Manager of the Technical Staff - Next.js
Hands-on technical leader for the Next.js team, combining framework engineering with focused people leadership. The role requires 8+ years of software engineering experience, strong React and systems judgment, and experience leading engineers while remaining close to production code.
About the job
Responsibilities
- Build and ship Next.js by writing production code, reviewing pull requests, debugging complex issues, and contributing to the framework and supporting systems.
- Lead major technical initiatives from exploration through architecture, implementation, rollout, and production follow-through.
- Set technical direction across rendering, caching, routing, build systems, runtime behavior, and developer tooling.
- Investigate performance regressions, production failures, and developer pain points, turning findings into framework improvements.
- Establish strong practices for code quality, testing, performance, reliability, observability, and incremental delivery.
- Coach engineers through pairing, design reviews, code reviews, technical feedback, and shared ownership.
- Set expectations, provide feedback, support career development, and maintain a high-trust, accountable team.
- Improve planning and decision-making practices to clarify ownership and help the team ship consistently.
- Partner with Product, Design, Infrastructure, Developer Experience, and other engineering teams.
- Engage with open-source contributors and balance community needs with product and technical priorities.
- Participate in recruiting, assess technical talent, and help new engineers become productive.
Requirements
- 8+ years of software engineering experience with continued effectiveness as a hands-on engineer.
- Experience leading engineers or small technical teams as a team lead, tech lead, staff engineer, engineering manager, or founder.
- Recent experience writing, reviewing, and shipping production code.
- Strong technical judgment across React, framework architecture, or systems behind large-scale open-source projects, including rendering, caching, routing, build tooling, and runtime behavior.
- Ability to lead complex technical problem-solving, write critical code, and bring other engineers along.
- Experience building products or infrastructure for developers.
- Systems thinking and the ability to guide clean abstractions and scalable technical decisions.
- Comfort working through ambiguity and solving problems from first principles.
- Clear written communication and the ability to facilitate technical debate and make decisions.
- Experience using AI tools in an engineering workflow and informed opinions about agentic developer products.
Nice-to-haves
- Experience maintaining or contributing to a major open-source project, particularly in the React or Next.js ecosystem.
- Experience with compilers, bundlers, caching, rendering systems, or distributed infrastructure.
- Experience leading a small, senior engineering team while making substantial individual contributions.
- Experience forming a team or technical direction from zero to one.
- Familiarity with the Next.js codebase.
Compensation and Benefits
- San Francisco, CA base pay range: $230,000–$340,000.
- Competitive compensation package, including equity.
- Inclusive healthcare package.
- Learning and growth support, including mentorship and event opportunities.
- Flexible time off.
- Equipment and a work-from-home budget.
- Compensation outside San Francisco may be adjusted based on employee location.
- Total compensation may include benefits, equity-based compensation, and eligibility for a company bonus or variable pay program.
Skills
Next.js, React, JavaScript, Rendering, Caching, Routing, Build Systems, Developer Tooling, Open Source, Distributed Infrastructure
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