Engineering Manager

About Effortless Admin

Effortless Admin is a fully web-based multi-carrier software solution thatprovidesemployers an effortless way of managing employee benefits. Our goal is to provide the best benefits administration experience to employers and their employees empower advisors andultimately bringeveryone together to work as effectively as possible. As an expanding organizationwereseeking motivated leaders who want to join us on our growth trajectory.

Position Overview

Reports to: Chief Technology Officer

Manages: 4 engineering team leads (14 engineers total)

This is a full-time permanent position with a competitive compensation and benefits package. This position is in-person on-site in Edmonton AB.

The role

Were hiring an Engineering Manager to lead the day-to-day of our engineering organization so that our four teams ship the right things on time without burning out or losing focus. This is a people-and-delivery leadership role not a technical-authority role. You own how and when the work gets done and who does it well. Technical direction what we build and the architecture behind it stays with the CTO and our technical leads. If that division of labour sounds like a relief rather than a constraint youre the kind of leader were looking for.

Were a benefits-administration company but dont let that fool you: we treat software as a craft not a cost centre. Most shops in our industry are bad at building software. Were not and we intend to stay that way which is exactly why this seat matters.

Who youll lead

Youll manage four engineering team leads who between them run roughly fourteen engineers across our product platform and security/operations surface. Each lead owns the one-on-ones and day-to-day coaching of their own team. Your job is to lead the leads to make four good team leads into four great ones and to make the whole engineering org operate as one coordinated unit rather than four silos.

What youll own

• Cross-team delivery. Our teams depend on each other constantly. The single most important part of your job is making workflow between teams so nothing stalls. When delivery is on track its largely because you made the handoffs work.
• Developing the four leads. Your team gets better at leading because of you. You coach hold accountable and grow the people who grow everyone else.
• Delivery commitments. The executive team sets the goals and the ambitions. You and the CTO negotiate whats realistic against actual capacity land on a shared commitment. From that point hitting it is yours. Youre the person the business can trust when they ask When will this be live
• Process and predictability. You run the engineering teams own weekly Level 10 meeting separate from the executive L10 focused on engineerings leading indicators and issues. You build the cadence that keeps the team focused and stops people from flipping between things half-finished.
• Hiring and retention. You own the bar the pipeline and most importantly keeping the good people we already have. Talent walking out the door is a failure youre accountable for preventing.
• Protecting focus. When someone wants to squeeze in a small feature or fix thats your call. Small things can flex in but the commitments still land. Youre the one who gets to say no to protect the teams focus and the business knows that no is a real answer.

What you wont own (and why thats good)

• Technical direction and architecture. The CTO owns what we build and why; our technical leads own how its built. Youre not expected to be the smartest engineer in the room and you wont be asked to make architecture calls. You are expected to be technical enough to follow the work challenge an estimate and tell when a blocker is real.
• Security risk and incident decisions. One of your teams covers platform and office security (SOC 2 network security). Youll manage that leads delivery cadence and growth like any other. However live security incidents and security-risk calls escalate directly to the CTO.

How well measure success

Youll be held to a focused scorecard:

• Commitment reliability. The percentage of work delivered on the date we committed to. This is the number that matters most.
• Interruption minimization. The team stays on task and isnt derailed by work outside its commitments. Youre the guard dog on the teams time shielding developers from demands outside the department and from each other and youre empowered to say no on their behalf.
• Team health. A regular pulse on how the engineering teams are doing. The early-warning system for everything else.
• Regrettable attrition. Are we keeping the people we want to keep.
• Cross-team blocked time. How long work sits stalled waiting on another team. The truest measure of whether youre doing the hardest part of the job well.

Who you are

• A builder at heart. You came up through engineering you can read a pull request and follow an architecture conversation and you can smell a padded estimate from across the room. You might still love writing code but these days your satisfaction comes from the team shipping not from your own commits.
• A manager of managers. Youve led leads not just engineers and you know the difference but you also understand how an engineer thinks and what makes them tick.
• A You get a group of highly intelligent experts pulling in the same direction and keep them there.
• A straight negotiator. You can hold a firm honest line with the business on whats achievable and back it with reality not excuses. You can say no to people higher on the org chart.
• Calm under competing priorities and allergic to letting work drift unfinished.

What were not looking for

• Someone who wants to be the technical authority reclaim the keyboard or win the architecture debate. Thats not this seat and itll create friction with leads who own those calls.
• Someone who needs to be the smartest technical person in the room to feel valuable.
• Industry experience. You do not need any background in group benefits insurance or our industry. Frankly wed rather you didnt bring its software habits with you. Well teach you the domain. You bring the leadership.

If this sounds like you submit your resume and cover letter.Effortless Admin is committed to building diverse teams and an inclusive workplace. We encourage applications from all qualified candidates.

Required Experience:

Manager