Manager, Software Engineering

Zoro • Chicago, IL

1d • Hybrid

About The Position

We’re looking for an experienced Engineering Manager to lead a multi-year strategic initiative to modernize and decouple Zoro’s business systems from NetSuite, rebuilding key capabilities as standalone services and tools. This is a critical leadership role responsible for leading a new team of engineers who will reimagine how Zoro’s operational, financial, and fulfillment processes scale for the future. The ideal candidate has a strong engineering foundation, proven people leadership experience, and a passion for driving technical and organizational change. You’ll work closely with senior engineering, product, and business leaders to define a long-term strategy and deliver measurable business outcomes. This position reports to the Director of Software Engineering and is a hybrid role, requiring at least two days per week in the office.

Requirements

• 6+ years of professional experience in software development, with 2+ years of management or team leadership experience.
• Strong technical foundation with experience in backend, platform, or ERP-integrated systems.
• Proficiency in JavaScript/TypeScript and at least one backend language (e.g., Python, Java, PHP).
• Demonstrated experience leading projects involving system integrations, APIs, and service decomposition.
• Excellent communication, facilitation, and stakeholder management skills—able to collaborate effectively across engineering and business functions.
• Experience with modern DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP, Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform).
• Experience implementing modern observability, reliability, and performance practices.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience leading teams involved in monolith decomposition, modernization or system decoupling.
• Proven success building or scaling new teams, particularly in multi-year or large-scale transformation efforts.
• Track record of technical project delivery in high-impact or cross-functional environments.
• Demonstrated success fostering a culture of excellence and influencing technical direction at a team level.

Responsibilities

• Lead a new engineering team responsible for gradually extracting and rebuilding Zoro’s NetSuite customizations into scalable, service-oriented systems.
• Develop and mentor engineers—fostering growth, inclusion, and accountability while maintaining high technical and delivery standards.
• Drive project execution and delivery, ensuring milestones are met while balancing speed, quality, and long-term maintainability.
• Partner with senior product, finance, fulfillment, and platform engineering leaders to define the roadmap and align technical efforts with business objectives.
• Establish and enforce engineering best practices around code quality, testing, observability, and deployment automation.
• Collaborate with foundational platform teams to ensure new systems are reliable, secure, and compliant with Zoro's and industry standards (PCI/SOX, etc.).
• Act as a technical and organizational bridge between legacy systems and modern architectures, helping to guide decision-making and change management across teams.
• Champion a culture of continuous improvement, retrospectives, and open feedback to strengthen both team performance and the engineering organization as a whole.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans with coverage starting on day one of employment
• Maternity support programs, nursing benefits, and up to 14 weeks paid leave for birth parents and up to 4 weeks paid leave for non-birth parents. We also support growing your family through access to adoption assistance program
• 6 free sessions each year with a licensed therapist and Wellhub portal membership to support your mental and emotional wellbeing
• At least 18 paid time off days annually for full-time employees and 6 company holidays per year
• 6% company contribution to a 401K Retirement Savings Plan each pay period, no employee contribution required
• Tuition reimbursement, student loan refinancing and access to financial counseling, education, and tools
• Charitable Gift Program - match gift to an eligible educational, cultural, community health, and human service organizations
• Employee discounts and admission to various civic and cultural institutions around Chicago
• Zoro office perks including coffee bar, beer on tap, unlimited snacks, access to the onsite gym, and incredible city skyline views

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Manager
• Education Level: No Education Listed
• Number of Employees: 11-50 employees