New

Engineering Manager - Client Engineering

Cambridge, Massachusetts

About Us:

The wholesale distribution industry is ready for a revolution, and Proton is leading the charge. The world relies on distributors to sell nearly every physical product, but despite its massive contribution to the global economy, this industry has been left behind in terms of technology. Proton is changing that. With AI-powered sales software, we’re breaking through the complexity of selling millions of products and making it easier for distributors to anticipate customer needs. Our mission is to bring the distribution industry into the modern age and the results speak for themselves. Distributors using Proton see 10x ROI, faster new hire ramp-up, and happier sales teams.

In 2022, we raised a $20M Series A backed by Felicis Ventures (investors in Twitch, Shopify, Opendoor, and many others) and Battery Ventures. This year, we’re laser-focused on driving customer growth. If you’re excited about the opportunity to wear multiple hats, and continuously learn and experiment, now’s the time to join the Proton team.

The Role:

Proton is seeking a seasoned Engineering Manager with a strong Data Engineering background to lead our Client Engineering team. This team plays a critical role in enabling client success through robust, scalable data pipelines and integrations. As the leader of this team, you will combine engineering leadership with deep technical acumen in data systems to guide the development of scalable infrastructure and customer-facing implementations.

Reporting directly to our Head of Engineering, you will oversee a team responsible for transforming and ingesting customer data into Proton’s platform via Airflow, Python, Spark, and Looker. You’ll own technical decisions, optimize systems, scale operations, and collaborate cross-functionally to deliver impactful solutions to our clients.

This is a hybrid role, based in the greater Boston area (3 days per week in an office based in Kendall Square).

This role offers a salary range of $180,000 to $220,000 annually, depending on experience and qualifications.

What you’ll do: 

Technical & Engineering Leadership

  • Oversee the design, development, and scalability of data pipelines that ingest, transform, and deliver client data.
  • Guide architectural decisions and improvements as the platform scales from hundreds to thousands of jobs (Airflow, Spark, etc.).
  • Ensure strong reliability, testing, and performance across all systems.
  • Drive continuous improvement in CI/CD, quality assurance, monitoring, and system design.
  • Lead the agile development process, manage sprint planning, backlog grooming, and ensure timely delivery of features and integrations.

Team Management

  • Manage, mentor, and grow a high-performing team of data engineers.
  • Set clear goals and performance expectations, foster learning and development, and promote a collaborative, mission-driven team culture.
  • Recruit and onboard engineers with a strong data and integration background.

Customer-Facing Engineering

  • Partner with clients during onboarding and beyond to understand integration requirements, troubleshoot data issues, and deliver high-quality outcomes.
  • Serve as a technical escalation point for challenging client data issues.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Collaborate with Customer Success, Product, and Sales teams to align engineering resources with business needs.
  • Translate customer needs into scalable technical solutions, often acting as a technical advisor to both internal and external stakeholders.

You’ll Be a Great Fit for This Role If You Have

  • 8+ years of professional experience in data engineering or backend engineering, with a focus on large-scale ETL/ELT systems and client integrations.
  • 2+ years of experience in an engineering management or technical lead role.
  • Experience managing customer-facing engineering teams or owning externally integrated systems.
  • Expertise in Python and SQL; strong familiarity with Spark, Airflow, or equivalent.
  • Proven experience with modern data warehousing (e.g., Delta Lake, BigQuery).
  • Knowledge of Looker or equivalent BI tools.
  • Comfort with containerization, Git workflows, and CI/CD pipelines.
  • Excellent communication and leadership skills, with the ability to influence cross-functional partners and advocate for engineering priorities.

Bonus Skills

  • Familiarity with Redis, Elasticsearch, NoSQL systems.
  • Experience leading teams in high-growth SaaS or B2B data platforms.
  • Experience with modern AI technologies in development

 

Benefits:

  • Competitive Salaries + Company Stock Options - we want to pay you well (and equitably!) and make you feel like an owner.  
  • Flexible Schedule - we think high levels of autonomy, responsibility, and working asynchronously foster an amazing workplace.
  • Unlimited PTO + 10 Company Paid Holidays - we even have tools implemented to detect burnout to make sure folks recharge regularly.
  • 12 Weeks Fully Paid Parental Leave - that goes for primary and secondary caregivers; even if you’re adopting or fostering!
  • Annual Company Paid Off-sites - time for us to be together, brainstorm, and make magic happen.



 

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