Senior Engineering Manager, IT Product Team in Seattle, Washington at Rippling

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system.

Take onboarding, for example. With Rippling, you can hire a new employee anywhere in the world and set up their payroll, corporate card, computer, benefits, and even third-party apps like Slack and Microsoft 365—all within 90 seconds.

Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from the world’s top investors—including Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Sequoia, Greenoaks, and Bedrock—and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes.

We prioritize candidate safety. Please be aware that all official communication will only be sent from @Rippling.com addresses.

About the Role

We are seeking a deeply technical Senior Engineering Manager (M8 level) to lead a high-impact engineering team building a scalable, fully automated IT product and infrastructure ecosystem. This team sits at the critical intersection of core internal enterprise systems, automated workflows, and modern cloud/systems architecture. You will be responsible for transforming legacy, manual operational footprints into high-performance, automated software systems that scale IT management across various enterprise landscapes.

What We Build

We build the mission-critical software that simplifies IT for organizations, turning complex, manual processes into simple, one-click solutions. Our core product domains include:

• Device Management (MDM): Developing systems to securely enroll, configure, manage, and inventory corporate devices (macOS, Windows, iOS, etc.), including policy enforcement and remote wipe capabilities.
• App Management & Identity: Creating the centralized platform for provisioning and de-provisioning employee access to hundreds of third-party SaaS applications, ensuring instant security and compliance through integrated identity and access management (IAM).
• Inventory & Asset Management: Building the core financial and logistical systems to track physical assets, manage software licenses, and automate IT procurement from device ordering to deployment.
• Security & Compliance: Developing the mechanisms for setting, managing, and enforcing security policies across all devices and applications, ensuring employee and corporate data remain protected.

You will manage a lean, highly capable, and senior group of 12 cross-platform engineers navigating and leading with deep technical leverage, high execution velocity, and direct architectural impact.

This role is ideal for an engineering leader who enjoys operating close to underlying infrastructure, possesses a high ambiguity tolerance for shifting charters, and acts as a multiplier by leveraging AI-driven developer workflows to eliminate operational overhead through software.

What You Will Do

• Lead and Mentor: Direct a team of 12 engineers, focusing heavily on upleveling execution velocity and technical excellence through the deployment of modern AI workflows.
• Own IT Automation Infrastructure: Drive the end-to-end automation infrastructure, internal product interfaces, and systems architecture required to resolve core enterprise IT platform dependencies.
• Modernize Operational Systems Plumbing: Restructure underlying internal engines to automate manual workflows and multi-system communications, building a unified software control plane for the business.
• Stay Deeply Technical: Participate directly in evaluating system-level trade-offs, architecture decisions, distributed systems design, and core systems plumbing alongside your senior staff.
• Partner Cross-Functionally: Collaborate closely with cross-org technology leadership teams (such as Inventory Management, Identity, Devices, and Product) to build integrated, proactive internal product landscapes.

• Robust Engineering Leadership: Proven track record leading senior engineering talent within startups or fast-paced, high-leverage environments where driving extreme execution efficiency without ballooning headcount is a core tenet.
• Deep Backend & Infrastructure Foundation: Non-negotiable technical depth in backend systems engineering, distributed architecture, and process automation plumbing. You must be technical enough to command the respect of senior staff and evaluate system-level trade-offs.
• AI-Native Execution Mindset: Active experience utilizing modern developer workflows, automated tooling, and generative technologies to radically maximize team execution velocity and platform automation.
• Exceptional Ambiguity Tolerance: The ability to independently carve out net-new automated architectures from legacy, manual workflows amidst shifting product and business charters.
• Data-Driven Problem Solving: Strong reliance on validation metrics gathered directly via fleet observability, system performance data, and proactive monitoring infrastructure.
• Strong Executive Communication: The capability to clearly translate heavy engineering complexities into crisp, actionable business narratives for cross-functional partners and executive leadership.
• Domain Familiarity (Nice to Have): Strong background operating within core Enterprise IT domains such as Device Management (MDM), Identity and Access Management (IAM), IT Asset/Inventory Management, or Security and Compliance systems.

Rippling highly values having employees working in-office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office-based employees (employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office, at least three days a week under current policy, to be an essential function of the employee's role.

This role will receive a competitive salary + benefits + equity. The salary for US-based employees will be aligned with one of the ranges below based on location; see which tier applies to your location here.

A variety of factors are considered when determining someone’s compensation–including a candidate’s professional background, experience, and location. Final offer amounts may vary from the amounts listed below.