Engineering Manager - VC Backed Startups

Join SignalFire’s Talent Network for Engineering Manager Roles at VC-Backed Startups

At SignalFire, we partner with top early-stage startups that are shaping the future of technology. Our portfolio spans 200+ innovative companies across AI, cybersecurity, healthtech, fintech, developer tools, and enterprise SaaS.

We’re looking to connect with exceptional Engineering Managers who are excited about leading teams, driving technical execution, and fostering a high-performance engineering culture at high-growth startups. By joining SignalFire’s Talent Network, your profile will be shared with our portfolio companies, giving you visibility into exclusive early-stage opportunities that may not be publicly listed.

💡 This is not an application for a specific job. Instead, this is a way to get on the radar of VC-backed startups that are actively hiring AI/ML talent. If you have any questions, please direct inquiries to talentnetwork@signalfire.com.

Who Should Join?

We’re looking for leaders who are:
✔ Passionate about growing and managing high-performing engineering teams
✔ Excited to balance hands-on technical leadership with team development
✔ Experienced in driving engineering execution, strategy, and delivery at scale

Typical Roles & Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a team of engineers, ensuring strong collaboration and execution

• Drive technical roadmaps, sprint planning, and project delivery in alignment with business goals

• Foster a culture of mentorship, feedback, and continuous learning within the engineering team

• Collaborate with product, design, and leadership teams to shape engineering priorities

• Own hiring, onboarding, and performance management for engineers

• Ensure best practices in code quality, security, scalability, and DevOps processes

• Provide technical guidance and architectural leadership, while empowering engineers to own solutions

• Improve engineering workflows, CI/CD, and deployment automation

Common Qualifications

While each startup has its own hiring criteria, many engineering manager roles in our network look for:

• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, with 1+ years in a leadership role

• Experience managing small to mid-sized teams in high-growth environments

• Strong technical background in backend, full-stack, or infrastructure engineering

• Experience leading teams working with modern frameworks and cloud-native architectures

• Proficiency in Agile, Kanban, or other software development methodologies

• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to balance business needs with technical execution

• Experience hiring and developing engineers at different experience levels

• Background in early-stage startups or rapidly scaling engineering teams is a plus

💡 Technologies You Might Work With:

• Languages & Frameworks: JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Ruby, Golang, Java, React, Node.js, Django, Flask, FastAPI, Spring Boot

• Cloud & DevOps: AWS (EKS, ECS, Lambda), GCP (GKE, Cloud Run), Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform, Jenkins, GitHub Actions

• Databases & Storage: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, DynamoDB, Redis

• Other Tools: GraphQL, REST APIs, Kafka, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch

What Happens Next?

1. Submit your application to join SignalFire’s Talent Ecosystem.

2. We review applications on an ongoing basis to identify strong candidates.

3. If there’s a match, a SignalFire talent partner or a leader from one of our startups may reach out directly.

4. No match yet? We’ll keep your profile on file for future engineering leadership roles in our portfolio.