Manager, Software Engineering - Developer Experience

At Learning Commons, we pair technology with grantmaking to scale proven teaching and learning practices to benefit every learner. We aim to translate what learning science tells us about how students learn best into classroom practice. With the advent of generative AI, that translation work can be accelerated and scaled to have a greater impact. 

Our mission is to bring learning science into the tools used every day by teachers and students, ensuring that technology reflects the realities of classrooms and strengthens teaching and learning.

In today’s fragmented edtech landscape, school districts are often left piecing together products that don’t always align with curricula or instructional needs. While AI holds enormous potential to support educators, it can only deliver on that promise when grounded in research, high-quality educational data, and expert evaluation. That’s why we’re building open, public-purpose infrastructure — datasets, rubrics, and resources — that help raise the standard for educational tools and create more consistent, impactful learning experiences for all students and teachers.

At our core, we are builders, and our unique builder philanthropy approach is what sets us apart from other education funders. Take a closer look at the highlights and significant milestones of CZI’s first eight years of education work.

As a Senior Software Engineering Manager of the Developer Experience (DevEx) team, you’ll build the AI infrastructure and software systems that enable EdTech developers to better connect how students learn with the tools they learn from. Our team is creating the connective tissue of learning science—open datasets, shared standards, and scalable infrastructure that make knowledge about effective teaching and learning easily accessible and usable. We’re developing this public foundation through open, machine-readable educational data and rigorous evaluation methods, in partnership with developers dedicated to building products that genuinely serve students.

You’ll lead the engineering work that empowers EdTech developers to build on top of our open infrastructure. This team owns and operates our open-source GitHub repositories, developer documentation platform, and Developer Portal, serving as the primary interface between our AI developer tools and the community that uses them.
We’re looking for a manager who not only excels at guiding technical execution but also brings product vision and thought leadership in the Developer Experience domain. In close partnership with product, design, and research, you’ll help shape how developers discover, learn, and build with Learning Commons APIs, data, and tools — creating intuitive, powerful experiences that accelerate innovation in education technology.

You’ll play a pivotal role in shaping how developers engage with the Learning Commons ecosystem — creating the tools, standards, and experiences that make it easy to build meaningful EdTech solutions. This is a unique opportunity to blend technical leadership, product vision, and impact at scale in support of our mission to connect how students learn with the tools they learn with.

• Lead and grow a software engineering team focused on building and maintaining our open-source developer tools, APIs, and developer portal.
• Drive the product vision for developer experience in partnership with Product and Design, helping define how developers interact with Learning Commons systems.
• Ensure technical excellence by overseeing system design, code quality, performance, and maintainability across DevEx products.
• Build and evolve team processes that enable high-quality, predictable delivery while supporting experimentation and collaboration.
• Mentor and develop engineers, creating an inclusive environment where people thrive, grow their skills, and understand how their work contributes to the broader mission.
• Lead our first Forward-Deployed engineers.

• Proven experience managing software engineering teams and delivering developer-facing products such as SDKs, APIs, open-source libraries, or developer portals.
• A strong understanding of modern developer experience practices, including API design, documentation, usability, and open-source community engagement.
• Ability to think strategically and translate long-term vision into actionable technical and operational plans.
• Experience balancing people leadership with hands-on technical guidance, fostering both autonomy and accountability.
• Excellent communication and cross-functional collaboration skills — ability to build strong partnerships across product, design, research, and infrastructure teams.
• Has 10 or more years of software engineering experience with 5 or more years of management experience

The Redwood City, CA base pay range for a new hire in this role is $241,000.00 - $330,000.00. New hires are typically hired into the lower portion of the range, enabling employee growth in the range over time. Actual placement in range is based on job-related skills and experience, as evaluated throughout the interview process. 

As we grow, we’re excited to strengthen in-person connections and cultivate a collaborative, team-oriented environment. This role is a hybrid position requiring you to be onsite for at least 60% of the working month, approximately 3 days a week, with specific in-office days determined by the team’s manager. The exact schedule will be at the hiring manager's discretion and communicated during the interview process.

We’re thankful to have an incredible team behind our work. To honor their commitment, we offer a wide range of benefits to support the people who make all we do possible. 

• Provides a generous employer match on employee 401(k) contributions to support planning for the future.
• Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice. 
• Funding for select family-forming benefits. 
• Relocation support for employees who need assistance moving

If you’re interested in a role but your previous experience doesn’t perfectly align with each qualification in the job description, we still encourage you to apply as you may be the perfect fit for this or another role.

#LI-Hybrid