Senior Engineering Manager, Platform

About RipplingRippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds.Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes.We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.About the roleRippling brings together the systems businesses use to manage their people, payroll, and operations. Behind that experience is a platform that allows teams to model complex data, connect it across products, and build applications that adapt to how each business works.We’re looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to help shape that foundation. You’ll lead engineers working on capabilities that many teams depend on, from shared data and query systems to the tools used to build and customize applications. This is a role for someone who enjoys turning hard technical problems into simple, reliable building blocks—and helping a strong team do the best work of their careers.What you will doLead and grow a team responsible for Rippling's core cloud infrastructure and production platformDefine the long-term strategy for infrastructure scalability, reliability, and operational excellenceOwn Kubernetes platform architecture, cluster management, and production infrastructure lifecycleDrive infrastructure automation through Infrastructure as Code and platform self-service capabilitiesEstablish best practices around observability, monitoring, incident response, and disaster recoveryPartner with engineering teams to improve system reliability, deployment safety, and operational efficiencyLead large-scale infrastructure initiatives spanning multiple engineering organizationsDevelop and mentor engineers while maintaining a strong culture of ownership and technical excellenceDrive improvements in cost efficiency, capacity planning, and cloud resource managementWhat you will need8+ years of software engineering experience, including significant work on platform, data, backend, or distributed systems.4+ years of engineering management experience leading teams that build and operate production systems.Strong technical depth in system design, data modeling, APIs, and scalable service architecture.Experience building shared platforms or infrastructure adopted by multiple products or engineering teams.The ability to engage deeply in technical design, evaluate tradeoffs, and guide engineers through difficult implementation decisions.Experience leading systems through growth, including changes to performance, reliability, and data architecture.A track record of developing senior engineers and helping them grow into broader technical leadership.Strong cross-functional leadership and communication skills, with the ability to bring clarity to ambiguous, high-impact problems.Additional InformationRippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics, Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email View email address on click.appcast.io highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.A variety of factors are considered when determining someone’s compensation–including a candidate’s professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.