Staff Manager (Engineering)
About the Role
As a Staff Manager, you will play a key role in supporting the growth, performance, wellbeing, and engagement of our engineering teams. You will be responsible for managing a group of engineers, enabling their career development, supporting their project and staffing needs, and ensuring effective execution of department strategic initiatives.
You will work closely with Senior Managers, Engineering Managers, and other cross-functional stakeholders to translate organizational priorities into effective day-to-day execution.
This role is ideal for someone who enjoys working with people, creating clarity, solving operational challenges, and helping engineers grow. You will have ownership of initiatives within your scope and will be expected to identify practical improvements based on your experience and execution learnings.
Key Responsibilities
People Management & Employee Experience
Lead the overall growth, engagement, wellbeing, appraisal and performance management of engineers.
Build strong relationships through regular one on one check-ins, feedback, career conversations, and timely support.
Address employee concerns, performance challenges, and conflicts constructively and proactively.
Career Development & Growth
Understand engineers' skills, aspirations, and development needs and translate them into meaningful growth plans.
Identify skill gaps and appropriate development, mentoring, and upskilling opportunities.
Support engineers through career progression, performance reviews, and continuous development.
Staff Management Initiatives & Operational Excellence
Own and deliver assigned strategic initiatives within defined scope, timelines, and quality expectations.
Identify execution gaps and recommend practical improvements to strengthen operational effectiveness.
Staffing & Workforce Planning
Partner with Talent Acquisition and Operations to support hiring, onboarding, staffing, and project alignment.
Support effective project alignment by understanding team capabilities, availability, and business needs.
Identify staffing risks and coordinate with stakeholders to address capacity and resource requirements.
Organizational Alignment
Execute departmental priorities and OKRs in collaboration with Senior Staff Managers and Engineering Managers.
Provide practical insights and recommendations based on team and operational needs.
Collaborate across functions to ensure consistent execution of Staff Management practices.
5+ years of experience with 2-3 years in people management, engineering management, staff management, or a similar leadership role within a technology organization.
Experience managing, mentoring, or developing software/technology professionals.
Strong understanding of people management, performance management, career development, and employee engagement.
Ability to understand technical roles, engineering career paths, and competency expectations sufficiently to support engineers effectively.
Experience creating or managing development plans, performance goals, competency assessments, or similar development frameworks.
Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to have difficult and constructive conversations.
Strong organizational and execution skills, with the ability to manage multiple people-related initiatives simultaneously.
Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills, with a practical and execution-focused mindset.
Comfortable working with data, documentation, and people-management metrics to support informed decisions.
A growth mindset and genuine interest in helping people develop and succeed.
Good to Have
Experience working in a software engineering, IT services, or technology organization.
Familiarity with engineering competency frameworks and career progression models.
Experience supporting hiring, technical interviews, onboarding, staffing, or workforce planning.
Experience working with OKRs, performance management cycles, or organizational development programs.
Experience managing teams across multiple projects or technical disciplines.
Familiarity with HRIS, performance management, employee engagement, or people analytics tools.
Basic understanding of software engineering practices and different technology roles.
As published by recruitee
Full name, Email, CV, Cover letter, Phone
- How familiar are you with modern software development practices such as Agile, Data Engineering, AI/ML, DevOps, cloud platforms, and frontend/backend technologies? Briefly describe your exposure and how it has supported your work as a manager. written answer
- What was your background before moving into management? Please mention your relevant roles, responsibilities, and total years of technical experience. written answer
- How many years of experience do you have directly managing software engineering teams? Please include the approximate size and type of teams you have managed. written answer
- Describe the largest engineering team you have directly managed. What were your responsibilities? written answer
- Describe your experience with performance reviews, compensation discussions, and managing performance concerns. What level of ownership did you have? written answer
- How do you understand the career aspirations, strengths, and development needs of the engineers you manage? Describe the approach or framework you typically use. written answer
- You are assigned a high-priority strategic initiative by a Senior Manager with a tight deadline while already managing several priorities. How would you approach the work? written answer
- Why are you interested in this Staff Manager role, and what kind of engineering culture do you help create? written answer
- How did you come to know about the program? choose any
- If offered the position, how soon could you join our company?
- If you have been referred by someone from Leapfrog, please do mention their full name. optional