Platform Engineering Manager - Platform Testing

The Role We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead Cedar’s Platform Testing team. This team owns the systems, strategy, and developer experience that help Cedar ship high-quality software quickly and confidently. Cedar is moving toward a more service‑oriented architecture while software delivery is also changing rapidly. Code volume is increasing, LLM‑generated code is becoming more common, and system complexity is growing. Our testing strategy needs to evolve to meet that future. In this role, you will lead the transformation of Cedar’s testing ecosystem from a source of friction into a force multiplier for product stability and developer velocity. You will define and execute a strategy that helps engineers get faster, more meaningful feedback; reduces the cost and complexity of validation; and ensures our tests are clearly aligned to product capabilities and business outcomes. The first problems you will focus on include improving cost‑effective QA environments for internal partners, building a better testing strategy for service‑to‑service validation, and solving gaps in model settings and entitlements testing. Over time, you will help Cedar move toward a future where intelligent automation, LLM‑powered code review, and platform‑level validation reduce manual review bottlenecks and improve confidence at scale. This is a hands‑on leadership role. You will manage and grow a small team, work deeply with engineers, partner closely with stakeholders across Engineering, Product, Delivery, and Integrations, and help Cedar raise the bar for how we build and validate software. What You’ll Do Lead Cedar’s Platform Testing team, including strategy, execution, talent development, and stakeholder alignment. Develop and execute a testing platform roadmap that improves developer velocity, product reliability, and confidence in releases. Partner with Staff Engineers and Architects to implement testing strategies as we move toward service‑oriented architecture, including patterns for service‑to‑service validation, test environment strategy, and product‑aligned coverage. Improve the developer experience of testing by reducing slow feedback loops, lowering test environment friction, and making failures easier to understand and act on. Own and evolve internal QA environment strategy, including cost‑effective environments that support Delivery, Product, and Integrations partners during go‑lives. Drive solutions for testing model settings, entitlements, and other complex configuration‑driven behavior. Help reshape Cedar’s current testing approach into a deliberate strategy that balances unit, integration, end‑to‑end, contract, and environment‑based testing. Promote testing best practices across engineering through documentation, training, stakeholder engagement, and direct collaboration with product engineering teams. Partner with engineering leaders, architects, product teams, and internal customers to understand pain points and translate them into clear platform investments. Explore and apply LLM‑powered workflows for code review, test generation, validation, and quality automation. Manage and grow engineers on the team, including coaching, performance management, career development, and hiring. Create a culture of high ownership, technical excellence, pragmatic decision‑making, and continuous improvement. About You You have experience leading engineering teams that build developer platforms, testing infrastructure, CI/CD systems, internal tools, or reliability‑focused systems. You are a hands‑on engineering manager who can go deep with engineers, understand technical tradeoffs, and help teams make practical decisions. You have strong opinions about software quality, testing strategy, and how teams should validate complex systems at scale. Collaborate with platform engineering leadership and stakeholders and can work directly with them to understand problems, define priorities, and drive alignment. You are pragmatic and outcome‑oriented. You know when to build, when to simplify, when to down‑scope, and when a process or technical solution is not worth the cost. You are excited about the future of software development in an LLM‑driven world and have a point of view on how testing, review, and validation need to evolve. You are collaborative, curious, and respectful. You listen first, ask good questions, and build trust before driving change. You are not a pure process manager. You want to understand the details, diagnose problems, and help the team produce better technical outcomes. You have a track record of identifying problems, proposing solutions, and driving meaningful improvements across a team or organization. You enjoy teaching, coaching, and helping engineers adopt better practices. What We Look For 5+ years of software engineering experience, with meaningful exposure to testing, developer experience, infrastructure, CI/CD, or platform engineering. 2+ years of engineering management or technical leadership experience. Experience building or operating systems that support software delivery, such as CI pipelines, test infrastructure, release tooling, internal platforms, or developer productivity systems. Strong technical judgment and the ability to evaluate tradeoffs across reliability, cost, developer experience, and delivery speed. Experience working with cross‑functional stakeholders and translating ambiguous needs into concrete plans. Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to write strategy documents, project proposals, and clear technical guidance. Experience developing engineers through coaching, feedback, delegation, and career development. A bias toward action and ownership in complex, evolving environments. Bonus Points Experience with service‑oriented architecture, contract testing, integration testing, or distributed systems validation. Experience with Python, Django, Go, Kotlin, or large monorepos. Experience with GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or other CI/CD systems. Experience with AWS, containers, Kubernetes, or cloud‑based test environments. Experience building internal platforms or self‑service tooling for engineers. Experience applying LLMs or AI‑assisted workflows to software development, testing, review, or developer productivity. Experience in healthcare, fintech, or another regulated domain where reliability and correctness matter. Experience leading talks, workshops, focus groups, or internal training programs. What Success Looks Like In the first year, you will have developed a clear roadmap and strategy for Platform Testing, built strong alignment with stakeholders, grown talent on the team, and filled key team gaps through internal development or hiring. In the first six months, you will have made meaningful progress on three critical problems: Cost‑effective QA environments that support Delivery, Product, and Integrations partners with a user‑friendly setup process. A testing pipeline and management approach for model settings and entitlements. A cohesive strategy for testing services as Cedar moves further into service‑oriented architecture. Longer term, success means Cedar’s engineers ship faster with higher confidence, our validation strategy scales with system complexity, and Platform Testing becomes a critical enabler of Cedar’s reliability and competitive advantage. Compensation Range and Benefits Salary Range: $195,000 - $230,000 This role is equity eligible. This role offers a competitive benefits and wellness package. *Subject to location, experience, and education. Benefits Overview Unlimited PTO for vacation, sick and mental health days. 16 weeks paid parental leave with health benefits for all parents, plus flexible re‑entry schedules. Diversity initiatives encouraging inclusion with employee resource groups. Competitive pay, stock options (for qualifying roles), and health benefits starting on your first day. 401(k) plan with 3% employer contribution. Access to mentorship, coaching, and a stipend for learning and development resources. #J-18808-Ljbffr Cedar