Senior Engineering Manager - Payroll Calculation

What you will do

• Execute and Unblock: Own the delivery of a critical migration to move all US payroll customers onto our global payroll framework. You will manage the roadmap, clear obstacles, and drive the project to completion against a high-priority deadline.
• Be involved technically: Rippling is growing fast and pushes new frontiers. You will own a critical engine that can significantly accelerate this growth (or become a friction for it). A strong technical foundation is the key to balance fast growth and operational success.
• Lead and Motivate: Guide a team of engineers through a period of high operational load, managing on-call escalations, incidents, and a high volume of support while maintaining team morale and focus.
• Build and Scale the Team: Grow and mentor a high-performing team. You will be responsible for hiring, career development, and fostering a culture of ownership, technical excellence, and resilience.
• Partner on Strategy: Work closely with Product Management to define the long-term roadmap. After the migration, you will shift focus to clearing our feature backlog and building the capabilities to land larger up-market deals.
• Drive Technical Excellence: Lead the team in reshaping our codebase for the future. You'll make strategic decisions on how to refactor our legacy systems and build scalable, extensible architecture that can handle 100x growth.
• Collaborate and Influence: Serve as the key technical leader for US payroll, educating and influencing cross-functional teams and stakeholders to solve problems of scale related to code, process, and product.

What you will need

• Experience: 6+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 2+ years in an engineering management role leading backend or platform teams.
• Technical Depth: A strong technical background in building and maintaining large-scale, distributed systems. You are comfortable guiding technical discussions, contributing to architecture, and managing technical debt.
• Proven Execution: A track record of leading and motivating a team to deliver complex, high-pressure projects on a timeline.
• Resilience and Leadership: Experience managing competing priorities, on-call escalations, and incidents. You are a leader who can keep a team motivated and focused during challenging periods.
• Strategic Partnership: A keen product sense and the ability to partner closely with product managers to balance short-term execution with long-term strategic goals.