Engineering Manager

As an Engineering Manager at vCluster Labs, you are a technical leader as well as a People manager. You won’t just track tasks; you will actively shape the architecture of the world’s leading Kubernetes multi-tenancy platform. In this role, you will serve as a "Player-Coach" for a team of high-agency engineers, capable of diving into the code to unblock complex problems while fostering an environment of fearless innovation. You will balance deep technical oversight with the disciplined execution required to scale toward our Series B financial goals.

As an Engineering Manager, your role will include:

• Technical Architecture & Strategy: Act as a technical authority for the team. You will drive architectural decisions in Go and Kubernetes, ensuring our solutions are scalable and resilient. You must be capable of holding your own in technical debates with Staff and Senior Engineers.

• Code Standards & Quality: actively participate in design reviews and code reviews. You will set the bar for technical excellence, ensuring the team delivers clean, efficient, and maintainable code that solves hard engineering challenges (the kind you can’t find on ChatGPT).

• Team Leadership & Growth: Mentor and manage a team of Senior Software Engineers. You will prioritize "Value over tasks," acting as a "Supportive Elevator" who helps engineers navigate complex technical roadblocks rather than just reporting on them.

• Hiring Excellence: Partner with the People Team to build a world-class engineering organization. You will champion our "Structured and Replicable" interviewing practices to identify "High Agency" talent that meets our rigorous technical bar.

• Operational Rhythm: Build a measurable and predictable operating rhythm. You will own the delivery cadence, ensuring we balance technical debt reduction with the speed required to deliver intuitive experiences for our customers.

This role could be a fit for you if you bring:

• Kubernetes Mastery: You possess deep expertise in Kubernetes internals (networking, storage, architectural patterns). You understand how the scheduler works, not just how to deploy to it.

• Production-Grade Engineering: You have a strong background in software engineering, ideally with Go. You have previously worked as a Senior/Staff Engineer and can still write and review code when necessary.

• Management Experience: You have 3+ years of experience leading high-performing backend teams. You know how to manage "Builder Mindset" engineers who crave autonomy, guiding them without micromanaging.

• Cognitive Flexibility: You view feedback as an upgrade path. You are willing to abandon prior technical assumptions when presented with new evidence and encourage your team to do the same.

Bonus points for:

• Open Source Roots: A history of engaging with the community or contributing to open-source projects (Upstream Kubernetes, SIGs, etc.).

• AI Infrastructure: Experience building or managing platforms that support AI/GPU workloads.

• Startup Grit: Experience working in an early-stage environment where you functioned autonomously to build something great.

We are a venture-backed tech startup striving to be the leading force in enabling platform engineers. We raised +$30M from top-tier VCs such as Khosla Ventures (first investor in OpenAI, GitLab, Stripe, Doordash) and are in a hyper-growth phase looking for motivated people to complement our team. Our headquarters are in San Francisco (Salesforce Tower), but our team is distributed around the globe and we have a remote-first work culture.

We're the company behind vCluster, an open-source technology for virtualizing Kubernetes (+10k GitHub stars). Open source is part of our DNA.

The adoption of our commercial product based on vCluster has grown extremely fast (multi-million dollar revenue) and our customer base includes some of the biggest companies in the world, including 6 Global Fortune 500 companies as well as some of the fastest-growing tech unicorns.

Benefits

We offer the following benefits:

• Competitive Salary: We offer a competitive compensation package, including equity.

• Platinum-Level Insurance: Health, dental, vision, and life Insurance, including plans for you and eligible dependents (benefits vary depending on country).

• Flexible Working Schedule:  You have a doctor’s appointment or need to head to the supermarket to get groceries at 2pm? We won’t have an issue with that. To us, results matter more than clocking in and out at the same time every day.

• Workplace Flexibility:  We’re very flexible about where you work. We know things can change in life and we’re happy to adjust the work environment for you along the way.

At vCluster Labs, we value and stand for:

1. Open Source, Open Mind: We are actively contributing to and maintaining open-source projects. Internally, we foster meritocracy — the strongest ideas win, no matter who or where they come from.

2. Build Tomorrow’s Standards, Intentionally: We don't just ship software; we define the state-of-the-art of tomorrow. We are fearless in tearing down old approaches to build something better, but we are disciplined in how we do it because we know our users rely on our technology to run mission-critical infrastructure platforms.

3. Create Wow: We measure success by the experience we generate, both inside and outside the company. For our customers, this means impressive speed and intuitive experiences. For our team, this means going the extra mile to support one another and to continuously drive each other to new heights.

4. Own the Outcome: We understand that our responsibility doesn't end when a task is checked off; it ends when the value is delivered. We connect our daily individual actions to the broader success of the company and our customers.