Senior Engineering Manager | API

DeepL•New York, NY

48d•Hybrid

About The Position

DeepL is a global communications platform powered by Language AI. Since 2017, we've been on a mission to break down language barriers. Our human-sounding translations and intelligent writing suggestions are designed with enterprise security in mind. Today, they enable over 100,000 businesses to transform communications, reach new markets, and improve productivity. And, empower millions of individuals worldwide to make sense of the world and express their ideas. Our goal is to become the global leader in Language AI, building products that drive better communication, foster connections, and make a real-life impact. To achieve this, we need talented individuals like you to join our exciting journey. If you're ready to work with a dynamic team and build your career in the fast-moving AI space, DeepL is your next destination. What sets us apart is our blend of modern technology, competitive benefits, and an open, welcoming work culture that enables our people to thrive. When we share what it's like to work at DeepL, the reactions are overwhelmingly positive. This may be because of our products that have helped countless people worldwide or our shared mission to improve communication for individuals and businesses, bringing cultures closer together. What we know for sure is this: being part of DeepL means joining a team dedicated to innovation and employee well-being. Discover what our teams have to say about life at DeepL on LinkedIn, Instagram and our Blog. Meet the team behind this journey The APIs & Partnerships team exposes the DeepL communications platform to external developers and businesses through well-designed, documented, and managed APIs. This pillar has been at the heart of DeepL's commercial success, growing rapidly from 3 to over 20 engineers and serving billions of characters every month for mission-critical workflows. As our Senior Engineering Manager based in NYC, you will be the foundational leader for the API Platform pillar. Your domain will include the teams responsible for our Core API, Developer Experience (DevEx), and API Infrastructure. You will take ownership of this critical area, scaling it from its current team of 7+ engineers into a multi-team organization of 30-40+ people over the next 2-3 years. Your leadership will be pivotal in enabling access to all DeepL services with world-class performance and reliability, empowering developers globally. As part of the team, you will support our enterprise customers with the integrations they need for LLM-powered translation and communication, and empower developers with scalable, secure, and easy-to-deploy solutions. By contributing to our backend services and client libraries for enterprise customers, you will directly help serve the team's objectives for making DeepL the world's preferred solution for multi-lingual communication problems: Scalability and parity: enable access to all DeepL services with the same performance across all regions. Serve the developer: Encourage the development of new applications and services using our APIs. Usage: Boost consumption metrics by facilitating widespread adoption.

Requirements

Deep API-First Experience: You have significant experience building and scaling developer-facing products and platforms, ideally within a high-growth, API-first startup or scale-up.
Proven Scaling & Multi-Team Leadership: A strong track record (3-4+ years) of managing and scaling multiple engineering teams. You have a clear history of developing other leaders (both managers and senior individual contributors).
An Entrepreneurial, "Owner" Mindset: You think like a founder. You are "scrappy," thrive in ambiguity, and have a bias for action. You are comfortable navigating a fast-moving, global organization and are obsessed with driving business outcomes.
Hiring Champion: You are a proven bar-raiser with experience hiring and building teams in a high-growth environment. You know how to attract, develop, and retain top-tier, entrepreneurial talent.
Developer & Customer Obsession: A deep obsession with the developer experience and customer journey, from API design and documentation to post-launch reliability and iteration.

Responsibilities

Own & Scale the API Platform: You are accountable for the end-to-end success and technical strategy of the API Platform (Core, DevEx, Infrastructure). You will own the roadmap, define the blueprint for organizational growth, and scale the pillar from a single team to a 30-4L+ person multi-team organization.
Build High-Performing, Empowered Teams: Your primary mandate is to foster a culture of ownership, speed, and customer-centricity. You will mentor senior engineers, develop new engineering managers, and act as a hiring champion to attract and onboard world-class, entrepreneurial talent in a highly competitive market.
Drive Business & Product Outcomes: This is not a "back-office" role. You will partner directly with Product, Design, and Go-to-Market teams to drive business impact. You will relentlessly focus on the developer journey, ensuring your teams deliver scalable, reliable, and intuitive APIs that solve real-world customer problems.
Execute in a High-Growth Environment: You will be a foundational leader in our NYC hub, thriving in ambiguity and navigating a fast-moving, global organization. You will bring a "bolder, stronger, faster" mindset to the team, establishing processes that enable us to scale without sacrificing speed or quality.

Benefits

Diverse and internationally distributed team: joining our team means becoming part of a large, global community with people of more than 90 nationalities. We're more than just colleagues; we're a group of professionals with a shared mission to connect diverse cultures. Our global presence is growing-we've doubled in size nearly every year, with our employees based in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, the US, and Japan, and we continue to expand our network.
Open communication, regular feedback: as a language-focused company, we value the importance of clear, honest communication. We value smooth collaboration, direct and actionable feedback, and believe that leading with empathy and growth mindset makes us better together.
Hybrid work, flexible hours: we offer a hybrid work schedule, with team members coming into the office twice a week. This allows you to engage directly with your team and experience the unique energy of our workspace, while still enjoying the flexibility and comfort of working from home. With flexible working hours and trust in your productivity, we are in sync with your team's general locations and time zones to foster effective and seamless collaboration.
Virtual Shares - An ownership mindset in every role. We believe everyone should share in our success, and that's why every employee receives Virtual Shares, linking your contribution directly to DeepL's growth and rewarding you with a stake in our future.
Regular in-person team events: we bond over vibrant events that are as unique as our team, from local team and business unit gatherings, to new-joiner onboardings, to company-wide events that bring us all together-literally.
Monthly full-day hacking sessions: every month, we have Hack Fridays, where you can spend your time diving into a project you're passionate about and get the opportunity to work with other teams-we value your initiatives, impact, and creativity.
30 days of annual leave: we value your peace of mind. With 30 days off (excluding public holidays) and access to mental health resources, we make sure you're as strong mentally as you are professionally.
Competitive benefits: just as our team spans the globe, so does our benefits package. We've crafted it to reflect the diversity of our team and tailored it to align with your unique location, to ensure you feel supported every step of the way.

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