Engineering Manager

Arena Club•Los Angeles, CA

3h•$190,000 - $250,000•Onsite

About The Position

We're hiring our first Engineering Manager — a foundational leadership role that will shape how we build for years to come. Partnering directly with our CTO, you'll manage our engineering organization, bringing the operational structure, systems, and processes needed to scale a high-performing team to the next level. This is a rare opportunity to define how a thriving org operates at a company with real traction, significant backing, and the ambition to redefine an entire industry.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent experience); Master’s degree preferred.
12+ years of software engineering experience with 4+ years in a dedicated engineering management role
Proven track record managing or overseeing large engineering organizations (20+ engineers) through periods of significant growth
Strong technical foundation in modern tech stacks, distributed systems, and CI/CD — enough to drive architectural discussions with credibility and conviction
Hands-on experience implementing AI/LLM developer tools (e.g., Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Cody) to accelerate engineering output

Nice To Haves

Previous experience as a founding or first Engineering Manager hire, or scaling an org to 100+ engineers
Background in marketplace, e-commerce, gaming, or data-intensive consumer facing tech

Responsibilities

Own the health and growth of a 40+ person engineering team. Run effective 1:1s, build career development frameworks, and drive performance management that elevates talent while retaining your best people.
Design and implement our "Engineering Operating System" — the playbook that governs how we plan, build, ship, and learn. You'll refine sprint cadences, elevate documentation standards, and optimize our SDLC for high-quality, predictable delivery without sacrificing speed.
Champion the adoption of AI tools and best practices across engineering. Ensure teams are effectively leveraging tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and agentic orchestration platforms in alignment with company standards — and continuously raise the bar as the tooling landscape evolves.
Work hand-in-hand with the CTO, Product, Design, and senior leadership to translate business priorities into clear technical milestones — ensuring the team is always focused on the work that moves the needle most.
Partner with Talent Acquisition and leadership to build a hiring engine and pipelines to consistently hire top talent. Set the interview bar and help scale the team while strengthening Arena Club's technical brand.
You won't be writing code daily, but you'll stay close to the work — participating in design reviews and technical decisions to ensure our systems remain scalable, secure, and maintainable as we grow.
Set the tone for a high-agency, transparent, and inclusive engineering culture that embodies the Arena Club Standard — where ownership isn't a buzzword, it's the baseline.