Engineering Manager, Events Analytics Platform

Sentry4 days ago

Location

San Francisco, California

Type

Full Time

Salary

USD 220,000 – 280,000

Level

Manager

Role

Engineering Manager

Posted

Jul 10, 2026

Full TimeManager

The role

Summary

Lead a high-impact engineering team building Sentry's Events Analytics Platform (EAP), a critical data infrastructure serving 4 million developers worldwide. As Engineering Manager, you'll drive architectural evolution of distributed data systems handling massive event volumes (errors, transactions, spans, profiles, replays, metrics) while mentoring engineers and shaping the platform's strategic direction. This role requires 10+ years of software engineering experience with 4+ years in people management, combined with deep expertise in data platforms, distributed systems, and query optimization at scale.

What you'll do

Team Leadership and Development: Grow and develop a high-performing engineering team with clear expectations for ownership, technical accountability, and measurable impact. Mentor engineers at all levels, with particular focus on accelerating junior engineers into senior technical roles. Conduct regular one-on-ones, performance reviews, and career development planning to foster long-term growth and retention within the organization.

Technical and Strategic Direction: Set the technical roadmap and strategic vision for the Events Analytics Platform team, balancing critical short-term system stability with long-term architectural evolution. Make informed decisions on technology choices, technical debt management, and resource allocation that align with Sentry's broader platform strategy and organizational goals.

Data Platform Architecture and Innovation: Drive development of core EAP features including complex analytical query support, dynamic routing logic across multiple fidelity levels, storage and compute separation patterns, and modern analytical storage architectures. Champion innovative approaches to distributed data systems design that enable efficient handling of massive event volumes at query time.

AI and Advanced Workload Support: Ensure the Events Analytics Platform can support emerging workload demands from AI agents and MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that unlock new AI-native capabilities for Sentry. Design and optimize platform infrastructure to handle the unique performance requirements of machine learning inference and autonomous systems while maintaining system reliability.

Data Unification and Cross-Event Querying: Guide the technical unification of all event data types into EAP and enable fast, complex cross-event querying capabilities at massive scale. Build systems that allow developers to correlate errors, transactions, spans, profiles, replays, and metrics seamlessly for comprehensive debugging and analysis.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Product Engineering teams to translate business requirements into technical roadmaps. Collaborate with Streaming, Production Engineering, Security, and Compliance teams to ensure the platform meets all organizational, regulatory, and operational requirements while maintaining system integrity and performance.

Incident Management and Operational Excellence: Lead the team through critical incidents, postmortems, and scaling challenges while establishing a culture of operational excellence. Drive continuous improvement in system reliability, observability, and incident response procedures. Foster blameless postmortems that drive organizational learning and preventive measures.

Team Culture and Inclusion: Build a healthy, collaborative team culture rooted in psychological safety, growth mindset, accountability, and inclusive practices. Create an environment where diverse perspectives are valued, technical excellence is celebrated, and team members feel empowered to take ownership of critical systems.

What we look for

Technical

Distributed Systems ExpertiseDemonstrated experience designing, building, or leading teams that maintain large-scale distributed data systems with complex consistency models, replication strategies, and fault tolerance requirements. Experience addressing challenges like network partitions, eventual consistency, and system coordination.

Data Platform and Storage SystemsStrong technical background working with analytical databases and data platforms such as ClickHouse, Apache Pinot, Druid, or similar technologies. Understanding of columnar storage formats, compression techniques, and query optimization strategies for analytical workloads.

Query Optimization and Performance TuningExperience optimizing complex SQL queries, designing efficient query execution plans, and implementing performance improvements for data-intensive systems. Knowledge of query cost analysis, indexing strategies, and horizontal scaling techniques for analytical queries.

Scalability and InfrastructureProven ability to design and evolve systems that handle exponentially growing data volumes, user traffic, and query complexity. Experience with techniques like sharding, partitioning, caching layers, and resource allocation strategies that maintain performance as systems scale.

Programming Language ProficiencyProficiency in Python, Rust, Go, or similar systems programming languages. Ability to read and reason about complex codebases, understand performance characteristics, and make technical decisions about implementation approaches.

Education

Computer Science FoundationBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related technical field preferred. Equivalent combination of formal education and extensive hands-on experience with distributed systems and data infrastructure is acceptable.

