Sr. Manager - Software Engineering
About The Position
At Blue Origin, we envision millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. We’re working to develop reusable, safe, and low-cost space vehicles and systems within a culture of safety, collaboration, and inclusion. Join our team of problem solvers as we add new chapters to the history of spaceflight! This role is part of Enterprise Technology (ET), where we’re developing the digital infrastructure needed to build the road to space, with an emphasis on digital capabilities required to advance Blue Origin’s mission. Enterprise Technology is the center of excellence for digital technology at Blue Origin, providing oversight and governance to align technology and business strategies. As part of a hardworking team of technology professionals, you are invited to join us as a Sr. Manager - Software Engineering. You will lead the Applications team — the group that administers Jira, Confluence, and a portfolio of enterprise applications, builds integrations and automations across them, and operates the AWS cloud infrastructure those applications run on. Jira and Confluence are used by everyone at Blue Origin; when the entire company plans work and shares knowledge, it runs on the platforms your team owns. This is a hands-on leadership role with a clear mandate to transform how the team works. Today, much of the team's applications work is manual and ticket-driven. Your charge is to change that — moving the team from resolving requests by hand to building self-service tools and automating those requests away. AI is a core tool in this shift: you will put AI-assisted development and automation in your engineers' hands to accelerate how they build and how quickly they eliminate repetitive work. In parallel, you will mature and scale the team's operational backbone — the AWS infrastructure, patching, upgrades, and system health that keep everything running — raising operational rigor as the company grows. Your team brings a range of skillsets and areas of focus — from application administration to infrastructure and operations — all working across the same set of applications. Leading them through this transformation means raising the technical bar, reshaping how work gets done, and bringing your people along, growing their skills as the team evolves. This is a high-visibility leadership role that partners with every area of the company. When employees track work, collaborate on documents, and share knowledge — it is your team that keeps those applications available, integrated, and scaling with the company's growth.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience
- 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years in a managerial role.
- Experience leading organizational or operational change within a team — reshaping roles, processes, or ways of working
- Strong management experience building and leading teams that develop and operate software
- Experience operating application workloads on AWS in a production environment
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Nice To Haves
- Experience transforming a manual, ticket-driven support function into an engineering-led, automated one
- Experience driving adoption of AI tools and AI-assisted development within an engineering or operations team
- Experience administering Atlassian tools (Jira, Confluence) at enterprise scale
- Track record of elevating team capabilities and driving operational maturity in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
Responsibilities
- Lead a team of eight engineers and admins responsible for the administration, integration, and reliability of Jira, Confluence, and Blue Origin's broader portfolio of enterprise applications, along with the AWS infrastructure they run on
- Transform the team from a manual, ticket-driven model into a software engineering practice that builds self-service tools and automates recurring requests
- Embed AI tools and AI-assisted development into the team's daily workflows to accelerate delivery and eliminate repetitive work
- Architect and guide the design of integrations and automations that connect enterprise applications and eliminate manual work
- Mature and scale the team's infrastructure and operations work — AWS infrastructure, patching, upgrades, and system health — raising operational rigor as the company grows
- Own the applications and infrastructure roadmap, making high-judgment decisions on prioritization and scheduling that impact employees across the company
- Oversee administration of enterprise applications including user provisioning, access controls, licensing, integrations, and vendor coordination
- Define and enforce SLAs/SLOs; establish robust monitoring, alerting, and incident management practices
- Participate in an on-call rotation and ensure the team maintains effective on-call coverage
- Lead capacity planning, upgrade planning, and disaster recovery efforts
- Partner with cybersecurity teams to ensure applications and infrastructure meet security and compliance requirements
- Manage vendor relationships for licensing and support contracts
- Hire and develop top-tier talent
Benefits
- Medical
- dental
- vision
- basic and supplemental life insurance
- paid parental leave
- short and long-term disability
- 401(k) with a company match of up to 5%
- Education Support Program
- Stock Options for all regular employees (working at least 20 hours/week)
- Paid Time Off: Up to four (4) weeks per year based on weekly scheduled hours
- up to 14 company-paid holidays
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Manager
