Engineering Manager – Digital

Thrivent•Minneapolis, MN

1d•Remote

About The Position

As an Engineering Manager, you will deliver results through the leadership of experienced engineers and specialists who operate with a high degree of autonomy and accountability. This role leads an engineering team supporting advisor‑facing digital experiences, including advisor profiles, advisor search, and advisor‑to‑client matching within the Connections product space. You will provide strategic and operational direction aligned to organizational objectives, establish team‑level practices and operating norms, and partner closely with product, design, and business stakeholders to drive discovery, prioritization, and delivery. The Engineering Manager is responsible for developing team objectives, metrics, and capacity plans, fostering strong engineering culture and feedback practices, and translating enterprise policies into clear guidance that enables teams to deliver high‑quality, discoverable, and scalable solutions that advance Thrivent’s digital advisor experience.

Requirements

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., customer relationship management, portfolio strategy and roadmap development.
3+ years of leadership experience in all aspects of a specific IT discipline, e.g. 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.

Nice To Haves

Financial Services industry experience
Experience in marketing / customer acquisition products
Experience in front-end technical development
Experience using experimentation to deliver iterative user feedback
Experience working in a matrix management organization
Experience with product development and management

Responsibilities

Review technical solution design and architecture and provide guidance and direction
Take part in system design and architecture conversations with the team to land approaches to deliver solutions
Review technical solution and supports the execution of the solution
Tie solutions back to user impact and business objectives
Has Developed software. Can read code and stays up to date on best practices
Ensure Code reviews are completed
Ability to tie practical engineering experience into mentorship of engineering staff
Learning and applying new techniques
Promotes and empowers sharing ideas, best practices, etc.
Anticipates and analyzes trends in technology and assesses the impact of emerging technologies on the business
Adept at connecting new techniques to the team that promotes organic adoption
Supports the team agile practices and learning events / trainings
Helps break down barriers for the team
Engages in sprint demos; Understands the desired and actual outcomes as well as the technology delivered by the team
Partner with Product Manager on Initiatives/ Features/ Epics and provides clarity on desired outcomes as well as technical expertise.
Collaborates with Product manager for strategies, operating plans, targets and measures for product groups
Creating a positive team environment where individuals have psychological safety and work collaboratively while understanding, respecting, challenging and appreciating each other’s ideas
Supports and empowers teams to broker solutions across products
Understands how the product integrates with other products and ensures consistency in approach to work towards a common goal / outcome
Builds strong working relationships with peers across teams
Proactively identifies cross team challenges and works to empower teams in solve collaboratively
Align your team with the priorities of the company and the technology organization for a given product area
Leads in setting the product and platform technology vision, strategies, initiatives, roadmaps , objectives and alignments
Represents the business value of technology upgrades, etc. and influences prioritization in the product roadmap
Empowers the team to select the right tool and platforms for the given product area
Can tell the story of how our technical strategy delivers positive outcomes for our product from a user centric perspective
Collaborating with Engineers to ensure Engineering practices are clear and effective
Promote engineering practices and continuous improvement (both in our processes and our products)
Contributes to the creation of enterprise frameworks and patterns
Proactively intervene when standards are not being followed and correct the behavior or process
Be an advocate to the team to define criteria’s for selecting the right platform/technology
Guides the team to build consensus on an approach and driving a build vs buy decision with the team.
In a buy decision, works with the team to decide on criteria and vendor selection
Execute or manage the overall technology solutions, platforms for the product groups and associated vendor relationships.
Provide timely constructive feedback, guidance and coaching to help engineers grow as engineering professionals
Provide career planning advice to engineers and create development plans to help them achieve their career goals
Actively mentor team members through direct connections and alignment to their long-term career goals
Lead the process of selecting and engaging the right consulting partners
Plan in advance for future people needs for the product group, collaborate with the other teams on the recruitment process
Recruit, 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