Engineering Manager

Job description

WHY FLUX Flux is taking the hard out of hardware. To do this, we’re building the world's first AI hardware engineer. Founded in 2019, our platform enables anyone to go from idea to manufacturable board using nothing more than a natural language prompt. This democratizes a process that has historically required years of specialized expertise. We're going after a $15B+ electronic design automation market, backed by 8VC, Bain Capital Ventures, Liquid 2 Ventures, Outsiders Fund, Figma board member John Lilly, and GitHub founder Tom Preston-Werner. In February 2026, we closed a total of $37M in funding to accelerate that mission. What happens when we unlock the ability for anyone to make hardware? We fundamentally reshape the world. That's our mission, and we're just getting started. ENGINEERING MANAGER Flux · San Francisco, CA · In-Office · Senior Level We are looking for an experienced engineering leader to own how software gets built at Flux. You will set the technical bar for our product engineering teams, drive architectural decisions across the stack, and ensure we are shipping with the speed and quality this moment demands. You will partner closely with product and design to shape what we build, and with the founding team to define how we scale. This is a high-impact role for someone who has shipped complex software at scale, thrives in ambiguity, and leads by doing. You will be close to the code, close to the team, and close to the customer. We move fast and with intensity. This role calls for someone who brings deep technical authority and the willingness to push — through ambiguity, through disagreement, through a product that is constantly evolving. What You'll Do - Own engineering execution Drive delivery across the product engineering team. Set technical direction, unblock teams, and hold the bar on quality, reliability, and velocity. Partner with product leadership to scope, sequence, and ship work that moves the needle. - Be the technical standard-bearer Define what good engineering looks like at Flux. Establish architectural principles, review critical designs, and ensure the codebase evolves with intention. Push back when shortcuts create unacceptable long-term risk — and know when speed is the right call. - Build and scale the engineering function Start as a hands-on manager with existing reports. Hire, develop, and retain exceptional engineers. Build the processes, culture, and tooling that allow the team to scale without losing execution quality. - Drive cross-functional alignment Serve as the engineering voice in product, design, and go-to-market conversations. Translate business needs into technical direction and technical constraints into product strategy. Ensure engineering is never a bottleneck to organizational clarity. - Develop AI-native engineering practices Flux is building AI and using AI. Lead the team in integrating AI-assisted development into daily workflows — from coding to testing to observability. Set the standard for how we build AI-integrated products responsibly and at speed. - Amplify team signal Build feedback loops that surface quality issues, reliability risks, and team health signals early. Champion engineering visibility across the organization and ensure the team's work is understood and valued. What You'll Bring Full-stack technical depth You have built and shipped complex software products. You are comfortable spanning: - Frontend: React, TypeScript, component architecture, performance, and design systems - Backend: Node.js, Python, API design, service reliability, and data pipelines - Infrastructure: cloud platforms (GCP/AWS), containerization, CI/CD, observability - AI/ML integration: LLM-integrated products, agentic workflows, evaluation frameworks, and production AI systems Engineering leadership at multiple altitudes You write clean technical specs and compelling architectural proposals. You can sit in a deep-dive code review and then walk into a product strategy conversation. You hire, mentor, and scale processes while staying close to the work. You push back when you disagree — with data, clearly — and you update your view when someone makes a better argument. Execution under pressure You have shipped at scale under real constraints. You know when to move fast and incur debt, when to hold the line on architecture, and how to bring a team with you either way. You have stories about delivering in environments where the product, the team, and the requirements were all changing at once. First-principles thinking You start from the problem, not the pattern. When something breaks in production, you trace the root cause. You build your own tools when the right one doesn't exist. You approach ambiguity as a solvable problem, not a reason to wait. The Bar We're Setting Flux is a fast-moving, high-intensity environment. We need someone who brings technical excellence and the willingness to hold the line in difficult debates, while staying genuinely collaborative. If ambiguity energizes you, if you have operated in cross-functional environments where your peers own things you depend on, and if you have shipped at the level where reliability and quality are non-negotiable — this is the right room for you. What we’re looking for - Engineering Leadership: 4+ years managing engineering teams, including hiring, mentorship, performance management, and retaining top talent, with a track record of building high-performing cultures. - Technical Depth: 8+ years of hands-on software engineering experience (prior to management) with the ability to review PRs, architect solutions, and credibly engage in technical debates. - Execution & Delivery: Experience shipping and iterating on complex, customer-facing web applications at scale, under real-world deadlines and resource constraints. - Product & Stakeholder Influence: Proven ability to work directly with product and design to scope and ship features, plus experience influencing VP/C-suite stakeholders to drive alignment on contested decisions. - AI & Full-Stack Proficiency: Experience building AI-integrated or agentic software products in production, with full-stack comfort across frontend, backend, and infrastructure. - Adaptive Mindset: Thrives in chaos and ambiguity, with a history of building from zero to one in early-stage environments. Nice to have - AI/ML experience: has built or managed a team building llm-integrated or agentic products in production, with at least one shipped example - Full-stack fluency: comfortable contributing across frontend (react, typescript), backend (node.js, python), and cloud infrastructure (gcp or aws) - Early-stage experience: joined a company at series a or earlier and helped scale the engineering team or product through a significant growth phase - Hiring: personally sourced, interviewed, and closed 5+ senior engineering hires with measurable retention outcomes - Tooling instinct: has built internal tools, frameworks, or systems to improve team productivity BENEFITS & PACKAGE Competitive salary and meaningful equity, plus comprehensive benefits. Title/level will match experience and impact. Flux is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all qualified individuals and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. All employment decisions are based on qualifications, merit, and business need. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.