Senior Manager Software Engineering

hackajob is collaborating with Verisk to connect them with exceptional professionals for this role.

Description

Are you a technology leader who thrives at the intersection of innovation, operational excellence, and AI-driven engineering? We are seeking a Senior Manager, Software Engineering to lead high-performing teams responsible for mission-critical, data-intensive platforms in a complex and highly regulated environment. In this role, you will empower engineers and technical leads to deliver scalable, resilient solutions while leveraging AI as a core component of the software development lifecycle. The ideal candidate is a force-multiplier leader who can translate ambiguity into clear direction, balance platform stability with delivery velocity, and foster a culture of accountability, autonomy, and continuous improvement across engineering, DevOps, product, and compliance teams.

Responsibilities

They are a force-multiplier development manager who:

• Leads engineering teams that have fully embraced AI tooling as a first-class part of the SDLC
• Stabilizes and scales complex, compliance-sensitive platforms
• Enables strong tech lead autonomy without losing accountability
• Translates ambiguous organizational intent into clear guardrails, priorities, and operating norms
• Drives delivery across product, engineering, DevOps, and compliance

Qualifications

Required Experience

• 8-12+ years in software engineering or systems development
• 5+ years leading complex delivery through other engineers (formal or informal leadership)
• Proven track record leading engineering teams that have fully leveraged AI tools (Copilot, Cursor, Claude, Kiro, etc.) as a first-class part of SDLC, with demonstrated productivity gains in code generation, code review, and testing
• Hands-on experience with large, high-transaction data systems, including RDBMS-centric architectures (Oracle strongly preferred)
• Proven exposure to:
  • Production change control
  • Incident response
  • Data integrity and operational risk
• Experience operating in regulated or audit-bound environments (SOC 2-like rigor is a strong positive)

Nice To Have

• Insurance, fintech, or government-adjacent systems
• Cloud + legacy hybrid environments
• Transitioning teams through role ambiguity and operating-model change
• Prior responsibility spanning engineering + DevOps + platform operations

Technical Skills

• Experience designing systems that fully exploit the benefits of AI, leveraging agentic workflows, AI orchestration, prompt and context engineering, RAG, and MCP
• Evaluate architectural tradeoffs objectively
• Ask the right technical questions of tech leads
• Understand database-centric performance and scalability drivers
• Participate meaningfully in risk, incident, and readiness discussions

Leadership Skills

• Actively hires and upskills talent to thrive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape, normalizing AI-assisted development as a baseline expectation
• Creates autonomy through clarity, not control
• Exercises strong judgment in delegation, intentionally deciding when to lead, when to empower, and when to step in
• Is comfortable with tech leads owning design and implementation while providing constraints, risk signals, and organizational context
• Can operate calmly when:
  • Expectations are misaligned
  • Authority boundaries are shifting
  • Organizational memory is inconsistent
• Actively coach and develop senior engineers
• Recognize burnout and sustainability risks early
• Be able to "manage up" without becoming adversarial
• Communicate candidly but with emotional intelligence

Operational Excellence

The candidate must excel at:

• Turning ambiguity into minimal, visible operating guideposts
• Maintaining forward motion when priorities compete
• Balancing long-term platform health against short-term delivery pressure
• Coordinating across product, DevOps, security, and compliance without creating friction