Engineering Manager – Growth Foundations

The Engineering Manager, Growth Foundations role is part of Payward, the parent company behind Kraken, NinjaTrader, Breakout, xStocks, Payward Services and CF Benchmarks. Payward has spent 15 years building a modern, globally accessible financial‑infrastructure platform that supports an open financial system. Within this ecosystem, the Growth Foundations team creates the AI‑native Growth Engine, delivering the core infrastructure for website, user communications and martech tools that power company‑wide growth initiatives. In this position you will lead and develop a cross‑functional engineering team that builds high‑impact features, platforms and tools for growth. Daily tasks involve partnering with Product and Design to define scope and priorities, keeping projects on track with clear expectations and realistic estimates, and communicating transparently with stakeholders. You will provide technical guidance, foster a culture of accountability and learning, improve processes and collaboration across time zones, and stay hands‑on by writing production‑grade code and leveraging AI tooling to boost productivity. The role requires proven experience leading engineering teams and delivering high‑quality results in a collaborative setting. Strong people‑leadership skills are essential, as is a solid technical foundation, particularly on the backend, so you can engage in design discussions, code reviews and pragmatic decision‑making. You must be highly proficient in modern AI‑driven development, using AI daily to enhance personal and team performance, and be familiar with at least one modern programming language such as TypeScript, Rust, Go or Python. A product mindset, clear communication and organizational abilities, and experience working in distributed, remote‑first teams are also mandatory. Nice‑to‑have experience includes work with analytics, performance or paid marketing, experimentation or growth tooling, as well as a background in developer experience, SDKs or internal platforms. The team operates asynchronously across global time zones, emphasizing ownership, craftsmanship and rapid experimentation. Growth Foundations has a direct influence on company growth, global reach and user engagement at scale, offering a unique opportunity to shape the future of open finance. What the role asks for: - Experience leading engineering teams - Strong people leadership and coaching skills - Solid backend technical foundation - High proficiency in AI-driven development - Familiarity with modern programming languages (e.g., TypeScript, Rust, Go, Python) - Experience in distributed, remote‑first teams - Experience with analytics, performance marketing, or growth tooling (nice to have) - Background in developer experience, SDKs, or internal platforms (nice to have)