Engineering Manager – Growth Foundations

About the Company

Payward, the parent company of Kraken and several other financial technology platforms, has built one of the most advanced and globally accessible financial infrastructure systems over the past 15 years, aiming to promote an open and global financial ecosystem. Founded in 2011, Kraken is a trusted cryptocurrency platform serving over 10 million users worldwide, offering spot trading, margin, futures, staking, and OTC services for individuals and institutions.

Team Overview

The Growth Foundations team develops the AI-powered Growth Engine, supporting various growth teams within the company. They create and maintain impactful AI-driven tools, automations, and infrastructure that enhance the company’s website, user communications, and marketing technology. Their products reach millions of users globally and directly influence Kraken’s growth and engagement.

Role Summary

As Engineering Manager for Growth Foundations, you will lead and nurture an engineering team responsible for delivering high-impact systems and features powering growth. You will align and enable your team to solve complex challenges with straightforward, scalable solutions that reach a global audience. This role requires balancing leadership duties with active hands-on development, contributing quality production code daily.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a cross-functional engineering team focused on critical growth systems and features.
• Collaborate closely with Product and Design teams to define project scopes, set priorities, and ensure smooth execution.
• Maintain project momentum through clear expectation setting, realistic timeline estimation, and transparent stakeholder communication.
• Provide technical guidance to aid engineers in architectural and implementation decisions.
• Foster a culture emphasizing accountability, trust, and continuous learning to increase team autonomy and impact.
• Enhance communication and collaboration processes, especially for distributed teams working across time zones.
• Partner with engineering leadership across the Growth organization to maintain consistent best practices.
• Utilize AI tools regularly to enhance both personal and team productivity.
• Remain hands-on by writing high-quality, reliable production code that sets a standard for the team.

Required Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience managing engineering teams and delivering high-quality software in collaborative settings.
• Strong leadership skills with a focus on coaching, providing clarity, and empowering team members.
• Solid technical expertise, particularly in backend development; able to engage deeply in design discussions and code reviews.
• Proven ability to contribute as an individual engineer writing production-ready code.
• Proficient in modern AI-driven development practices, leveraging AI daily to automate and boost productivity.
• Experience with one or more modern programming languages such as TypeScript, Rust, Go, or Python.
• Product-oriented mindset with an interest in how the team’s work affects users and key business metrics.
• Strong communication and organizational abilities capable of aligning engineering efforts with business goals.
• Experience working within distributed, remote-first teams.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in analytics, performance or paid marketing, experimentation, or growth-oriented tooling.
• Background working with developer experience, software development kits (SDKs), or internal platform development.
• Experience scaling teams or processes during rapid growth phases.

Leadership Approach

• Lead by providing context rather than exerting control, empowering engineers in decision-making.
• Coach primarily through curiosity to foster growth in judgment and autonomy.
• Maintain transparent communication to align engineering, product, and design teams.
• Model accountability and empathy to cultivate trust and shared goals.

Work Culture

Engineers are entrusted with ownership and expected to deliver quality work responsibly and swiftly. The company values frequent experimentation and continuous learning, basing improvements on data and user feedback. Collaboration occurs asynchronously across time zones, supported by clear communication and shared objectives.

Additional Information

Applications are accepted continuously unless an explicit deadline is specified. Applicants have the option to redact personal details such as age and educational dates on their resumes. The company evaluates candidates fairly regardless of criminal history in compliance with relevant regulations. Diversity and inclusion are fundamental values, and hiring decisions are merit-based, encouraging applicants who may not meet every requirement but are passionate about crypto to apply. Job-related assessments may be part of the hiring process but are only one component of evaluation. The employer prohibits any discrimination or harassment based on a wide range of protected characteristics.