1st Engineering Manager

Bubble Sort Recruiting•New York City, NY

22d•Onsite

About The Position

As the first Engineering Manager at AI Company, you will own the technical direction and team growth for a group of exceptional engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, autonomy, and impact. You have a deep appreciation for infrastructure, AI, or cloud, and experience scaling engineering teams in startup environments. You believe in doing things the Right Way—you value lean, pragmatic processes, clear metrics where they add value, and an obsession with solving the underlying problem rather than chasing proxies. You are highly collaborative, bringing out the best in both your team and cross-functional peers.

Requirements

7+ years of engineering experience, including 2+ years leading teams in high-growth environments.
Strong IC background – you’ve built and scaled complex systems before leading teams.
Startup experience – you thrive in fast-paced, high-ownership environments.
Big-tech or enterprise experience – you’ve learned from structured engineering teams and know how to apply best practices pragmatically.
Technical depth in AI or cloud – hands-on experience with distributed systems, cloud-native architectures, or AI/ML infrastructure is a strong plus.
Scalability mindset – deep understanding of backend infrastructure, message queues, and high-throughput architectures.
Empathy for engineers and users – you know how to motivate teams and build with end-users in mind.

Nice To Haves

Experience with data pipelines, enterprise integrations, or AI/ML-powered infrastructure.
Background in high-compliance, security-sensitive industries (healthcare, finance, defense).
Track record of hiring and mentoring top-tier engineers in fast-scaling teams.

Responsibilities

Lead and scale a team of engineers, driving execution while maintaining a high technical bar.
Architect and refine the infrastructure, backend systems, and cloud environments that power AI-driven clinical workflows.
Guide technical decisions on distributed systems, high-throughput architectures, and multi-cloud environments (AWS, Azure, on-prem).
Mentor and develop engineers, fostering a culture of deep technical excellence, curiosity, and impact.
Work cross-functionally with Product, AI, and Design teams to build intuitive, scalable solutions.
Set and refine engineering processes, ensuring efficiency without unnecessary overhead.
Stay hands-on where needed, bringing experience in Terraform, Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, or modern backend infrastructure.