Engineering Manager

At Cardless, we're building a credit card and loyalty platform that consumer businesses use to engage their customers. We power programs for names like Coinbase, Bilt, Qatar Airways, and Alibaba — real products, real cardholders, real transaction volume. And we're growing fast.

Our north star is to become the platform that powers the next generation of credit card programs globally: deeper integrations with partners, higher reliability at scale, and a platform that lets any consumer business launch and operate a card program without needing to build the infrastructure themselves.

We're looking for an engineering manager to lead one of our product engineering teams. This is a critical hire: you'll help shape not just the team, but how we build at Cardless as we scale toward that goal.

Responsibilities

• Lead and grow a high-performing engineering team working at the intersection of payments, money movement, and financial infrastructure.
• Own the technical health, execution, and culture of your team — from sprint planning to architectural direction.
• Be a hands-on technical partner: go deep on system design and complex technical decisions when it matters, while also stepping back to implement frameworks and processes that help the team operate autonomously at scale.
• Partner closely with the Head of Engineering on hiring strategy, technical roadmap, and organizational planning.
• Work directly with external partners, compliance, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate complex requirements into reliable, high-quality systems.
• Bring clarity to ambiguous situations — define the right problems, set technical standards, and build a team that can move fast without breaking things that matter.
• Champion the thoughtful use of AI tooling across the team — from developer productivity to how we design and build systems — and help set the standard for how engineering at Cardless evolves alongside these tools.

What we look for

• Several years of engineering management experience, ideally leading backend teams building complex, high-scale systems.
• Strong technical depth — you can credibly engage in system design discussions, challenge architectural decisions, and earn the trust of senior engineers.
• Experience in fintech, payments, credit or debit card infrastructure, or money movement. You understand the compliance and regulatory realities of building in this space.
• A track record of scaling teams as well as systems — you've grown people, defined processes, and built cultures that ship.
• Strong cross-functional instincts. You're comfortable navigating ambiguity alongside product, compliance, operations, and external partners.
• High standards and a commitment to quality — in code, in communication, and in outcomes.
• Excitement about how AI is reshaping software development and a track record of putting these tools to work — whether for developer productivity, system design, or building smarter products.

Why Cardless

You'll join a collaborative, fast-moving team that values craftsmanship, curiosity, and impact. We're building the platform that powers the next generation of credit card programs — and we're just getting started.

Benefits

We're proud to offer our team excellent benefits:

• 💸 Meaningful start-up equity
• 🏥 100% health, vision & dental primary coverage
• ➕ 75% health, vision & dental dependent coverage
• 🍱 Catered lunches and dinners
• 🚎 $250/month commuter benefit
• 👶 Parental leave
• ✈️ Team building events
• 🌴 Flexible PTO with a minimum of 15 days off per year
• 💸 401(k) plan
• 🚛 Relocation assistance

Compensation

This role has an annual starting salary range of $230,000-$300,000 + equity + benefits (see above). Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skills, experience, and specific work location.

Location

We're headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with a beautiful new office in the Jackson Square district. This role requires 5 days a week in office.