Engineering Manager

THE OPPORTUNITY ModernFi is seeking an Engineering Manager to build and scale the platform that powers banks and credit unions nationwide. In this pivotal role, you will work directly with our leadership team to set engineering direction and ensure the team delivers with both speed and rigor. As the leader of a world-class engineering team, you will guide execution, elevate technical standards, and empower engineers to do the best work of their careers. Your leadership will be instrumental in building the technology that helps financial institutions operate, strengthening the financial health of millions of Americans. This role offers the opportunity to shape our engineering culture and practices from the ground up, scale the systems our platform depends on, grow a deeply skilled team, and influence ModernFi's broader trajectory during a period of rapid growth. At ModernFi, your work will directly fuel our vision and mission to serve as systemically important financial infrastructure that drives the American economy and to empower our partner financial institutions to grow and better serve their communities. THE ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES - Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing engineering team, fostering growth, accountability, and technical excellence - Drive end-to-end delivery of high-impact engineering initiatives - from concept to architecture, implementation, testing, and launch - Partner closely with Product, business stakeholders, and leadership to define scope, align on priorities, and ensure ModernFi ships high-quality features quickly and reliably - Establish and continuously improve engineering best practices, tools, and processes for a rapidly scaling organization - Own all the code your team produces. Review all code and not be afraid to hop into it and help push things over the line. At this stage, we are all ICs regardless of title and do whatever it takes to move towards our goals. - Support hiring, onboarding, and leveling efforts to help build a diverse, exceptional engineering team - Ensure strong execution through clear goal-setting, effective sprint planning, and proactive risk mitigation - Maintain a high technical bar by participating in architecture discussions, reviewing code, and guiding engineers in solving complex technical problems - Collaborate cross-functionally to translate client feedback and business needs into scalable technical solutions - Promote a culture of extreme ownership, thoughtful iteration, and high accountability within the engineering organization - Contribute to long-term technical strategy, system design, and infrastructure decisions as we scale to serve increasingly sophisticated institutions TECH STACK - Python (FastAPI, SQLAlchemy), Typescript - Retool (React, Vite, Tailwind) - PostgreSQL Database - AWS / Pulumi IaC - Tools: Auth0, Datadog, Fern ABOUT YOU - 6+ years of professional software engineering experience, including 2+ years in an engineering leadership or tech lead role - Strong technical foundation - capable of diving deep into architecture, system design, and debugging across the stack - Experience scaling an Engineering org. We are one team today, but just at the boundary, and will soon need to split into multiple squads. - Proven ability to lead teams through ambiguity and guide engineers toward clear outcomes - Comfortable in a fast-moving startup environment with evolving priorities - Strong communicator who can articulate technical concepts clearly across engineering, product, and leadership - High EQ, trustworthy, calm under pressure, and committed to developing others - Experience hiring, coaching, and conducting performance management in a high-expectation environment - Bias for action, strong ownership mentality, and passion for building mission-critical systems - Interest in (or experience with) fintech, banking, financial systems, or highly regulated environments is a plus - Energized by life-changing work at an early-stage company and motivated to h