Smartly - Engineering Manager (CDMX)

About the Role

• We're looking for an Engineering Manager to lead a full-stack engineering team at a U.S.-based AI-powered advertising technology platform, working from our Ciudad de México, México office. Your team will build the next generation of AI-driven workflows on top of the core product — from creative editing and manipulation to intelligent automation that helps customers produce high-performing content at scale.
• You'll combine people leadership with strong technical judgment, creating clarity around priorities, coaching engineers in their growth, and helping the team deliver high-quality work while contributing to a 250+ person Product and Engineering organization.

About You

• You have proven experience leading and developing software engineers, with a track record of building collaborative, effective teams that take ownership and do their best work.
• You bring strong software engineering depth across the development lifecycle — enough to contribute meaningfully to architecture discussions, code reviews, and technical coaching.
• You've built and operated large-scale, highly available web applications with an active user base, and you understand the trade-offs involved in doing that well.
• You have sound judgment around software delivery: you make pragmatic trade-offs without compromising quality, and you help your team do the same.
• You're user-focused — you seek to understand customer needs and frustrations and use that understanding to guide product and technical decisions.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead and develop an autonomous full-stack engineering team responsible for customer-facing AI and creative workflows.
• Coach engineers through regular 1:1s, feedback, development planning, and hands-on technical guidance.
• Guide the team in delivering high-quality product outcomes, balancing customer needs, technical quality, and delivery priorities.
• Partner with Product and other engineering teams to define problems, make thoughtful trade-offs, and turn priorities into clear plans.
• Stay close to the technical work through architecture discussions, code reviews, pair programming, and other forms of hands-on engagement.
• Remove obstacles, improve ways of working, and create an environment where engineers can take ownership and do their best work.
• Contribute to Smartly's engineering culture by sharing practices, tackling challenging technical problems, and helping the organization continue to grow.
• Work from the Mexico City office at least one day per week.

What We're Looking For

• A people-first leader who builds trust through consistency, clear feedback, and genuine investment in each engineer's development.
• Strong coaching and communication skills — you give constructive feedback that supports meaningful growth, not just performance management.
• Comfort navigating complexity across a multi-team engineering organization with cross-functional Product and Engineering partners.
• A collaborative operator who creates clarity where there is ambiguity and helps teams focus on what matters most.

Technical Requirements

Must-Haves

• Proven experience leading and developing software engineers with a track record of building effective, collaborative teams.
• Strong software engineering background across the full development lifecycle with the technical depth to contribute to architecture and design discussions.
• Experience building and operating large-scale, highly available web applications with an active user base.
• Experience working in a multi-team engineering organization and collaborating across Product and Engineering.
• Sound judgment on software delivery trade-offs: quality, speed, and maintainability in balance.
• Ability to work from the Mexico City office at least one day per week.

Nice-to-Haves

• Hands-on experience with Node.js, TypeScript, React, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, Redis, or Kafka.
• Background building AI-driven or creative automation features in a product engineering context.
• Experience scaling engineering teams or practices in a high-growth SaaS environment.
• Familiarity with AdTech, MarTech, or performance marketing technology platforms.