Engineering Manager, Consumer Core

About the role

Upside is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead the Consumer Core team, a full-stack group responsible for the foundational elements of Upside's primary product. This role involves a combination of technical contributions and people leadership, with a focus on operational excellence, system scalability, and security standards. As a key leader, you will help define architectural patterns, establish security protocols, and ensure that other consumer teams can build features efficiently and reliably. You will work closely with cross-functional partners to align platform capabilities with business needs, fostering a collaborative environment that promotes high-quality engineering practices and continuous improvement.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Foster a supportive, collaborative, and high-performance team environment that encourages open discussion, innovation, and accountability.
• Support the broader organization by prioritizing the success of the entire company, offering assistance to critical areas beyond your immediate team.
• Lead efforts to improve engineering quality, system performance, and operational standards across the platform.
• Mentor engineers, recognize their achievements, and support their professional development through coaching, feedback, and growth opportunities.
• Clearly communicate expectations, goals, and strategic direction to empower individuals and teams to operate independently and effectively.
• Define and maintain the scope of the team's responsibilities, including areas such as authentication, event architecture, user research, internal mobile tooling, app security, mobile FinOps, and cross-team repositories.
• Champion system reliability by proactively identifying and resolving issues related to scalability, security, and performance across the application and API stack.
• Ensure the consumer app platform is secure, cost-effective, and production-ready, with development tools that enable self-service, automation, and repeatable workflows.
• Oversee the team's exploration and adoption of AI technologies, ensuring platforms like Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP), Python, and Java remain at the forefront of industry standards.
• Serve as the main point of contact for internal partners such as Product, Design, Security, and Data Science, ensuring platform capabilities meet evolving business and technical needs.
• Participate in cross-functional planning, technical discussions, and long-term roadmap development to align platform evolution with company goals.
• Lead initiatives to improve system security, data privacy, and compliance standards, ensuring adherence to best practices and regulatory requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes, including code quality, testing, deployment, and monitoring practices.
• Collaborate with other engineering managers and leaders to share best practices, align strategies, and foster a culture of innovation and excellence.
• Support hiring efforts by participating in interviews, reviewing candidates, and helping build a diverse and talented team.
• Stay informed about industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices to keep the platform and team at the cutting edge.

Requirements

• At least 3 years of experience in engineering management, preferably in mobile or distributed API environments.
• Proven ability to scale teams, improve systems, and resolve ambiguity in complex technical environments.
• Strong technical background with recent hands-on experience in mobile and API development, including serverless, event-driven, REST, microservices, MVI, and Clean architecture patterns.
• Demonstrated success in leading cross-functional teams and managing multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to maintain clarity and alignment within teams during periods of rapid growth and change.
• Deep understanding of system security, reliability, and scalability best practices.
• Strong interest in integrating generative AI into workflows to improve delivery speed, quality, and developer productivity.
• Experience working with cloud infrastructure, preferably AWS, is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with analytical and SDLC tools such as Mixpanel and Runway is a plus.
• Ability to balance technical expertise with leadership, mentorship, and strategic planning.
• Passion for building scalable, secure, and maintainable systems that support business growth.

Nice to have

• Experience with AWS infrastructure and cloud services.
• Familiarity with analytical tools like Mixpanel and SDLC tools such as Runway.
• Knowledge of mobile development frameworks and best practices.
• Experience working in a fast-growing startup environment.
• Prior involvement in AI or machine learning initiatives within engineering teams.

Skills & tools

• Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP)
• Python
• Java
• AWS
• Mixpanel
• Runway
• Serverless architecture
• Event-driven architecture
• REST APIs
• Microservices
• MVI (Model-View-Intent)
• Clean architecture

Practical notes

• This is a hybrid role requiring in-office attendance on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at one of the specified locations.
• Benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage from day one, equity (ISOs), 401(k), family planning programs, paid parental leave, wellness memberships, mental health support, unlimited PTO, 10 paid federal holidays, an annual week-long Winter Break, flexible work environment, lunch reimbursement for in-office employees, and a learning and development stipend.
• Upside is committed to supporting candidates with disabilities or special needs during the application process; interested applicants can contact accommodations@upside.com for assistance.