Lead the Lister engineering domain end-to-end: set roadmap and technical vision across three pods, ensure partner data quality and system reliability, develop team leads and engineers, drive architecture and code review, manage incident/on-call processes, and partner with Product, Design, Analytics, and Partner Success to translate ambiguous partner needs into scoped engineering work.
Who We Are
At Apartment List, we’re transforming how people rent—making it smarter, easier, and a lot less frustrating. Our platform has already matched over 1.4 million renters with their next home, while helping properties fill units with the right residents. Backed by strong growth and a big vision, we’re building the future of renting—and inviting bold thinkers to help us shape it!
About this role
As Senior Manager, Engineering for the Lister team, you'll lead the engineering behind how property partners get their listings onto Apartment List and get value back out. Through Lister, we turn partner data from across the property management landscape into accurate listings, and turn renter interest into revenue for our partners.
Reporting into the Head of Engineering, you'll play a pivotal role in executing product strategy for the Lister domain, setting the engineering vision, roadmap, and delivery across three pods, each supported by a team lead who owns day-to-day execution.
Our ideal leader is both a strong operator and a strategic one: a player-coach who brings deep expertise in backend services and data pipelines that partners depend on, and knows how to apply AI to move faster. You stay close enough to the code to keep the technical bar high while growing the engineers and championing the partners the team serves.
You'll thrive here if you're comfortable where the inputs come from external systems you don't control and no two behave alike. You embrace that messy reality, build clarity where there was none, and lead with steadiness through ambiguity and change.
- Own the outcomes of the Lister domain end to end: delivery, technical health, partner data quality, and the health of the team that carries it.
- Set and defend a committed quarterly roadmap across three pods, including an explicit list of what the team is not doing and why.
- Develop the team's leads. Grow their scope from project leadership toward broader ownership, and coach the engineers under them.
- Hire, mentor, and retain a high-performing team across levels, and address underperformance directly when it appears.
- Stay hands-on. Review code, drive architecture decisions on the pipeline and partner integrations, and pick up work when the situation calls for it.
- Partner with Product, Design, Analytics, Partner Success, and Finance to translate ambiguous partner and regulatory pressure into scoped engineering work.
- Own the intake process for the domain. Classify incoming partner escalations, data quality reports, and feature asks, and push back when the answer is no.
- Be accountable for the reliability of the systems the team owns, including on-call health, incident response, and the operational completeness of new services.
- Represent Lister engineering to leadership: what shipped, what is at risk, what it will take.
Here are the skills and experience you'll need to be successful
- 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years managing engineering teams of 5 or more.
- Experience managing through team leads or senior engineers, not just direct ICs.
- A track record of building and scaling backend services and data pipelines that other teams and external partners depend on.
- Comfort with messy third-party integrations. You have owned a system whose inputs you did not control, and you know how to build guardrails, observability, and reconciliation around data you cannot trust.
- Strong technical judgment. You can hold the architecture bar for a team you do not out-code, and you know when to dive in yourself.
- Experience partnering directly with Product Managers, Designers, and Analysts to shape roadmaps, not just receive them.
- A record of growing engineers, including promoting people and turning around underperformance.
- Clear written communication. You can explain a data pipeline failure to a partner-facing stakeholder and a business trade-off to an executive.
- Experience with Kotlin, Ruby, and Typescript, or the willingness to learn them.
- Experience building cloud-native applications, preferably on Google Cloud Platform.
Here's the Pay Range:
At Apartment List, we carefully consider a variety of factors to determine compensation for each position, including the role, level, and work. The US base salary range for this position is:
- Zone 1: $202,000 - $245,000 TTC (including $178,000 - $208,000 base salary) + equity
- Zone 2: $187,000 - $227,000 TTC (including $165,000 - $192,000 base salary) + equity
- Zone 3: $172,000 - $208,000 TTC (including $155,000 - $1076,000 base salary) + equity
This reflects the compensation target for new hire salaries for the position across all US locations. Please note, the compensation details provided do not include benefits and perks that we offer.
We also rely on market indicators along with considering your work location, job related skills, experience and relevant education and training, to determine compensation that is fair and competitive for you. Apartment List will consider paying compensation near the higher of the range in exceptional circumstances, where candidates have the experience, credentials or expertise that would warrant such consideration. It is always our goal to hire exceptional talent and we would be happy to share more about compensation during the hiring process.
Here's what's in it for you (full-time US based employees only; does not apply to contract roles):
- Competitive Compensation: Including annual salary, pre-IPO stock options, and other financial compensation (if applicable)
- Medical, Dental, and Vision Coverage: 100% of premiums covered for you AND all of your dependents
- Unlimited Flexible Time Off: Unlimited FTO in addition to 12 company holidays per year, quarterly “recharge” days, and a week-long holiday break
- Home Office Reimbursement: To cover home office furniture and supplies, monthly home internet, and monthly cell phone (if applicable)
- Health & Wellness Reimbursement: To cover monthly gym membership or other qualifying expenses
- Parental Support: Generous parental and family leave, fertility benefits, and employer-sponsored stipends towards family forming services
- 401k Plan: To support you in your individual retirement goals
- Team Events: Frequent team-building events, fun team off-sites, and bi-annual company meetups
- Commitment to DEI: To prioritize Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within our workplace and to stay true to our values and mission
- Mentorship and Training: To get you onboard quickly, learn new professional skills, and invest in your career development
- Impact and Visibility: To expose you to and provide the opportunity to work on highly strategic initiatives that will transform the business
- Encouragement and Empowerment: To explore and adopt new technologies and drive meaningful decisions and outcomes
- At Apartment List we believe that everyone deserves a home they love AND a career they love. We strive to build a diverse team that is a reflection of the people we serve; this is made possible through our commitment to fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion, equity, and connectedness.
As a proud equal opportunity employer, we celebrate the collection of individual differences, life experiences, ideas, perspectives, knowledge, and talent. We hire candidates of any race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital or family status, disability, Veteran status, and any other status. #LIRemote
Apartment List San Francisco, California, USA Office
Although we are Virtual First, we have an office space in downtown San Francisco to host off-sites. With Oracle Park and Chase Center just a few blocks away, we're in the perfect location for an easy commute into the office and happy hour at a trendy bar or restaurant after work.
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