Senior Manager, Software Engineering (Authentication)
What you’ll do
As Senior Manager, Software Engineering for Authentication, you will lead a critical part of Pindrop’s Passport platform. You will own the technical and people leadership for the teams building and operating the high-performance cloud services behind real-time voice authentication and identity verification. This role is centered on operational excellence, system stability, and strong engineering leadership in a high-stakes environment with strict latency and reliability expectations.
More specifically, you will:
Lead and develop engineering managers, senior engineers, and emerging technical leaders across the Authentication area, building strong ownership, healthy operating rhythms, and clear growth paths.
Translate product and engineering strategy into a clear technical roadmap, execution plan, and operating model for Authentication.
Improve the reliability, scalability, and operational health of cloud-native, API-based distributed systems that power customer-facing authentication journeys.
Drive predictable, high-quality delivery across multiple concurrent initiatives by improving prioritization, planning, cross-team coordination, and execution discipline.
Raise the bar on architecture, observability, testing, incident response, postmortems, and engineering standards across Authentication services.
Partner closely with Product, Research, Security, Platform, and adjacent engineering teams to align roadmap priorities, technical investments, and customer outcomes.
Own metrics that improve delivery health, system performance, team effectiveness, and on-call sustainability.
Act as a senior technical escalation point during complex customer issues and production incidents, and drive durable follow-through after incidents occur.
Guide how Authentication safely consumes and operationalizes AI/ML-backed trust signals, model outputs, and automation in production systems.
Foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, learning, and calm execution under pressure.
Who you are
You are strategically minded and know how to turn complex technical and business goals into clear, executable plans.
You are a relationship-driven engineering leader who builds trust across teams and keeps people aligned through ambiguity and change.
You are technically credible and stay close enough to architecture, delivery, and operations to make strong decisions and coach others effectively.
You care deeply about engineering quality, team health, operational resilience, and creating an environment where people can do their best work.
You are calm, structured, and accountable in high-pressure situations, especially when customer-facing systems are under stress.
You are thoughtful about using AI as a force multiplier, while applying strong judgment, validation, and human oversight.
Your skill-set
Must-haves:
8–12+ years of software engineering experience, including significant experience building and operating distributed backend systems and APIs in production.
3–5+ years of engineering leadership experience, including experience leading through managers and/or senior technical leads.
Strong technical depth in cloud-native architecture, microservices, observability, CI/CD, and modern engineering practices across AWS and/or GCP.
Proven experience improving reliability, execution, and engineering standards for customer-facing, high-availability systems.
Hands-on background in backend technologies such as Go and/or Python, plus strong understanding of data stores and service design for low-latency systems.
Strong cross-functional partnership skills, including experience working with Product, Security, Support, Customer Success, and other engineering teams.
Nice-to-haves:
Experience in authentication, identity, fraud prevention, risk engines, or other security-sensitive product domains.
Familiarity with modern IAM concepts and standards such as OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML, RBAC/ABAC, or related policy-driven access patterns.
Experience partnering with Research, MLOps, or data teams to productionize model outputs, risk signals, or other AI/ML-enabled capabilities.
Experience leading teams operating multi-cloud services with meaningful on-call responsibility and incident load.
What’s in it for you
This is a high-impact opportunity to lead systems that matter at the center of how Pindrop verifies identity and protects high-stakes customer interactions in real time. You will help shape a critical engineering area where reliability, trust, customer experience, and AI-driven innovation all intersect. You will partner with strong product, research, and engineering peers while influencing both near-term execution and longer-term technical direction. If you want to lead a team working on hard distributed-systems problems in a space evolving quickly under the pressure of adversarial AI, this is that opportunity.
What we offer (US ONLY)
As a part of Pindrop, you’ll have a direct impact on our growing list of products and the future of security in the voice-driven economy. We hire great people and take care of them. Here’s a snapshot of the benefits we offer:
Competitive compensation package, including RSUs (Restricted Stock Units) for all employees, so everyone shares in our long-term success.
Remote-first environment - giving you flexibility and autonomy in how you structure your day.
While we work flexibly, we prioritize meaningful in-person moments through regular team on-sites, company-wide events, and intentional gatherings that foster connection, collaboration, and shared success.
Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO)
Generous health and welfare plans to choose from - including one employer-paid “employee-only” plan!
Best-in-class Health Savings Account (HSA) employer contribution
Low-cost vision and dental plans for you and your family, providing comprehensive coverage and peace of mind.
Paid Parental Leave - Including birth, adoptive & foster parents
One year of diaper delivery for your newest addition to the family!
It’s our way of welcoming new Pindroplets to the family!
Recurring monthly phone and internet allowance to help cover essential connectivity costs and support flexible work.
Enhanced fertility and GLP-1 benefits to support family-building journeys and personalized health needs.
Annual Learning & Development stipend to support your professional growth, skill-building, certifications, and continued education.
#LI-Remote #LI-HB1
Please note that the base pay range is a general guideline only. Pindrop considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, a candidate's work experience, education/training, and key skills, as well as market and business considerations, when extending an offer. This position is eligible for additional compensation in the form of an annual discretionary bonus.
US Base Pay Range
$195,000—$235,000 USD