Engineering Manager - Supplier Products
Engineering Manager · Manager · Full Time
Opens Plaid's application page
Role
What you'll do.
Lead a high-performing team of 6 engineers at Plaid's Supplier Products division, where you'll drive the strategic vision for trusted financial experiences serving thousands of financial institutions. This role combines hands-on technical leadership with people management, requiring deep expertise in scalable architecture design and a proven track record of building world-class engineering teams in the fintech ecosystem.
Responsibilities
- Team Leadership and Development: Lead a team of 6 engineers ranging from mid-level to Staff-level, providing clear goal setting, regular coaching, and constructive feedback. Establish individual development plans, identify high-potential team members for growth opportunities, and foster a culture of continuous learning and technical excellence within the engineering organization.
- Strategic Vision and Roadmap Definition: Define and drive the long-term technical strategy for the Supplier Products focus area in close partnership with product, executive, and technical leadership across Plaid. Translate business objectives into engineering initiatives, prioritize high-impact features, and ensure alignment with the broader platform architecture supporting 12,000 financial institutions.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration and Execution: Collaborate with product managers, designers, and stakeholders to identify high-leverage opportunities and shape the product roadmap. Dive deep into technical design decisions, code reviews, and implementation details to ensure consistent delivery of business-critical outcomes while maintaining engineering velocity and quality standards.
- Technical Quality and Standards: Uphold a high bar for technical quality, code maintainability, and system reliability. Lead by example through hands-on technical contributions, architectural reviews, and best practices implementation. Establish and enforce scalability standards, performance benchmarks, and security protocols across the team's deliverables.
- Performance Management and Hiring: Drive recruitment efforts to attract top engineering talent, conduct technical interviews, and scale the team as needed. Manage performance expectations, conduct regular 1-on-1s, provide career guidance, and make personnel decisions that strengthen team dynamics and engineering capability.
Qualifications
What we look for.
Technical
Scalable Architecture Design
Deep hands-on experience designing and building reliable, scalable systems that support production-grade products at significant scale. Understanding of distributed systems, microservices architectures, database design, and performance optimization.
System Reliability and Operations
Expertise in building systems for reliability, resilience, and high availability. Understanding of monitoring, observability, incident response, and operational excellence principles for mission-critical financial infrastructure.
API Design and Integration
Expertise designing and implementing robust APIs that other platforms and applications depend on. Experience with RESTful design, API versioning strategies, backward compatibility, and managing third-party integrations.
Data Architecture and Privacy
Understanding of secure data handling, encryption protocols, and privacy-preserving system design. Experience with compliance frameworks relevant to financial data (PCI-DSS, GDPR, SOC 2, etc.) and data governance principles.
Education
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Related Field
Formal computer science, software engineering, or equivalent technical education. Alternatively, candidates with equivalent professional experience and demonstrated technical depth through portfolio or projects may be considered.
Experience
8+ Years Industry Experience
Demonstrated success across multiple roles and projects in software engineering, with proven ability to make an impact at scale. Experience should demonstrate progression through individual contributor levels, culminating in Staff-level engineering expertise before transitioning to management.
Staff-Level Technical Background
Deep technical expertise as a Staff-level engineer, demonstrating mastery in system design, architecture decisions, and mentoring junior engineers. This foundation enables effective technical leadership and credibility when evaluating engineering decisions and architectural trade-offs.
1+ Years of Engineering Management
Proven management experience including hiring, coaching, performance management, and team building. Experience managing engineers across multiple levels and navigating people-related challenges demonstrates readiness for managing diverse skill levels including mid-level and Staff engineers.
Fintech or Financial Systems Experience
Preferred background working on fintech products, financial infrastructure, or systems handling sensitive financial data. Understanding of compliance requirements, data security, and financial system reliability is valuable in the Plaid ecosystem.
Track Record of High-Performing Teams
Demonstrated success either as an engineer or manager in building, growing, and retaining high-performing engineering teams. Evidence of fostering cultures of technical excellence, continuous improvement, and accountability.
Skills
Required
Technical Leadership
Ability to lead by example, make sound architectural decisions, and guide teams through complex technical challenges. Skills in code review, mentoring, and establishing technical standards.
People Management
Expertise in hiring, coaching, feedback delivery, and performance management. Capability to develop team members, navigate interpersonal dynamics, and create psychologically safe environments for growth.
Strategic Thinking
Ability to think long-term, translate business goals into technical strategy, and balance short-term delivery with architectural investments. Skills in roadmap planning, prioritization, and business acumen.
Communication and Collaboration
Strong written and verbal communication skills for conveying complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. Ability to collaborate effectively across product, design, and business teams.
Ownership and Accountability
Demonstrated track record of taking ownership of outcomes, driving initiatives to completion, and maintaining high standards for quality and delivery. Comfort with ambiguity and ability to navigate trade-offs.
Preferred
Open Finance or Banking Domain Knowledge
Nice to haveBackground in fintech, banking infrastructure, or open banking initiatives. Understanding of financial data flows, regulatory landscapes, and unique challenges in connecting financial systems.
Experience with Developer Platforms
Nice to haveBackground building or managing platforms that thousands of developers depend on. Experience designing SDKs, documentation, and developer experience that prioritizes ease of integration.
