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Jobs · Project Management · California

Manager, Forward Deployed Engineering

Rippling · San Francisco, CA · 3 days ago
On-siteProject ManagementFull-time

Rippling gives businesses one place to run HR, IT, and Finance. It brings together all of the workforce systems that are normally scattered across a company, like payroll, expenses, benefits, and computers. For the first time ever, you can manage and automate every part of the employee lifecycle in a single system. Based in San Francisco, CA, Rippling has raised $1.4B+ from top investors and was named one of America's best startup employers by Forbes.

About the role

As a Manager of Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) at Rippling, you will lead a team of engineers responsible for delivering high-impact, customized solutions for our customers. You will operate at the intersection of engineering, customer success, and product—ensuring your team consistently executes complex implementations with high quality and efficiency. This role is ideal for a hands-on technical leader who thrives in fast-paced environments, enjoys solving ambiguous real-world problems, and is passionate about developing strong engineering talent.

Responsibilities

  • Lead and develop a high-performing team of FDEs
    • Provide day-to-day guidance, mentorship, and coaching
    • Drive performance management, feedback, and career development
    • Build a strong team culture focused on ownership and customer impact
  • Own execution across customer engagements
    • Ensure successful delivery of complex implementations across multiple projects
    • Oversee development of custom integrations, workflows, applications, and analytics using Rippling products and languages like Python, Javascript, Ruby, Java, Go, C or C++
    • Maintain high standards for quality, reliability, and scalability
  • Drive operational excellence
    • Improve team-level processes, delivery consistency, and execution rigor
    • Manage resourcing, prioritization, and execution across concurrent engagements
    • Identify and resolve delivery bottlenecks and cross-team dependencies
  • Partner cross-functionally to unblock execution
    • Collaborate with Account Management, Product, Engineering, and CX teams
    • Escalate and resolve issues impacting customer delivery
    • Ensure alignment between customer needs and product capabilities
  • Engage directly with customers when needed
    • Support critical engagements and high-priority accounts
    • Help scope solutions and guide technical decision-making
    • Ensure strong customer outcomes and satisfaction
  • Contribute to team hiring and growth
    • Participate in recruiting and onboarding new FDEs
    • Maintain a high bar for technical and customer-facing talent

Requirements

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or related field
  • 5+ years of software development experience with strong proficiency in one or more of: Python, Javascript, Ruby, Java, Go, C or C++, along with SQL and data modeling
  • 1–3+ years of experience leading or mentoring engineers (formal or informal leadership)
  • Proven ability to deliver complex technical projects in fast-paced environments
  • Strong problem-solving skills with the ability to navigate ambiguity and prioritize effectively
  • Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, especially in customer-facing contexts
  • Customer-centric mindset with experience working directly with external stakeholders
  • Willingness to travel to client sites as needed (up to ~25%)

Pay

The pay range for this role is $138,000 - $230,000 USD per year (US Tier 1).

Schedule

For office-based employees (those who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office), Rippling considers working in the office at least three days a week to be an essential function of the role.

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