Mgr, Engineering

      

Help Thrivent build the modern, discovery led experience that empower clients and advisors at the very start of their financial journey. In Discovery, we’re transforming how advisors and clients engage by creating guided, intuitive fact finding journeys; seamless, bi directional data flow between systems; asynchronous collaboration that lets clients participate on their own time; and actionable insights that make the initial discovery conversation clearer, more personal, and more scalable.
The Engineering Manager for Discovery leads two independent engineering teams that together power Thrivent’s advisor–client Discovery experience:
• A Salesforce Engineering Team responsible for workflow automation, goals workflows, data synchronization, and advisor tools built within Salesforce.
• A Full Stack Engineering Team responsible for modern web applications, services, integrations, and experience layers (React, GraphQL, Java, AWS).
This leader ensures each team executes effectively within its own stack while driving cross team alignment, so Discovery capabilities are reliable, scalable, and cohesive across platforms.

         

          

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Salesforce Discovery Team Responsibilities

• Oversee all Salesforce engineering for Discovery:
  • Goals
  • Fact‑finding workflows
  • Data sync processes
  • Action steps & workflow engine dependencies
  • Integrations with Planning Profile, Planning Engine, AdvicePay, and other downstream systems
• Drive stability and quality in Salesforce experiences—reducing sync failures, workflow bugs, and data integrity issues.
• Ensure platform governance and adherence to Salesforce security, compliance, and architectural standards.
• Lead modernization work, including evaluating when and how capabilities shift from Salesforce into modern services.

Full‑Stack Discovery Team Responsibilities

• Oversee delivery of customer‑facing Discovery capabilities through a modern tech stack:
  • React UIs
  • GraphQL Query data fetching
  • Java / Spring Boot APIs
  • AWS cloud services (Lambdas, microservices, data pipelines)
• Guide system design for scalable, integration-heavy Discovery workflows.
• Establish best‑in‑class engineering practices for testing, performance, observability, resiliency, and accessibility.
• Ensure thoughtful balance between new feature delivery, tech debt reduction, and operational excellence.

Coaching Engineers

• Holding regular 1:1s with team members and team meeting,
• Provides constructive feedback, guidance and coaching to help engineers grow their skills and experience.
• Provides career planning advice to engineers and creates development plans to help them achieve their career goals which leverages their skills and capabilities and provides them with learning opportunities.

Product & Delivery Leadership

• Partner with Product Managers and Product Owners to shape Discovery roadmaps for both teams — ensuring aligned sequencing of Salesforce vs. full‑stack delivery.
• Drive clarity around ownership boundaries so dependencies between the teams don’t create delivery friction.
• Lead quarterly planning, capacity allocation, prioritization, and milestone management for both teams.
• Ensure predictable delivery with strong engineering rigor and transparent communication.

Architecture & Strategy

• Work with the principal engineer and team to define how Discovery capabilities should be distributed across Salesforce and modern services.
• Provide clear guidance to both teams regarding technical direction, patterns, and integration boundaries.
• Maintain a cohesive technical strategy across two platforms with different lifecycles, risk profiles, and scaling characteristics.
• Advocate for data quality, maintainability, and long-term simplification across Discovery systems.

Cross‑Functional Influence

• Partner closely with Design, Product, downstream Planning teams, and engineering leadership across the portfolio.
• Ensure Discovery experiences set up partner teams, and broader Planning systems for success.
• Communicate trade‑offs, risks, and recommendations between Salesforce and full‑stack pathways.

Operational Excellence

• Drive high reliability across both platforms by establishing strong observability, monitoring, and alerting.
• Oversee incident response, root‑cause analysis, and prevention strategies for both teams.
• Ensure adherence to compliance, security, data governance, and accessibility requirements.

Recruiting/building talent

• Leads the process of selecting and engaging the right consulting partners
• Planning in advance for future people needs for the product groups, collaborate with the other teams on the recruitment process
• Recruits, develops, and sustains a high-performing team while promoting a culture of shared accountability, operational excellence, and partnership across the organization.
• Models Thrivent’s leadership competencies – courage, collaboration, and commitment by demonstrating resiliency, working together to make the best decisions, and holding yourself and others accountable.  ​
• Supports and/or develops an environment in which Thrivent employees and colleagues are focused on continuous improvement, exceptional employee engagement, and an unwavering commitment to our clients.  Shapes and/or supports a culture that represents the Thrivent purpose, promise and values, ensuring that Thrivent’s trust and reputation remain strong with its clients.  
• Manage a team of direct and indirect staff 

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QUALIFICATIONS & SKILLS:  

 Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or other technical field or equivalent work experience 
• 8+ years of progressively responsible positions in Information Technology including 5+ years’ experience in IT discipline, e.g., Strong engineering background in full‑stack development (Java, React, GraphQL, cloud services) or equivalent architectural experience
• 3+ years of leadership experience in all aspects of a specific IT discipline, e.g. IT/LOB customer relationship management, portfolio strategy and/or demand management. 
• 3+ years’ management/supervisory experience in specific IT functional area discipline, e.g. applications development or equivalent skills leading major technical projects with accountability for enforcing talent management needs and performance standards. 
• Demonstrated leadership and experience managing multidiscipline, high-performance work teams. 
• Strong competency in project management and execution of multiple or large projects. 
• Experience working with customers to develop solutions to complex business problems. 
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with internal/external stakeholders to support business initiatives. 
• Proven ability to function in an environment which requires flexibility, good judgment and intelligent decision making, often based on limited information and/or extreme conditions. 
• Ability to formulate, implement and evaluate plans, programs and procedures applicable to customer relationship and demand management. 

 Preferred: 

• Familiarity with Salesforce engineering, workflows, data models, and integration patterns
• Experience with AWS, service‑based architectures, and event-driven systems
• Hands-on or leadership experience with Salesforce Apex, Lightning, Flows, and platform governance
• Experience in financial planning, advisor tools, or enterprise SaaS
• Financial Services industry experience 
• Experience in IT planning and business relationship management 
• Experience working in a matrix management organization 
• Experience with product development and management 

              

Pay Transparency

 

Thrivent’s long-term growth depends on attracting, rewarding, and retaining people who are committed to helping others thrive with purpose. We accomplish this by offering a wide variety of market competitive compensation programs to attract, reward, and retain top talent. The applicable salary or hourly wage range for this full-time role is $139,455.00 - $188,676.00 per year, which factors in various geographic regions. The base pay actually offered will be determined by a variety of factors including, but not limited to, location, relevant experience, skills, and knowledge, business needs, market demand, and other factors Thrivent deems important.

 

Thrivent is unique in our commitment to helping people to be wise with money and live balanced and generous lives. That extends to our benefits.

 

The following benefits may be offered: various bonuses (including, for example, annual or long-term incentives); medical, dental, and vision insurance; health savings account; flexible spending account; 401k; pension; life and accidental death and dismemberment insurance; disability insurance; supplemental protection insurance; 20 days of Paid Time Off each year; Sick and Safe Time; 10 paid company holidays; Volunteer Time Off; paid parental leave; EAP; well-being benefits, and other employee benefits. Eligibility for receipt of these benefits is subject to the applicable plan/policy documents. Thrivent’s plans/policies are subject to change at any time at Thrivent’s discretion.

 

Thrivent provides Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) without regard to race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy, national origin, age, disability, marital status, citizenship status, military or veteran status, genetic information, or any other status protected by applicable local, state, or federal law. This policy applies to all employees and job applicants.

Thrivent is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation, please let us know by sending an email to [email protected] or call 800-847-4836 and request Human Resources.