Cross-Border or International Systems
Nice to haveExperience managing systems serving multiple regions or countries with different compliance requirements. Understanding of localization, regulatory variation, and managing complexity across geographies.
High-Scale Infrastructure
Nice to haveExperience with systems handling millions of requests or complex financial transactions. Familiarity with cloud infrastructure, containerization, and orchestration technologies at scale.
Mentoring Staff Engineers
Nice to haveTrack record of coaching engineers toward Staff-level impact. Experience creating growth trajectories for senior engineers and enabling them to drive architectural initiatives.
Tech stack
Languages
Frameworks
Databases
Tools
Other
Compensation
Pay and benefits.
Base·USD 216,000 – 219,000
Equity·Stock options
Benefits
Comprehensive Health Coverage
Medical, dental, and vision insurance plans with competitive premiums and coverage options for you and your family.
Retirement Planning
401(k) plan with potential company matching, enabling long-term financial security and retirement savings benefits.
Equity and Stock Options
Participation in Plaid's growth through equity grants and stock options, providing upside potential as a privately-held company.
Flexible Work Environment
Access to Plaid's offices in San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C., London, and Amsterdam with flexibility on work arrangements.
Professional Development
Investment in engineering growth, learning opportunities, and leadership development programs to advance your career trajectory.
Time Off and Work-Life Balance
Generous paid time off, vacation policies, and parental leave to maintain well-being and personal priorities.
Process
Interview steps.
- 01
Recruiter Phone Screen
Initial conversation with Plaid's recruiting team to discuss your background, experience, and fit for the Engineering Manager role. Expected duration: 30 minutes. Topics include your management philosophy, technical background, and interest in fintech.
- 02
Hiring Manager Technical Conversation
Deep-dive discussion with the hiring manager and potentially the VP of Engineering about your leadership approach, architectural thinking, and experience building and scaling teams. Discussion of specific examples of technical decisions and team management. Expected duration: 60 minutes.
- 03
Technical Leadership Interview
Conversation with senior engineers or principal architects about your approach to technical strategy, system design, and handling complex architectural trade-offs. May include discussion of past projects, design decisions, and how you guide technical teams. Expected duration: 60 minutes.
- 04
Team Collaboration Interview
Round with cross-functional partners including product managers or stakeholders to assess collaboration style, communication, and ability to work across teams. Discussion of partnership models and handling conflicting priorities. Expected duration: 45 minutes.
- 05
Executive Leadership Interview
Final round with director or VP-level leadership to evaluate strategic thinking, business acumen, and cultural fit with Plaid's mission. Discussion of long-term vision for the role and team. Expected duration: 45 minutes.
Full posting
Original listing.
We believe that the way people interact with their finances will drastically improve in the next few years. We’re dedicated to empowering this transformation by building the tools and experiences that thousands of developers use to create their own products. Plaid powers the tools millions of people rely on to live a healthier financial life. We work with thousands of companies like Venmo, SoFi, several of the Fortune 500, and many of the largest banks to make it easy for people to connect their financial accounts to the apps and services they want to use. Plaid’s network covers 12,000 financial institutions across the US, Canada, UK and Europe. Founded in 2013, the company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Washington D.C., London and Amsterdam.
Plaid’s Product team builds the network that powers open finance. At Supplier Products, we focus on building trusted, transparent experiences for financial institutions operating in Plaid’s ecosystem.
Responsibilities:
You will lead a team of 6 engineers, ranging from mid-level to Staff, developing them through clear goal setting, coaching, and feedback.
You’ll define and drive the long-term strategy for this focus area, in close partnership with technical and product leaders across Plaid.
You’ll collaborate with cross-functional partners to identify high-leverage opportunities, shape the roadmap, and dive deep into technical design and execution details to ensure consistent delivery of high-impact business outcomes.
You’ll uphold a high bar for technical quality and delivery velocity, leading by example.
Qualifications:
8+ years of industry experience, that includes time as a Staff-level engineer before transitioning into management.
1+ years of engineering management experience
Deep experience designing scalable, reliable architectures that support real-world products at scale.
Track record of building and growing high performing engineering teams (either as an engineer or a manager).
Our mission at Plaid is to unlock financial freedom for everyone. To support that mission, we seek to build a diverse team of driven individuals who care deeply about making the financial ecosystem more equitable. We recognize that strong qualifications can come from both prior work experiences and lived experiences. We encourage you to apply to a role even if your experience doesn't fully match the job description. We are always looking for team members that will bring something unique to Plaid!
Plaid is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and values diversity at our company. We do not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion or religious belief, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, sexual stereotypes, age, military or veteran status, disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics. We also consider qualified applicants with criminal histories, consistent with applicable federal, state, and local laws. Plaid is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities in our recruiting process. If you need any assistance with your application or interviews due to a disability, please let us know at [email protected].
Please review our Candidate Privacy Notice here.
Additional compensation in the form(s) of equity and/or commission are dependent on the position offered. Plaid provides a comprehensive benefit plan, including medical, dental, vision, and 401(k). Pay is based on factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate's work experience and skillset, and location. Pay and benefits are subject to change at any time, consistent with the terms of any applicable compensation or benefit plans.
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