Engineering Manager, Cloud Backend - AI Detection and Response (AIDR) (Hybrid) (Richmond)

As a global leader in cybersecurity, CrowdStrike protects the people, processes and technologies that drive modern organizations. Since 2011, our mission hasn't changed - we're here to stop breaches, and we've redefined modern security with the world's most advanced AI-native platform. We work on large scale distributed systems, processing almost 3 trillion events per day and this traffic is growing daily. Our customers span all industries, and they count on CrowdStrike to keep their businesses running, their communities safe and their lives moving forward. We're proud to work for a mission-driven company leveraging AI to transform the way we work. CrowdStrikers drive their careers through flexibility and autonomy while also being expected to contribute to a culture of responsible AI adoption, experimentation, and innovation. We use an AI-first mindset as a force multiplier to proactively and continuously accelerate execution, build expertise, uncover insights, and solve complex problems. We're always looking to add talented CrowdStrikers to the team who have limitless passion, a relentless focus on innovation and a fanatical commitment to our customers, our community and each other. Ready to join a mission that matters? The future of cybersecurity starts with you.

About the Role:

CrowdStrike is seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead a cloud backend team within our AI Detection and Response (AIDR) group. In this role, you will lead a team of talented engineers responsible for building and operating the next generation of AIDR provisioning and orchestration systems. When customers onboard to the AIDR platform, your team ensures they become operational seamlessly - from initializing customer stores and configuring security policies, to setting up management groups, provisioning data stores, and enabling configuration across dependent services. Your team manages the automation of this complex orchestration to deliver a frictionless customer experience at massive scale.

You'll play a critical role in enhancing existing provisioning flows and architecting next-generation systems that support millions of AI security events per second across petabytes of critical data. This is a player-coach role - while your primary focus is leading and growing your team, you will also contribute code, prototype solutions, and stay deeply embedded in the technical work when needed. This is an opportunity to lead at the intersection of people leadership and technical excellence, building both high-performing teams and high-performing systems that protect organizations worldwide from sophisticated AI-based threats.

PLEASE NOTE: This role is hybrid, requiring 2-3 days per week on-site at one of the posted locations.

Success Means:

• Building and leading a high-performing engineering team that delivers with velocity while maintaining the highest standards of quality, security, and reliability

• Architecting and driving the evolution of provisioning and orchestration systems that scale seamlessly as AIDR's customer base grows

• Driving operational excellence through proactive system improvements, robust monitoring, and rapid incident resolution

• Fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, continuous learning, and engineering excellence

• Partnering effectively with product management, peer engineering teams, and cross-functional stakeholders to align on priorities and deliver business outcomes

• Attracting, developing, and retaining top engineering talent
  

What You'll Do:

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of backend engineers building cloud-native provisioning and orchestration services for the AIDR platform

• Own the technical vision and roadmap for customer lifecycle management - onboarding, provisioning, configuration, and orchestration across dependent services

• Drive architectural decisions for highly scalable, reliable, and secure distributed systems

• Contribute directly to the codebase as needed - whether unblocking critical deliverables, prototyping new approaches, fixing production issues, or filling gaps during team scaling (expect ~20-30% hands-on coding depending on team needs)

• Partner with product management to translate business requirements into technical strategy and execution plans

• Establish and maintain engineering best practices including code reviews, testing strategies, CI/CD, and operational runbooks

• Manage team capacity, sprint planning, and delivery commitments while balancing technical debt and innovation

• Drive operational excellence - own service reliability, incident response, root cause analysis, and preventive measures for your team's services

• Collaborate with peer engineering managers and architects across CrowdStrike to ensure seamless integration with the broader Falcon ecosystem

• Recruit, hire, and onboard top engineering talent; conduct performance reviews and support career development

• Remove blockers, shield the team from distractions, and create an environment where engineers do their best work

• Participate actively in design reviews and code reviews, providing meaningful technical guidance and making informed architectural trade-offs

What You'll Need:

• 10+ years of software development experience building enterprise-grade cloud products, with at least 3+ years in an engineering management role leading backend teams

• Strong hands-on coding ability - you can still write production-quality code and are willing to do so when the team needs it

• Proven experience building and leading teams that develop microservices running in cloud-native environments at scale

• Strong technical foundation in distributed systems, cloud architectures, and microservices patterns

• Deep understanding of customer provisioning, orchestration, and lifecycle management systems

• Experience with at least one cloud-native programming language: Go, Python, or Java (Go preferred)

Familiarity with:

• Cloud architectures and microservices

• Web Services: REST, gRPC, Protocol Buffers, or similar API technologies

• Data storage systems: PostgreSQL, Redis, Cassandra, or similar databases

• Container technologies: Docker, Kubernetes, or similar orchestration platforms

• Message/event systems: Kafka, Pulsar, or similar

• Proven track record of deploying and operating services in cloud environments (AWS/GCP/OCI/Azure)

• Experience managing service reliability, on-call rotations, and incident response processes

• Strong people leadership skills - demonstrated ability to hire, develop, and retain high-performing engineers

• Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders

• Experience with Agile/Scrum methodologies and delivery management

• Proven experience utilizing AI technologies to enhance decision-making, streamline workflows and processes, improve efficiency, and drive business outcomes

Bonus Points:

• Previous experience in cybersecurity companies or security-focused products

• Deep understanding of AI/ML security challenges, threats, and mitigation strategies

• Experience building customer onboarding, provisioning, or multi-tenant orchestration systems at scale

• Experience managing teams that own platform/infrastructure services consumed by multiple product teams

• Hands-on experience with Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and/or Microsoft Azure

• Experience with real-time data processing systems (Kafka, Pulsar)

• Familiarity with MS CoPilot Ecosystem and MS Agent Studio

• Golang experience

• Experience leading teams through major system migrations or re-architecture efforts

• Track record of building engineering culture and processes from the ground up

• Contributions to open source libraries and/or frameworks

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Benefits of Working at CrowdStrike:

• Market leader in compensation and equity awards

• Comprehensive physical and mental wellness programs

• Competitive vacation and holidays for recharge

• Paid parental and adoption leaves

• Professional development opportunities for all employees regardless of level or role

• Employee Networks, geographic neighborhood groups, and volunteer opportunities to build connections

• Vibrant office culture with world class amenities

• Great Place to Work Certified across the globe

CrowdStrike is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering a culture of belonging where everyone is valued for who they are and empowered to succeed. We support veterans and individuals with disabilities through our affirmative action program.

CrowdStrike is committed to providing equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment. The Company does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, creed, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy or pregnancy-related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or family status, veteran status, age, nati]]> <