Sr Manager - Software Engineering

Storytelling is, and will always be, the heart of what we do at Skydance.
Our vision is to build a thriving entertainment ecosystem where stories and worlds are imagined, brought to life and experienced. We create for every age and audience, anchored by the strength of our content and experiences and the depth of our connection with fans. We are creator-first, audience-focused, tech-forward, globally scaled.

Here, you’ll work with talented teams that move fast, think boldly and collaborate with purpose to deliver results. We aim high, champion the best ideas and win together, earning the trust of our employees, creators, partners and audiences every day.

If you’re energized by the opportunity to help build the next-generation global media and entertainment company powered by creativity and technology, we’d be thrilled to welcome you aboard. LET’S GO!

Overview

Reporting to team leadership, this role manages a project-based team of 3-5 resources building cloud-native media platforms, workflow automation, integrations, and AI-driven production services. 

The Senior Manager translates management's technical direction into executable engineering plans and owns day-to-day delivery, implementation quality, and production readiness. The role stays hands-on in solution design, code review, and high-risk work, and serves as a senior day-to-day technical lead, maintaining continuity of execution and technical direction. 

Basic Qualifications

• 8+ years hands-on software engineering experience building enterprise applications, APIs, or distributed systems.
• 4+ years managing project-based engineering teams.
• Strong development experience in Python or a comparable modern language.
• Experience building and operating cloud-native applications on AWS and/or GCP.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD, infrastructure as code, automated testing, security, and observability.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent engineering workstreams in a production environment.
• Demonstrated ability to select, lead, and maintain continuity across contract engineering teams.
• Strong communication skills, able to translate technical risk and trade-offs for nontechnical stakeholders, with sound judgment under strain and the ability to influence across teams and vendors without direct authority. 

Core Responsibilities
Engineering & People Leadership

• Select, onboard, direct, and evaluate consultant resources; manage vendor performance, project capacity, deliverables, and structured knowledge transfer as assignments change.
• Build team depth so delivery and technical knowledge don't sit with one individual.
• Stay hands-on in solution design, code review, troubleshooting, and high-risk work. 

Engineering Delivery

• Translate architecture direction into technical plans, milestones, staffing, and releases.
• Own backlog management, estimation, dependencies, scope, delivery risk, and release readiness.
• Balance strategic projects, platform improvements, technical debt, and production needs.
• Communicate status, risks, and trade-offs to leadership and stakeholders.
• Partner with stakeholders to clarify requirements, define technical scope and acceptance criteria, and identify delivery risks before work begins.

Technical Leadership

• Provide day-to-day technical direction within architecture standards set by leadership.
• Set expectations for code quality, testing, APIs, documentation, security, and deployment automation.
• Promote reusable services and integrations over one-off solutions.
• Escalate significant architecture, platform, and vendor decisions to leadership.
• Maintain enough architectural depth and institutional knowledge to represent the team's technical direction independently when leadership is unavailable. 

AI Platform & Cloud Engineering

• Lead delivery of cloud-native services, media workflow integrations, metadata platforms, archive modernization, and content migration initiatives.
• Oversee delivery of AI-enabled capabilities for metadata enrichment, content discovery, and workflow automation, including model integration, retrieval systems, data quality, and evaluation, in partnership with architects and AI engineers.
• Set standards for responsible use of AI-assisted development tools (Cursor, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, or equivalent); ensure AI-generated code is reviewed, tested, and documented to normal engineering and security standards.
• Ensure appropriate attention to security, identity, cost, monitoring, and supportability across cloud and AI services. 

Production Ownership

• Own production readiness and engineering support for services built by the team.
• Ensure monitoring, runbooks, deployment procedures, rollback plans, and escalation paths are in place.
• Lead root-cause analysis and corrective action for recurring defects and reliability issues.
• Maintain clear boundaries between frontline operational support and engineering escalation.

Additional Desired Experience

• Experience with MAM/PAM platforms, metadata management, transcoding, workflow orchestration, or archive systems.
• Familiarity with broadcast or enterprise media asset management platforms.
• Experience with large-scale content migration and enterprise system integration.
• Experience supporting software platforms in a 24/7 broadcast, media, or other mission-critical environment.

#LI-PV1

About SkydanceSkydance is a next-generation global media and entertainment company, comprised of three business segments: Studios, Direct-to-Consumer, and TV Media. Skydance's portfolio unites legendary brands, including Paramount, Warner Bros., HBO and HBO Max, Paramount+, Pluto TV, CBS, CNN, CBS Sports, TNT Sports, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, MTV, Food Network, BET, HGTV, and Comedy Central.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Hiring Salary Range: $150,000.00 - 185,000.00. 

In compliance with local law, we are disclosing compensation, or a range thereof, for roles where legally required. Actual salaries will vary based on a variety of job-related factors, including but not limited to geographic location, external market data, internal equity, skill set, experience, training, education, and/or performance. Base pay is just one component of our total compensation package. Other rewards may include annual bonuses, short- and long-term incentives, and program-specific awards.
This position is bonus eligible.  

What We Offer:

• Attractive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages. Check out our full list of benefits here.
• Generous paid time off.
• Complimentary subscriptions to HBO Max, Paramount+, and other Skydance streaming services and digital news products.
• Robust employee engagement opportunities, including access to exclusive screenings and events, speaker series, volunteer activities and more.

Skydance is an equal opportunity employer (EOE)

We embrace the opportunity to build a workforce that reflects a wide array of perspectives, backgrounds and experiences. Being an equal opportunity employer means that we take seriously our responsibility to consider qualified candidates on the basis of merit. In line with the laws of the country or region in which the role is based, this includes consideration without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship status, religion or belief, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, pregnancy, parenthood, physical or mental disability, genetic information, military or protected veteran status, union status or any other category protected by applicable law.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability, you may request a reasonable accommodation during the job application and/or recruitment process. You can request reasonable accommodations by calling 212.846.5500 or by sending an email to [email protected]. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned.