About the Role Ontra is seeking a Software Engineering Manager reporting to our Director, Engineering. We're looking for someone excited to lead a product engineering team, drive technical excellence in software development, and craft innovative solutions to diverse technical challenges, from consumer-facing features to internal scaling, and help level up our product. Join us in shaping the software development culture at Ontra by establishing best practices and collaborating with engineering leaders. If you are a dynamic leader with a proven track record of providing technical leadership on team projects and facilitating process and cultural change across engineering organizations, we'd love to get to know you. You possess strong organizational and planning skills, excel in strategic thinking and problem solving, and communicate effectively both verbally and in writing. As someone who thrives in both team player and leadership roles, you also have a passion for mentoring fellow team members. To foster team connection and collaboration, this role requires being present in either our Santa Barbara or San Francisco office once per quarter for team meetings and off-sites. As such, we are only considering candidates who are currently based in California. What You'll Do * Team Management: Oversee and lead a team, ensuring smooth operation of the technical aspects of software development at the team level. * Solution Implementation: Plan, design, lead, and implement solutions for various technical challenges, addressing both consumer-facing features and internal scalability. * Cultural Development: Shape and influence the software development culture at Ontra by collaborating with engineering managers and directors to set best practices across the organization. * Stakeholder Alignment: Dedicate 60% of efforts to management, planning, and aligning with stakeholders to ensure project goals and deliverables are met effectively. * Individual Contributions: Allocate 40% of time to direct individual contributions, working hands-on in the development process to drive project success. What You'll Bring * Experience: 7+ years in software engineering and 2+ years as an engineering manager, demonstrating a strong foundation in both technical and leadership responsibilities. * Technical Leadership: Proven ability to ideate and perform discovery with Product and UX teams to deliver high-impact solutions, align teams to deliver business value swiftly, and architect scalable solutions. * Organizational Impact: History of identifying and addressing weaknesses in engineering processes across the organization. Experience in articulating process improvements and collaborating with other managers to implement solutions adopted by all teams. * Management Skills: Capable of managing a team effectively, motivating high performers, and addressing low performers. * LLM Familiarity: Must have familiarity with coding assistant LLMs such as CoPilot or Cursor, preferably with experience in integrating LLMs for data extraction and summarization solutions.