API Engineering Manager

What We Do: At Brightwell, we’re using technology to make global money movement faster, safer, and more accessible. Our platform simplifies cross-border payments by navigating complex regulatory environments with elegant, secure solutions. We’re on a mission to make remittances seamless for businesses and individuals around the world, and we’re looking for bold thinkers to help us get there. Under the hood, that means building systems for multi-corridor payment routing, partner integrations across different financial networks, and real-time compliance and fraud detection, with the kind of reliability requirements that come with moving people’s money. Who We Need: We’re looking for an API Engineering Manager to lead one of our API teams responsible for building and maintaining the services that power Brightwell’s payment platform. Your team owns core services that enable cross-border payments and partner-facing integrations that connect our platform to the broader financial ecosystem. You’ll guide your team to deliver reliable, high-performance APIs while driving improvements in architecture, developer experience, and engineering practices. This is a hands-on manager role with a true 50/50 split. Half your time writing and reviewing C#/.NET code, half leading your team and shaping the process. This is a REMOTE position, based in the U.S., with preference for candidates local to the Atlanta, GA area. Quarterly travel to Atlanta will be required. Eligible states of residence: FL, GA, IL, TX What You’ll Do: Hands-On Technical Work (50%): Write, review, and ship production C# and .NET code daily. This is not a “review from the sideline” role; you’re in the codebase alongside your team. Lead the adoption of AI-assisted development workflows (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.), coaching your team on effective use while establishing quality gates for AI-generated code through rigorous planning and review. Own the technical direction for your team’s domain within Brightwell’s API platform, partnering closely with the peer API Engineering Manager to ensure alignment and consistency across both API teams. Drive API architecture decisions including patterns for versioning, error handling, authentication, and scalability. Lead incident response and resolution for critical API and integration issues. Dive deep into the product with the team to gain a thorough understanding of the platform and the underlying technology. People & Process Management (50%): Lead a team of 4 engineers developing API solutions in C#, ASP.NET Core, and Azure. Partner with Product and other Engineering Managers to align priorities, coordinate dependencies, and deliver projects on time, identifying risks early and making pragmatic trade-offs to keep your team focused. Conduct 1-on-1s, performance reviews, and career development planning. Identify and implement improvements in engineering processes, tools, and architecture to enable delivery on key initiatives. Grow your team’s capabilities through hands-on mentoring, code-level coaching, and clear engineering standards. What We’re Looking For: Required: 7+ years of experience in software engineering, including hands-on coding experience and architectural design. 2+ years of experience managing distributed software engineering teams. Strong C# and .NET experience, including ASP.NET Core Web APIs. Experience with relational databases and Entity Framework (PostgreSQL or equivalent). Strong Azure experience (Functions, Queues, Event Hub, Service Bus, App Services, and related services). Proven ability to deliver complex projects spanning months of development. Experience coaching and mentoring individuals at various levels of experience, from leaders to individual contributors. Comfortable moving between a 1-on-1 conversation and a pull request review in the same hour while doing both well. Experience leveraging modern AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate engineering workflows and improve team productivity. Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills. Nice to Have: Fintech or regulated industry experience (SOC 2, PCI, cross-border payments). Experience designing and maintaining partner-facing APIs and integration patterns. Experience with event-driven architectures and messaging systems. CI/CD expertise with Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or similar. What You’ll Get: A role where you actually code. Most EM positions say “hands-on” and mean “you’ll review PRs sometimes.” We mean 50%. A peer EM structure that gives you a real partner, not a hierarchy to navigate. Two API teams, aligned on direction, each with autonomy. A team that’s already leaning into AI-assisted development. You’ll help define what that looks like at scale, not fight to get buy-in. Direct access to engineering leadership and real input into platform strategy. Small company, short feedback loops. Remote work with benefits: medical, dental, vision, 401(k), paid parental leave, and PTO. What Success Looks Like: First 30 days: You’ve shipped your first PR, built context on the platform and codebase, and started building trust with your team and the peer API EM. First 90 days: You own your team’s roadmap. You’ve identified the highest-leverage improvements and started delivering on them. Your team knows where they’re headed and why. First year: API reliability and developer experience are measurably better. Your team is shipping faster and with more confidence. You and the peer EM have a shared API strategy that the rest of engineering trusts. Why Brightwell? Empowered Work: Own your work and grow your career with real autonomy. Flex Friendly Culture: Enjoy flexibility with support for remote work and periodic team meetups. Startup Energy, Global Impact: Join a passionate team building mission-critical tools for people around the world. Great Benefits: Medical, dental, vision, disability, 401(k), paid parental leave, PTO, and more. Supportive Environment: Thrive in a collaborative, inclusive workplace that values innovation and continuous learning. Brightwell is an equal opportunity employer (EOE) committed to employing a diverse workforce and sustaining an inclusive culture.