Senior Engineering Manager

About the role

In this pivotal position, you will spearhead the development of Klaviyo's Customer Agent, an innovative AI-driven conversational platform designed to enhance brand-customer interactions on a massive scale. This role is integral to the company's AI strategy, influencing how brands engage, convert, and retain a vast number of customers through real-time, context-aware communication. You will be responsible for defining the future of conversational AI and constructing a robust, extensible platform that meets the evolving needs of the market.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Lead and mentor a diverse team of managers, technical leads, full-stack developers, and AI specialists, overseeing various workstreams to ensure effective collaboration and productivity.
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders to plan projects, establish milestones, identify dependencies, and ensure alignment with business objectives.
• Actively participate in the recruitment process, including interviewing candidates and contributing to team development initiatives.
• Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals and create personalized career development plans for your direct reports to foster their growth.
• Formulate and implement technical strategies that align with Klaviyo's overarching business goals, emphasizing the creation of outstanding products and a reliable AI systems roadmap.
• Engage with both internal and external stakeholders to gather insights, address challenges, manage expectations, and translate customer needs into impactful AI-driven solutions.
• Provide expert guidance on modeling, system architecture, experimental design, and implementation strategies to enhance project outcomes.
• Drive improvements in engineering processes across the organization, focusing on recruitment, performance management, communication, and agile practices.
• Stay updated on emerging AI trends and technologies, identifying potential opportunities for integration within Klaviyo's ecosystem to maintain a competitive edge.

Requirements

• A minimum of 10 years of experience in software engineering, with a strong background in developing AI-driven product features in a full-stack environment, along with a track record of leading teams in building scalable systems.
• At least 5 years of experience in engineering management, including oversight of other managers or multiple teams.
• Exceptional communication abilities, enabling effective collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders to convert business and product roadmaps into actionable AI-driven technical plans that deliver substantial value.
• A commitment to team growth by nurturing existing talent and attracting new members to enhance team capabilities.
• A hands-on approach to coding, with a desire to deeply understand the product domain and provide relevant technical mentorship to team members.
• Comprehensive knowledge of engineering architectures that support highly scalable systems.
• Demonstrated success in leading and delivering complex, multi-quarter projects that involve collaboration across at least two teams.
• Proficiency in conducting performance evaluations and mentoring team members at various levels of experience.

Nice to have

• Previous experience as an entrepreneur, showcasing a strong understanding of business dynamics and innovation.

Skills & tools

• Expertise in AI-driven product features
• Proficiency in full-stack engineering
• Experience with scalable systems
• Knowledge of machine learning models
• Familiarity with LLM-based APIs

Practical notes

The base salary range for this position in the United States is between $216,000 and $324,000 USD. This role may require occasional travel, up to 10%, for purposes such as onboarding new hires, client or partner engagements, team meetings, and attendance at industry events. All travel will be planned in advance to ensure smooth coordination.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced engineering leader to make a significant impact on Klaviyo's AI initiatives and contribute to the future of customer engagement technology. If you are passionate about leading teams, developing innovative solutions, and driving business success through technology, we encourage you to apply.

About the company

Klaviyo is a marketing automation platform built for online businesses. Founded in 2012, Klaviyo went public on the NYSE in 2023. The platform powers personalized email and SMS marketing for over 143,000 brands.