Senior Engineering Manager, Messaging Platforms
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
The New York Times is looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to lead our Integrated Messaging team within the Messaging Platforms group. This is a full-stack engineering team responsible for the end-to-end experience of our direct-to-consumer messaging. We build both the high-throughput delivery engines that power native push notifications for millions of readers and the internal applications that allow our newsroom and marketing partners to orchestrate these communications.
We are at an inflection point. As we evolve our messaging strategy, this team will lead the expansion into new channels like WhatsApp and SMS. As a Senior EM, you won't just manage a stable platform; you will design the team and the technology required to reach our audience wherever they are. You will oversee a diverse technical stack ranging from low-latency backend integrations to the user-facing tools that make our messaging platform powerful and intuitive.
You will join an organization that values empathy, collaboration, transparency, and diversity.
Responsibilities:
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Lead a Full-Stack Team: Manage a high-performing team of engineers (typically 7-12) working across the stack, from backend distributed systems to frontend management applications.
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Design Multi-Channel Growth: Guide the technical vision and roadmap for expanding our capabilities beyond native push into WhatsApp, SMS, or other emerging messaging channels.
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Balance Systems & Applications: Oversee the development of high-availability delivery services alongside the internal tools and UIs that our editorial and product teams use to reach readers.
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High-Stakes Delivery: Ensure the reliability and sub-second delivery of push notifications.
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Strategic Partnership: Partner with Product, Design, and Data counterparts to prioritize investments that balance immediate operational needs with long-term platform modernization.
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Group Leadership: Contribute to the broader Messaging Platforms group by leading cross-team technical or cultural programs alongside the Group EM cadre.
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Champion Excellence: Represent the team in high-level technical discussions, identifying risks and making calculated tradeoffs between feature velocity and platform stability.
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Demonstrate support and understanding of our value of journalistic independence (https://www.nytco.com/company/mission-and-values/) and a strong commitment to our mission to seek the truth and help people understand the world.
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You will report to the Director of Engineering for Messaging Platforms.
Requirements
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3+ years of experience as an Engineering Manager, with a proven track record of managing high-functioning teams.
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Full-Stack Leadership for High-Availability Systems: Experience managing cross-disciplinary engineers (Frontend, Backend, DevOps) and overseeing mission-critical production operations.
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Demonstrated experience in driving transformation, leading teams through changes in technical strategy, organizational structure, or product direction.
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Strong People Development Skills: A history of coaching, mentoring, and growing the careers of engineers at various levels.
Preferred Qualifications:
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Experience transitioning a team to an Agentic AI workflow, leveraging AI agents or LLM-based automation to enhance engineering productivity or system capabilities.
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Messaging Domain Expertise: Experience with push notification services (APNs, FCM), SMS gateways, or messaging APIs (e.g., WhatsApp Business API, Twilio).
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Modern Web Stack: Experience with React, Node.js, or similar frameworks used to build consumer-grade tooling and management consoles.
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Cloud Proficiency: Fluency in cloud deployments (AWS preferred), including serverless (Lambda), event-driven architectures, and observability.
This role may require limited on-call hours. An on-call schedule will be determined when you join, taking into account team size and other variables.
Benefits & conditions
$185,000 - $210,000 USD
For roles in the U.S., dependent on your role, you may be eligible for variable pay, such as an annual bonus and restricted stock. Benefits may include medical, dental and vision benefits, Flexible Spending Accounts (F.S.A.s), a company-matching 401(k) plan, paid vacation, paid sick days, paid parental leave, tuition reimbursement and professional development programs.
For roles outside of the U.S., information on benefits will be provided during the interview process.
We're excited to learn more about you and your experience. To keep our hiring process as fair and authentic as possible, we ask that you submit your own work and not use GenAI tools to generate substantive content during the application and interview process.
If you're an Engineering candidate, we'll let you know what specific GenAI tools you are permitted to use for your technical assessment.
The New York Times Company is committed to being the world's best source of independent, reliable and quality journalism. To do so, we embrace a diverse workforce that has a broad range of backgrounds and experiences across our ranks, at all levels of the organization. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.