Engineering Manager, Control Plane

About the role

Tailscale is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead a team focused on our core control plane. You will guide engineers, contribute to product strategy, and help shape our engineering culture. This role is for someone who thrives in a fast-paced, distributed environment.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Mentor and develop a team of software engineers, supporting their career growth and performance.
• Guide technical direction and architectural decisions for critical services.
• Contribute to the hiring process and the ongoing development of our engineering culture.
• Oversee the operational health of production services, including monitoring and incident response.
• Collaborate with product managers and designers to deliver new features and improvements.

Requirements

• Proven experience as a people manager, including performance reviews and career development.
• A strong background in building and operating highly available production services.
• Experience managing on-call rotations and incident management.
• Technical depth to evaluate complex design trade-offs.
• Experience developing in Go.
• Ability to work independently and provide constructive feedback.
• Adaptability to a startup environment.

Nice to have

• Experience managing multiple engineering pods (2-4 engineers each) and collaborating with product managers and designers.

Skills & tools

• Go

Practical notes

• Compensation range: $276,040 - $344,380 CAD.
• Tailscale offers equity, comprehensive benefits with no waiting period, employer-funded retirement contributions, and a $1500 USD annual professional development budget.
• Home office setup includes a company-provided laptop, monthly internet reimbursement, and a $500 USD workstation stipend.
• Paid parental leave is available.
• AI-assisted tools are used in the hiring process, but all hiring decisions are made by people.
• Be aware of phishing scams; legitimate Tailscale emails will come from @tailscale.com, @greenhouse.io, or @interviews.modernloop.io addresses.