Software Engineering Manager

Software Engineering Manager

We are seeking a people-first, technically grounded Engineering Manager (EM) to lead high-performing teams that design, build, and deliver secure, scalable software solutions for both government and commercial customers. In this critical role, you will be the leader your team trusts — someone who creates clarity, removes barriers, and develops engineers into the best versions of themselves. You will set technical direction by breaking down complex problems and partnering closely with senior engineers and architects, while keeping your teams healthy, aligned, and delivering with velocity and quality.

Your greatest impact will come through your people. You will build a culture of psychological safety, accountability, and growth — empowering your teams to take ownership and do their best work. You will partner with Product, Program, and Architecture leaders to translate strategic vision into action, and you will be the bridge that connects your team’s work to the broader mission.

This is a unique opportunity to shape the future of our engineering organization and make a direct impact on mission-critical systems that serve both government and commercial domains.

Why This Role Matters

Great engineering organizations are built by great leaders — not just great technologists. As an Engineering Manager, your ability to communicate clearly, develop people, and build trust is what makes everything else possible. The strongest technical strategy fails without a team that’s engaged, supported, and aligned.

If you are motivated by developing people, building teams where engineers thrive, and driving delivery through strong leadership and clear communication, this is your opportunity to lead impactful work that advances national security and commercial innovation.

What You’ll Do

People Leadership

This is the foundation of the role. Everything else builds on your ability to lead, communicate, and develop people.

Build trust through transparent, honest communication. Be the leader who gives your team clarity on the “why” — not just the “what.” Communicate openly about priorities, trade-offs, and hard decisions.

Develop engineers and grow careers. Provide continuous, meaningful feedback — not just quarterly reviews. Understand each team member’s goals and actively create opportunities for their growth. Mentor both individual contributors and emerging team leads.

Create psychological safety. Foster an environment where engineers feel safe to ask questions, raise concerns, surface problems early, and challenge ideas constructively. Teams that feel safe move faster and produce better outcomes.

Navigate difficult conversations with empathy and directness. Whether it’s performance feedback, conflict resolution, or organizational change, communicate hard things honestly while maintaining trust and respect.

Hire and retain diverse, high-performing talent through inclusive recruiting practices and by building a team culture people don’t want to leave.

Actively listen. Seek to understand before being understood — whether with your team, stakeholders, or customers.

Uphold Bluestaq’s core values of trust, ownership, curiosity, teamwork, mentorship, and talent development, fostering a culture where team members take initiative, support one another, and grow together.

Technical Direction Problem Decomposition

Your role is to understand technical landscapes well enough to break down complex problems, ask the right questions, and set direction.

Break down complex technical problems into actionable plans that your team can execute against. Translate ambiguity into clarity.

Set technical direction by partnering with senior engineers, architects, and technical leads — leaning on their deep expertise while providing leadership context and strategic alignment.

Guide teams through major technical decisions (e.g., migrations, modernization, architectural shifts), ensuring alignment with long-term strategy and business goals.

Champion quality, operational excellence, and system sustainability — knowing when to push for speed and when to invest in durability.

Balance delivery speed with technical integrity by partnering with engineers, product owners, and program managers to make informed trade-offs.

Execution Delivery

Drive delivery of initiatives by partnering with product owners, product managers, program managers, or project managers to manage scope, priorities, resources, and timelines.

Support and reinforce agile practices (e.g., planning, standups, reviews, retrospectives) to maintain cadence and accountability.

Monitor team throughput, quality, and operational health; intervene early when risk, bottlenecks, or misalignment appear.

Continuously adjust priorities and capacity in coordination with product and program partners to stay aligned with business and mission needs.

You use modern AI tools with judgment: integrating them into workflows where they're impactful, reviewing their …