Experience

Software Engineering LeadershipMinimum 10+ years of professional software engineering experience with demonstrated progression in technical scope and responsibility. Track record of shipping production systems, making impactful architectural decisions, and growing technical expertise across multiple domains.

People Management and Team Development4+ years of direct people management experience with clear evidence of developing high-performing teams. Experience with performance management, career development planning, succession planning, and fostering inclusive team cultures. Demonstrated ability to retain top talent and accelerate junior engineers into senior roles.

Data Systems and Backend InfrastructureHands-on experience building or maintaining data platforms, analytical backends, or event processing systems. Experience with challenges specific to data infrastructure such as data consistency, query performance, storage optimization, and handling diverse data schemas at scale.

Incident Leadership and PostmortemsExperience leading teams through critical production incidents, coordinating incident response, and facilitating blameless postmortem processes. Demonstrated ability to maintain calm under pressure and drive organizational learning from operational failures.

Skills

Required skills

Distributed Systems DesignDeep understanding of distributed system principles, CAP theorem, consensus algorithms, and consistency models. Ability to architect systems that maintain reliability and correctness at global scale.

Data Platform ArchitectureArchitectural expertise with analytical databases and event processing platforms. Understanding of columnar vs row-oriented storage, real-time vs batch processing tradeoffs, and polyglot persistence strategies.

Query OptimizationAbility to analyze query performance bottlenecks and implement optimizations at multiple layers: query planning, index design, storage format, and resource allocation. Understanding of analytical query patterns and optimization techniques.

Leadership and MentorshipDemonstrated ability to lead and develop engineering teams, provide technical mentorship, set clear expectations, and drive accountability. Skills in giving constructive feedback, facilitating growth, and creating psychological safety.

Technical CommunicationExcellent ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts to diverse audiences including engineers, product managers, and executives. Skill in translating technical tradeoffs into business impact and vice versa.

Strategic ThinkingAbility to balance short-term operational needs with long-term architectural vision. Skill in identifying critical technical debt, prioritizing initiatives by impact, and making informed tradeoffs between stability and innovation.

Nice to have

Observability and Developer ToolsFamiliarity with observability concepts, application monitoring platforms, or developer tools that generate and process large volumes of telemetry data. Understanding of how developers use observability tools to debug and understand system behavior.

Event-Driven System DesignExperience with event streaming platforms, message queues, and event-driven architectures. Understanding of event schema evolution, data lineage tracking, and processing pipelines for heterogeneous event types.

AI/ML Systems IntegrationExperience building infrastructure systems that support machine learning workloads, AI inference pipelines, or systems designed to be consumed by AI agents. Understanding of unique performance and reliability requirements for ML-powered features.

Open-Source Project ExperienceBackground contributing to or maintaining open-source data infrastructure projects. Experience navigating community dynamics, managing technical roadmaps with diverse stakeholders, and building systems designed for extensibility and ecosystem integration.

Cost Optimization and Resource ManagementExperience optimizing cloud infrastructure costs, implementing efficient resource utilization strategies, and designing systems that provide strong performance within budget constraints. Understanding of cost-per-query metrics and resource-efficient architectural patterns.

Compensation & benefits

Salary

USD 220,000 – 280,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Equity Grants

Participation in Sentry's equity program providing ownership stake in the company and alignment with long-term value creation. Stock grants vest over time with industry-standard schedules.

Comprehensive Health Insurance

Group health insurance coverage including medical, dental, and vision plans for eligible employees and dependents. Coverage options typically include multiple plan tiers to accommodate diverse healthcare needs.

Paid Time Off

Generous paid time off policy allowing employees to take time for vacation, personal days, and mental health. Additional paid holidays observed throughout the year and flexibility for work-life balance.

Incentive Compensation

Performance-based incentive programs that reward exceptional contributions and achievement of team and organizational goals. Bonus structure tied to both individual performance and company-wide objectives.

Professional Development

Investment in continuous learning and professional development including conference attendance, training programs, and educational resources. Support for maintaining technical expertise and expanding leadership capabilities.

Flexible Work Arrangements

Flexible working arrangements supporting work-life integration. Details available through Sentry's careers page and benefits documentation.

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