Manager, Software Engineering

Vestmark, Inc.•Boston, MA

1d•$155,000 - $165,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Vestmark is building the AI-native future of wealth management technology. We are looking for a Manager who can build and lead the team that delivers it. You will own a team of up to 12 engineers, drive delivery through a kanban-based process you co-own with product management, and operate as a peer to a Principal Engineer who sets the technical direction. The technical authority is theirs. The delivery, the people, and the outcomes are yours. This role demands high judgment and a genuine bias for action. You will make calls with incomplete information, adapt quickly as tools and priorities evolve, and hold your team accountable for outcomes while investing in their growth. AI fluency is not optional here: you are expected to model the same AI-native practices you require of your team. Vestmark is a leading provider of wealth management solutions and services that enable financial advisors and institutions to efficiently manage and trade their clients' portfolios using a purpose-built SaaS ecosystem. With over $2 trillion in assets and 5+ million accounts, we are a trusted partner to some of the largest and most respected players across the wealth management industry.

Requirements

Demonstrated experience managing a software engineering team of meaningful size; you have hired, developed, and managed out, and you can speak to each with specificity
Track record of building high-performing teams, including integrating engineers with different skill levels and backgrounds into a cohesive unit
Direct, honest communicator: equally effective giving feedback to an individual engineer and presenting delivery status to senior leadership
You treat performance management as a core competency: you set clear expectations, give direct feedback, and don't let underperformance linger
Proven ability to own end-to-end delivery across multiple concurrent workstreams with genuine accountability for outcomes
Fluency with kanban-based delivery: WIP management, flow metrics, continuous prioritization, and outcome-based planning
Ability to engage with business problems deeply enough to make good sequencing and trade-off decisions, not just manage tasks
Bias for action: you make the call, communicate it clearly, and adjust if you are wrong
You use AI-assisted development tools and agentic systems regularly and with genuine depth: you have opinions about them, you are actively developing your practice, and you model that standard explicitly for the engineers on your team
Demonstrated ability to adapt quickly to new tools, processes, and circumstances; your default response to change is to engage, not to resist
Curiosity about where AI-native engineering is heading and how it will continue to change the work of building and leading software teams
High judgment in ambiguous situations: able to weigh competing priorities, make defensible calls, and take accountability for the outcome
Ability to maintain clarity and focus for a team operating in a fast-moving, sometimes uncertain environment
Strong written and verbal communication; the team and the organization should always know where things stand and why decisions were made
Track record of driving scope and priority decisions at the team level: connecting what the squad is building to measurable business outcomes and pushing back when the work doesn't align
You engage with the business problem your team is solving, not just the delivery plan; you can distinguish between a well-scoped initiative and one that will move the wrong metric
B. S. in Computer Science or equivalent work experience
5+ years of software engineering experience; strong enough technical background to evaluate engineering trade-offs, read designs critically, and earn the respect of the Principal-level engineers on your team
3+ years of people management experience in a software engineering context, managing a team of at least 5 engineers with clear evidence of hiring, developing, and managing direct reports

Nice To Haves

Experience leading a team through a meaningful shift in how they work: a new delivery model, a major change in tooling, or a significant restructuring of how engineering and product collaborated
Hands-on experience with AI-native or agentic development environments, either as an engineer or as a manager of engineers doing that work
Background in financial services technology or other highly regulated, operationally complex domains
A track record of integrating tenured employees and new hires into a cohesive unit, particularly where cultural alignment and skill development were part of the challenge

Responsibilities

Own Delivery: Co-own the kanban process with product management: maintain flow, manage WIP, prioritize ruthlessly, and hold the team to delivery commitments
Translate business priorities into clear, sequenced work with defined outcomes and measurable success criteria
Surface blockers and risks early and resolve them; stakeholders should always have an accurate picture of where things stand
Apply the principle “fix the process, don’t automate the broken one”: engage deeply enough with the work to know when the solution is right, not just when it is done
Build & Develop the Team: Recruit, hire, onboard, and develop a team of engineers, including both existing Vestmark engineers and new hires aligned with the AI-native profile we are building toward
Manage performance actively: set clear expectations, provide direct feedback, recognize strong performance, and address underperformance without delay
Integrate engineers from different starting points into a cohesive team with shared standards, mutual accountability, and consistently high output
Invest in each person’s growth, with particular focus on building AI fluency across the team regardless of starting point
Contribute to the growth and development of our core values: We Before Me, Positive Energy, Knowledge Explorer, and Own It
Drive AI-Native Practice: Model AI-native development practices yourself: use AI tools actively in how you plan, communicate, analyze work, and operate as a manager
Reinforce the team’s AI-native standards in every interaction: planning sessions, reviews, retrospectives, and day-to-day decision-making
Partner with the Principal Engineer to ensure delivery practices support, rather than constrain, the team’s ability to build agentic and AI-driven solutions
Stay current on AI tooling and agentic system capabilities; the expectation is that you adapt quickly to new tools and approaches as they emerge
Operate with Judgment & Adaptability: Make decisions with the information available; waiting for certainty is not an option in an environment that moves at this pace
Adapt quickly as priorities, tools, and circumstances change; bring the team with you without losing momentum
Navigate ambiguity at the team level while maintaining clarity for the individuals on your team about what they are working on and why
Build and maintain strong working relationships across engineering, product management, and operations to keep work flowing and dependencies resolved