Software Engineering Manager - Special Projects - Midnight/Shielded

Who are we?

Shielded Technologies is a business technology provider and core contributor to the Midnight Network, a blockchain platform for developing decentralized applications that safeguard personal and commercial data. The Midnight Network is the first blockchain to offer programmable data isolation by leveraging zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs to enable selective disclosure of what information is visible on-chain and is designed to help developers implement necessary business policies, such as meeting regulatory requirements.

What the role involves:

As the Engineering Manager for Special Projects at Midnight, you will be responsible for leading targeted engineering initiatives that drive the innovative development of our landmark, data-protection blockchain. Reporting to the CTO, your mission will be to ensure the timely and high-quality execution of critical, often experimental, aspects of our technology roadmap.

You will be a hands-on leader, providing technical guidance, mentorship, and operational oversight to a dedicated team focused on specific, high-impact projects. Your key responsibilities will include technical scoping, establishing agile development best practices, removing obstacles for your team, and ensuring tight alignment with the broader engineering and product goals to meet our ambitious objectives.

You will have the rare opportunity to lead the practical implementation of cutting-edge components within a platform that leverages a novel ZK-proof programming model on a Cardano sidechain, directly shaping the future of regulatory-friendly data protection.

• Lead and Deliver Special Projects: Directly lead and manage specific engineering projects from concept to completion, ensuring technical excellence and on-time delivery. Focus on developing specialized engineering talent and ensuring the team is effectively staffed and aligned to own and deliver on these key initiatives.

• Establish Architectural and Engineering Excellence: Equip your project team with the optimal processes, tools, and mentorship required to consistently design, deliver, and support mission-critical solutions within your specialized area. Your goal is to create a resilient, scalable, and efficient development environment for your projects.
• Cultivate a High-Performance Culture: Foster an engineering environment rooted in creative thinking, pragmatic problem-solving, and effective collaboration within your special projects team. Champion a culture of accountability, quality, and continuous improvement.
• Drive Strategic Alignment and Feasibility: Act as a key bridge between product aspirations and engineering reality for your specific projects. Partner with product and architecture leadership to translate the roadmap into well-defined technical specifications and executable project plans, ensuring a sustainable pace of innovation.
• Orchestrate Cross-Functional Execution: Drive execution of special projects by ensuring seamless collaboration and communication between Engineering, Architecture, Product Management, Project Management, and DevOps functions. You will be a central point of contact for tracking progress, managing dependencies, and ensuring delivery commitments are met for your projects.

Requirements

Who you are:

• A visionary leader who inspires and guides their team to success. You believe that engaging and supporting your team is the most important part of your role, and you thrive on the challenge of developing their skills in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.
• An executor who is obsessed with delivering results. You know that success is measured by tangible outcomes, and you are skilled at streamlining technology choices and leveraging standards to reduce complexity and speed up delivery.
• A strategic thinker who connects technology to business success. You understand how to make the most of new technologies and existing resources to build a technology strategy that directly impacts business goals.
• A collaborator who builds strong relationships to create collective success. You have a knack for winning over colleagues and building alliances across all levels of an organization—up, down, and sideways.
• A seasoned leader with a history of success in complex technical environments. You have at least 10 years of progressive experience in the software industry, with a proven track record of building, leading, and scaling high-performing engineering teams.
• An expert in high-availability systems. You have extensive experience delivering and supporting mission-critical, high-availability software, especially in fields like blockchain, fintech, or other demanding distributed systems.
• An execution-focused strategist. You can seamlessly translate high-level business objectives and architectural visions into concrete, actionable engineering roadmaps, making sound decisions to keep your teams on track.
• A dedicated mentor who is passionate about team growth. You have a history of successfully mentoring and developing rising engineering talent and are dedicated to building a healthy, scalable engineering culture.
• An exceptional communicator with high emotional intelligence. You possess superior communication skills and the emotional intelligence to inspire your teams, manage cross-functional stakeholders, and clearly articulate complex technical information to both technical and executive audiences.
• A technically grounded leader. You have a foundational background in Computer Science or a related field that provides you with the credibility to lead technical teams and guide challenging architectural discussions.

Benefits

• Remote work
• Laptop reimbursement
• New starter package to buy hardware essentials (headphones, monitor, etc)
• Learning & Development opportunities
• Competitive PTO

We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where all individuals are valued and empowered to succeed. We welcome people of all backgrounds and ensure that employment decisions are based solely on merit, qualifications, and potential. Everyone is given equal opportunities regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.