Software Engineering Manager - Austin, TX
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
As a Software Engineering Manager at TrendAI, you will lead our Zero Trust Secure Access (ZTSA) platform, where security architecture, large-scale SaaS, and policy enforcement converge at cloud scale. This role demands real technical depth, and the leadership to build a team that matches it.
If you haven't written production code in the last six months, this role probably isn't for you. If you've been a manager for a few years and quietly stopped being technical, and that feels fine, this role definitely isn't for you.
What You'll Do:
- Stay technically engaged - contributing to architecture decisions, design discussions, and hands-on work alongside your team.
- Develop your engineers - through honest feedback, active mentorship, and creating space for them to grow into bigger roles.
- Partner with Product, Design, and peer engineering teams to deliver complex features and releases on time.
- Set technical direction for the ZTSA platform and be the person the team turns to when the hard calls need to be made.
- Build a team culture grounded in ownership, quality, and accountability - were engineers care about outcomes, not just output.
- Translate technical tradeoffs clearly to leadership - and influence decisions at every level.
- Identify and remove what slows your team down - ambiguity, process drag, unclear priorities.
Requirements
- 3+ years leading engineering teams - with a track record of raising the technical capability of the people around you.
- 8+ years of hands-on software development - and you've stayed close to the work since moving into leadership.
- Strong technical instincts - you can make and defend architectural decisions, spot problems early, and earn the respect of senior engineers.
- High tolerance for ambiguity - you figure out what matters, cut what doesn't, and keep the team moving.
- Proven ability to influence - across teams, functions, and leadership levels, without relying on authority.
- Comfort operating in security or infrastructure domains - you understand the stakes and the complexity that comes with them.
Nice to Have:
- Background in network security/cybersecurity engineering.
- Familiarity with AI platforms & ML infrastructure.
- Hands-on experience with Go (Golang) and/or Python.
Benefits & conditions
You're important to us. What matters to you, matters to us too. TrendAI provides benefit options for you and your family.
- Comprehensive medical, dental and vision insurance
- Life insurance
- Short & Long Term Disability
- Pre-partum, maternity, parental and medical leave
- Mental Health Wellness Program
- Adoption Assistance
- Wellness Incentive
- Pet Insurance
- 401(k) with company match
- Paid Time Off
- 14 Annual Holidays
- Tuition Assistance
- Employee Resource Groups
We offer competitive compensation with bonus opportunity tied to company performance, along with room to enhance your skills through ongoing learning and broad technological opportunities. Achieving work-life balance is a priority, complemented by team activities, fostering an environment rooted in equity, inclusion, and collaboration, that is reflected in both our culture and our work.