Senior Manager, Software Engineering (Authentication)

Role Description

As Senior Manager, Software Engineering for Authentication, you will lead a critical part of Pindrop’s Passport platform. You will own the technical and people leadership for the teams building and operating the high-performance cloud services behind real-time voice authentication and identity verification. This role is centered on operational excellence, system stability, and strong engineering leadership in a high-stakes environment with strict latency and reliability expectations.

• Lead and develop engineering managers, senior engineers, and emerging technical leaders across the Authentication area, building strong ownership, healthy operating rhythms, and clear growth paths.
• Translate product and engineering strategy into a clear technical roadmap, execution plan, and operating model for Authentication.
• Improve the reliability, scalability, and operational health of cloud-native, API-based distributed systems that power customer-facing authentication journeys.
• Drive predictable, high-quality delivery across multiple concurrent initiatives by improving prioritization, planning, cross-team coordination, and execution discipline.
• Raise the bar on architecture, observability, testing, incident response, postmortems, and engineering standards across Authentication services.
• Partner closely with Product, Research, Security, Platform, and adjacent engineering teams to align roadmap priorities, technical investments, and customer outcomes.
• Own metrics that improve delivery health, system performance, team effectiveness, and on-call sustainability.
• Act as a senior technical escalation point during complex customer issues and production incidents, and drive durable follow-through after incidents occur.
• Guide how Authentication safely consumes and operationalizes AI/ML-backed trust signals, model outputs, and automation in production systems.
• Foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, learning, and calm execution under pressure.

Qualifications

• 8–12+ years of software engineering experience, including significant experience building and operating distributed backend systems and APIs in production.
• 3–5+ years of engineering leadership experience, including experience leading through managers and/or senior technical leads.
• Strong technical depth in cloud-native architecture, microservices, observability, CI/CD, and modern engineering practices across AWS and/or GCP.
• Proven experience improving reliability, execution, and engineering standards for customer-facing, high-availability systems.
• Hands-on background in backend technologies such as Go and/or Python, plus strong understanding of data stores and service design for low-latency systems.
• Strong cross-functional partnership skills, including experience working with Product, Security, Support, Customer Success, and other engineering teams.

Requirements

• Experience in authentication, identity, fraud prevention, risk engines, or other security-sensitive product domains.
• Familiarity with modern IAM concepts and standards such as OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, RBAC/ABAC, or related policy-driven access patterns.
• Experience partnering with Research, MLOps, or data teams to productionize model outputs, risk signals, or other AI/ML-enabled capabilities.
• Experience leading teams operating multi-cloud services with meaningful on-call responsibility and incident load.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation package, including RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) for all employees, so everyone shares in our long-term success.
• Remote-first environment - giving you flexibility and autonomy in how you structure your day.
• While we work flexibly, we prioritize meaningful in-person moments through regular team on-sites, company-wide events, and intentional gatherings that foster connection, collaboration, and shared success.
• Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)
• Generous health and welfare plans to choose from - including one employer-paid “employee-only” plan!
• Best-in-class Health Savings Account (HSA) employer contribution
• Low-cost vision and dental plans for you and your family, providing comprehensive coverage and peace of mind.
• Paid Parental Leave - Including birth, adoptive & foster parents
• One year of diaper delivery for your newest addition to the family!
• Recurring monthly phone and internet allowance to help cover essential connectivity costs and support flexible work.
• Enhanced fertility and GLP-1 benefits to support family-building journeys and personalized health needs.
• Annual Learning & Development stipend to support your professional growth, skill-building, certifications, and continued education.