Software Development Manager, Platform Engineering

Autodesk•Washington, DC

4d•$148,000 - $264,990•Onsite

About The Position

We’re looking for a seasoned, hands-on Software Engineering Manager to lead a high-performing full-stack engineering team supporting our horizontal services and core technology platforms. In this role, you’ll balance technical leadership with people management while guiding engineers through complex architectural decisions, delivering scalable solutions, and driving technical strategy across core domains. You’ll partner closely with Product Management, Visual Design, and engineering teams to translate business requirements into reliable, scalable, and developer-friendly solutions. This is a hands-on leadership opportunity where you’ll mentor and grow engineers, remove technical and delivery blockers, communicate project health and risks to stakeholders, and drive engineering excellence across modern application and platform environments. The ideal candidate brings strong software engineering fundamentals, robust backend infrastructure experience, and experience building and scaling (CMS), experimentation frameworks, and self-service platforms.

Requirements

3+ years of people leadership experience managing and developing software engineers
10+ years of total software engineering experience
Strong foundation in computer science, software architecture, and software design principles
Proven experience leading engineering teams through complex technical projects and delivering business-critical solutions
Strong experience designing and scaling distributed systems, microservices, and RESTful APIs
Experience with event-driven development and streaming/messaging technologies such as Kafka
Strong understanding of modern frontend ecosystems, including React
Experience with modern (CMS)
Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Java, Python, or Node.js
Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate project health, technical risks, dependencies, and escalation resolutions to stakeholders and leadership
Demonstrated ability to partner effectively with Product, Design, and Engineering organizations

Nice To Haves

Experience building or operating experimentation or A/B testing platforms
Experience developing self-service platforms and internal engineering tools
Experience with large-scale content management platforms and workflows
Strong understanding of cloud-native application architecture and distributed infrastructure
Experience with asynchronous processing, event-driven systems, and messaging architectures
Experience leading cross-functional technical initiatives spanning multiple engineering teams
Experience improving developer productivity through automation, platform capabilities, and reusable services
Strong track record of developing engineering talent and building high-performing technical organizations

Responsibilities

Lead, mentor, and support the growth of a high-performing full-stack engineering team
Foster an inclusive, collaborative environment that empowers engineers to make autonomous technical decisions
Own project delivery, including roadmap execution, planning, risk management, and operational follow-through
Provide regular project status updates, metrics, progress reporting, and risk assessments to cross-functional stakeholders and leadership
Proactively identify and resolve technical and project bottlenecks, escalating issues effectively to keep initiatives on track
Partner closely with Product Management, Visual Design, and engineering teams to align priorities and deliver business outcomes
Drive technical direction and architectural decisions for core horizontal services and platforms
Champion strong software engineering principles, code quality, scalability, maintainability, and system reliability
Design and scale distributed systems, microservices, and RESTful APIs
Guide engineering teams in developing resilient, scalable, and maintainable backend services
Promote engineering best practices across architecture, development, testing, deployment, and operational excellence
Oversee the development and scaling of experimentation frameworks, (CMS), and self-service workflows
Build platforms and tools that enable engineering teams and internal customers to work more efficiently and independently
Partner with cross-functional teams to identify opportunities for automation, scalability, and improved developer experiences
Drive technical solutions that support evolving business requirements and high-scale application environments
Design and support event-driven architectures and distributed systems
Work with streaming and messaging technologies such as Kafka
Guide the development of reliable APIs, microservices, and asynchronous workflows
Evaluate and improve system scalability, performance, reliability, and operational resilience