.

About You

• Excited to work with APIs, SDKs and integration challenges around scalability and maintainability 
• Possess a strong product engineering mindset and a strong sense of prioritization and striking the right balance between delivery speed and high technical quality
• Adopt a coaching mindset and feel a sense of pride, satisfaction, and gratitude when you’ve been a part of helping others grow and improve
• Lead with a coaching mindset, taking pride in nurturing growth and development in others.
• Skilled in recognizing and cultivating talent while holding individuals accountable for their commitments
• Self-aware, open to feedback, and driven by continuous improvement and a growth mindset.
• Lead with a data-driven approach but also have the experience and wisdom to trust your intuition
• Able to clearly and concisely communicate and collaborate with various levels of stakeholders
• Are customer-obsessed deeply committed to delivering exceptional user experiences.
• Bonus but not required:
  • Experience managing teams in high-growth startup environments.
  • Expertise in building scalable integration platforms.
  • Strong knowledge of SDKs, APIs, and integration systems.

Outcomes

• Coaching 
• Manage and support a team of 8-10 engineers.
• Conduct regular 1:1s to align on goals, challenges, and feedback.
• Act as a coach and sponsor, amplifying your team’s voice and celebrating successes.
• Foster a collaborative and high-performing team culture, ensuring individual and team growth.
• Planning and Execution 
• Collaborate with Product Management and stakeholders to define and prioritize roadmaps.
• Support the team in prioritizing, planning, and managing upcoming work items
• Identify and communicate risks with stakeholders early
• Proactively identify and mitigate risks while ensuring timely delivery of high-quality outcomes.
• Champion observability, data-driven decision-making, and a culture of continuous improvement.
• Conduct Root Cause Analyses to address technology or process inefficiencies.
• Ensure that high priority bugs are being addressed in a timely manner
• Identify inefficiencies in the team's development process and resolve them, or escalate them
• Be supportive to stakeholders outside Engineering upon inquiries
• Hiring
• Understand the staffing needs of the team and ensure it is set up for success
• Identify and recruit top talent, ensuring a fair and inclusive hiring process.
• Help improve the hiring process and remove systemic bias
• Strategy
• Evolve Ada’s engineering organization by improving processes and addressing competency gaps.
• Partner with cross-functional teams (Product, Design, etc.) to form a high-performing trifecta.
• Balance delivery of immediate goals with long-term technical and organizational strategies.

The expected salary range for this position is $170,000 - $205,000. Actual pay will be determined based on several factors such as past experience and qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors permitted by law.