Engineering Manager/Director

Seqera exists to advance science for everyone through software

We provide software for scientists solving today's most complex and important challenges from pioneering innovative therapeutics to unveiling the secrets of our universe. The journey began a decade ago with Nextflow — open software that helps over 100,000 global scientists analyze and process data, with more power and flexibility than ever before.

Today, Seqera consolidates fragmented data and diverse computing resources into a unified platform. Our modern biotech stack is trusted by over 150 leading life sciences organizations. Empowered with modern software engineering, organizations conduct science faster, on larger datasets, and with more confidence. Seqera accelerates discoveries in an open world.

Would you like to be a part of a company with a bigger purpose and make it successful with your own ideas? If yes, keep reading

About the role

We are seeking an exceptional Engineering Manager/Director to lead execution and delivery for one of Seqera's key product streams: Compute and Storage Optimization. In this critical leadership role, you will shape the success of our platform by guiding world-class engineering teams and ensuring the seamless delivery of robust, scalable solutions. As a strong technical leader, you will own the end-to-end Software Development Lifecycle, applying your expertise to navigate complex challenges and ensure the effective, timely delivery of high-quality solutions. You will take full ownership of the process, holding teams accountable for impactful results while fostering innovation and collaboration, and ensuring that your teams meet both departmental OKRs and broader business objectives.

The ideal candidate will have a solid technical background and strong operational expertise, with a proven track record of creating/managing SaaS/IaaS products in production to ensure high availability, reliability, and scalability. You will bring a customer-centric mindset, collaborating closely with the product team to align engineering efforts with customer needs and business goals. Additionally, you will have demonstrated expertise in building and leading product teams, including managing managers and driving organizational alignment.

For Director-level candidates, this role extends to include strategic oversight, directing cross-functional activities within Seqera, and providing a clear vision for the department's success.

Flexibility is essential, as our fast-paced startup environment demands adaptability to evolving priorities, scaling teams, and advancing technologies while staying aligned with changing customer and market needs.

What You'll Do

• Hire, lead, mentor, and develop Technical Leaders and Individual contributors, focusing on alignment across teams, and building a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.

• Build product-focused teams that align engineering efforts with customer needs, delivering measurable value, while fostering an environment that encourages creative problem-solving and technological innovation.

• Collaborate closely with Product, Design, and Scientific Development to define and execute the product roadmap with a customer-centric focus. And then own the end-to-end software development lifecycle, ensuring the timely delivery of high-quality, scalable products.

• Ensure the smooth operation of SaaS products in production, with a focus on monitoring, reliability, scalability, and incident management.

• Oversee engineering projects and manage timelines, prioritization, and resource allocation while adapting to the dynamic and fast-paced nature of a startup environment.

• Drive best practices in engineering processes, including agile development, CI/CD, testing, and performance optimization.

• Oversee hiring, compensation, performance evaluations, and onboarding for senior leaders.

For Director-level candidates:

• Provide strategic leadership, ensuring coherent cross-functional alignment and successful execution of departmental objectives at scale.

• Take ownership of long-term strategic planning, balancing immediate project needs with future technological growth and innovation.

• Partner with executive leadership to set and refine the company’s technical vision, ensuring alignment with business objectives and customer outcomes.

• Build and scale your organization.

• Manage and influence stakeholder relationships, ensuring strong collaboration and clear communication across departments and leadership.

• Oversee risk management and long-term technical roadmapping, ensuring the team is prepared to address both short-term challenges and future opportunities.

About you

• Proven experience as an Engineering Manager or Director, leading software engineering teams in a fast-paced, innovative environment.

• A track record of fostering innovation within teams and driving forward-thinking adoption of new technologies to solve complex challenges.

• Strong technical background in cloud-native architectures, distributed systems, or data orchestration technologies.

• Expertise in Compute technologies, Compute optimization, and distributed systems, with a strong understanding of cloud-native architecture, and experience in data storage and high-throughput file systems.

• Experience with distributed computing and data-intensive workloads.

• Experience in IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), Compute, or hardware as a service.

• Expertise in building and running full-cycle software development projects, from concept to launch, with a strong understanding of operational requirements for high reliability SaaS solutions.

• Exceptional leadership and communication skills, with the ability to drive alignment across teams and influence senior stakeholders.

• Demonstrated experience in building customer-focused product teams, working closely with product managers to develop solutions that deliver business value.

• Flexibility to navigate the ambiguity of a startup, with the ability to adjust quickly to shifting priorities, new technologies, or evolving product-market fit.

• Passion for solving complex technical challenges and enabling scientific advancements.

Nice to have:

• Familiarity with Compute resell models or experience integrating compute resale strategies into product offerings.

• Experience with HPC (High-Performance Computing) and optimizing compute-heavy workloads for performance and cost.

• Background in Life Sciences, bioinformatics, or related domains.

• Experience working on B2D (Business-to-Developer) services, understanding developer workflows and needs.

• Background in services where security and compliance (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA, ISO) have been a key consideration.

What will you find working at Seqera?

• Passionate & talented team.

• International working environment with more than 25 nationalities.

• Continuous skills development.

• Team retreats and bonding activities.

• A culture where your opinion is valued and your decisions have a real impact on the industry.

• Excitement of a fast-growing startup in a constantly changing environment.

Great benefits

• Time off: holidays under the local legislation + 3 days given by Seqera in December, and the national/public holidays according to your location.

• Equity

• Private health insurance

• Private life insurance

• Home office allowance (valued over 1,000 USD)

• Subscription to Oliva, Mental Health App

• Learning and development budget per year (1,000 USD)

• Other specific benefits according to your location.

You should know

Seqera is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. However you identify or whatever your journey to this point, we welcome all candidates to apply for the position that inspires them. Come join us and help us build a global company that everyone is proud to be part of.

As we scale, we constantly improve our in-office and WFH environments and learn to help everyone have the best setup for our company's success and your personal development while always keeping the human touch in every aspect of our lives.

Why join us?

By learning from and with each other, we ensure our ability to drive innovation and make better decisions toward our mission. Most importantly, our culture provides a genuinely fun, inclusive, and challenging environment that will allow you to grow while making a huge difference in human health and beyond.