Engineering Manager - Music

Spotify•New York, NY

7d•Remote

About The Position

As the EM for Bonfire Squad, you will lead a passionate full stack team of senior engineers building a high-impact artist promotion tool’s campaign management system and new features for our customers. Bonfire needs a people leader who will leverage the talent and opinions of a senior-heavy squad to build great products and systems effectively together. A great manager for this team will have the technical depth and product thinking to make and explain decisions around the roadmap, project staffing, and cross-functional partnerships. You’ll build trust with your team and cross functional partners by being transparent about what you’ll do and following through. This is a role for someone who enjoys being close to both the people and the work: coaching experienced engineers, creating clarity, and engaging credibly in technical and product discussions. We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, including those who may not meet every requirement listed.

Requirements

Good experience managing software engineers and a demonstrated track record of developing, and managing experienced technical ICs.
People management is at the core of your craft. You are comfortable giving clear feedback, navigating disagreement, setting expectations, and addressing team dynamics directly and constructively.
You view yourself as your team’s advocate.
You have a strong background in backend or full-stack engineering, and can engage credibly in architecture and technical design discussions.
You leverage your product mindset to challenge assumptions embedded in product requirements and find engineering solutions that keep the engineering ecosystem healthy.
You can balance empowering experienced engineers with providing leadership when the team needs direction or alignment.
You can manage substantial technical and product dependencies with partner teams.
You are a player-coach manager – willing and able to contribute hands-on when appropriate while recognizing that your primary responsibility is enabling the team to succeed.
You are comfortable using AI tools and have a point of view on how AI can improve engineering effectiveness.
You value healthy disagreement, clear ownership, accountability, and an inclusive environment where people can do their best work.

Responsibilities

Foster strong working relationships among engineers, between engineers and cross-functional team leads, and between Bonfire and partner teams.
Lead, coach, and develop a team of experienced engineers, encouraging product thinking, creating clear expectations, growth opportunities, and a healthy, high-performing team environment.
Encourage constructive technical debate, engaging deeply enough with architecture and implementation to challenge assumptions and identify risks.
Partner closely with Product and Design to shape priorities, scope, and product direction, bringing an engineering perspective to customer and UX decisions.
Be accountable for healthy delivery, including prioritization, capacity management, operational health, and reliable execution of complex initiatives.
Build strong relationships with partner teams, proactively managing dependencies and driving alignment across team boundaries.
Stay close to the engineering craft and act as a player-coach when useful, including contributing hands-on to technical problem solving and engineering work.
Help the team use AI effectively in engineering workflows and identify opportunities for AI to improve how we build and operate our products.
Hire and onboard engineers as the team evolves, building the capabilities and knowledge distribution needed for the team to remain resilient over time.