Engineering Manager, Growth

ABOUT BUFFER

We create social media and brand-building software for small businesses, creators, and individuals. Our mission is to provide essential tools to help small businesses get off the ground and grow. Through exceptional customer service and uplifting content, we help our customers believe they can succeed and do good along the way.

Buffer is a fully distributed team, and we’ve always aimed to do things a little differently. Since the early days, we’ve focused on building one of the most unique and fulfilling workplaces by rethinking a lot of traditional practices. We also default to transparency, so you can read all about our metrics, and our successes and failures along the way on our Transparency Dashboard https://buffer.com/open.

We're united by Buffer's values https://buffer.com/about#values, and we hire and work from all over the world. We strive to create a diverse and inclusive work environment, and we are building a culture where underrepresented groups are welcome and can flourish. Please note that we do travel to work together in person once or twice per year, and those events are highly encouraged to build deeper connections among our small team.

As you get to know Buffer and consider joining the journey, you can learn more about Buffer on our Journey https://buffer.com/journey page. Still curious to learn more about the experience on the Buffer team? Feel free to read more from Kirsti https://buffer.com/resources/first-30-days-buffer/ and Sabreen https://buffer.com/resources/joined-3-days-before-the-retreat/ as they share their first experiences with Buffer, as well as from Hailley https://buffer.com/resources/8-years-at-buffer/, who captured why she still calls Buffer home after 8+ years.

ABOUT THE ROLE

You'd lead about engineers across Growth and Marketing Engineering, working day to day with Product, Design, Marketing and Data. The team owns how people find Buffer, how they get started, and whether they stay.

There's room here to influence both what we build and how we build it. You'll help connect the first experience someone has of Buffer with the value they find in the product, bringing an engineering perspective to decisions about where we invest.

The work can range from a useful tool someone discovers before signing up to a simpler onboarding experience or an experiment that helps us understand what customers need. We want someone who enjoys connecting those pieces and helping a small team turn good ideas into well-made software.

You'll stay close to the work: exploring ideas with designers, questioning an approach, reviewing a prototype, and noticing where an experience could feel clearer or more considered. At the same time, you'll create the trust, feedback, and space engineers need to grow and take ownership.

We're also changing how we build with AI. You'll have room to help shape that, through your own experiments and by helping the team develop good judgment about the tools they use.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

• Support engineers through regular coaching, clear feedback, and meaningful career conversations
• Shape priorities with Product, Design, and Marketing, bringing your own point of view and grounding decisions in customer needs
• Stay close to technical decisions and product details. Help the team build clear, accessible, responsive experiences, and judge when to keep refining and when to ship and learn
• Help connect customer insights, product changes, and measurement so we understand whether our work is helping
• Use AI in your own work and help the team develop effective ways to build and verify work with it
• Contribute to the wider Engineering team through hiring, shared practices, and improvements to how we work

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

• You've managed engineers and can talk concretely about helping people grow, giving difficult feedback, and addressing performance concerns
• You care about how software feels to use. You notice unnecessary steps, unclear interactions, and details that get in someone's way. You can walk us through something you helped build and explain the choices, compromises, and things you left out
• You have a strong engineering background and remain comfortable getting into technical details. That might mean reviewing code, exploring an architecture, building a prototype, or helping someone work through a difficult trade-off
• You use AI to explore ideas, build prototypes, understand code, or review work. You can show us where it helps, how you check the results, and what still needs your judgment
• You communicate clearly in writing, take ownership, and work well with people across different disciplines and time zones
• Experience in Growth, Marketing Engineering, experimentation, or partnering with Data would be useful. So would experience as a founder or building a product from the beginning. You don't need a Growth title or experience across every area. Product judgment, craft, and people leadership matter more
• You have a personal connection to making and sharing things. Maybe you've written a newsletter, shared your work online, built a side project, or run a small business. You understand something of the effort it takes to put your work out there and find an audience. You don't need a big following; we're interested in that connection and what it's taught you

OUR HIRING PROCESS

• Please express your interest below by sharing your LinkedIn profile and resume, and a short note about what interests you in the role and why you think it could be a good match. (If you choose to use AI while writing your message, please limit usage to light edits or research. We'd love to hear your own voice come through.)
• If we'd like to explore the fit further, we'll reach out to learn more about you
• Our interview process includes a conversation with a member of our hiring team (Sara https://www.linkedin.com/in/sara-almeida-b1a78012b/ or Caro https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynkopprasch/), meeting the hiring manager for this role (Kateryna https://www.linkedin.com/in/kporshnieva/), getting to know some teammates and peers (varies based on schedules), and meeting our CEO, Joel https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelgascoigne/
• Our final stage is a two-day-long paid collaboration period. This is designed to mimic a real work project, so that we can each see what it's like to work together

PRIVACY POLICY

By submitting the application, you consent to Buffer collecting and processing your personal data for recruiting purposes. Find more details in our Privacy Policy https://buffer.notion.site/Privacy-Policy-for-Applicants-230a7f5a00fd80e48478f09171d18a24?pvs=143.