Product Engineering Manager

IMPORTANT:

1. To be considered for this position, please attach your CV in English.
2. By applying to the job, you confirm you have read and accept our Ecuador Privacy Notice (also available at the bottom of this post). This is mandatory to be considered for our vacancy. 

We're hiring an engineering manager who connects the people doing the work to the product they're building. You'll manage approximately three to four small client project teams, typically two to four people each, for a total of around 8–10 people, and answer for whether those projects deliver the right product. On some projects, Stack Builders owns the product outcome, and the client sets direction. On others, the client's product owner leads, and you make sure the team builds what they need. Either way, you run 1:1s and growth plans, you own the product and delivery picture, and you use AI tools in your own work every day.

About Stack Builders

Stack Builders is a software consultancy with teams in the United States, Ecuador, and internationally. Our mission is to push the boundaries of the software industry through quality, pragmatic solutions that bring our clients' visions to life. Our values are clear communication, continuous improvement, curiosity, collaboration, and community. We work with US clients on long-running engagements, both client-led teams and fixed-price, outcome-based builds, and we deliver AI-first from specification through release.

Why we're hiring this role

AI is changing how software gets built. Developers now direct agents across whole feature areas instead of working through small tickets, and the gap between "managing people" and "owning the product" has closed. We want one accountable person close to each team instead of separate layers for people, projects, and technical oversight. This role is that person, with the authority to make decisions and the responsibility to tell us early when something is off.

What you will do

Lead your team

• Manage everyone on your project teams, approximately 8–10 people in total (engineers and, on some projects, client services staff), with documented 1:1s, honest assessments, current growth plans, and clear promotion criteria anchored to our Tiers & Expectations
• Make sure every engineer knows what's expected, how they're evaluated, who decides what, and where the company is going; act on concerns you can resolve, escalate the rest with a named owner, and close the loop
• Propose allocations of training time within your projects to Head of Client Services to align with budgets; recommend pay changes and promotions, and explain the decisions to your team
• Recognize excellent work early, and connect it to our mission and values
• Own onboarding quality for your reports and take part in engineering hiring
• Depending on the project and your technical level, you may be the Senior Technical Lead on a project

Connect the team to the product

• Where we own the outcome: shape the work into large, coherent feature areas, set acceptance criteria and milestones, and protect scope and margin
• Where the client leads the product: keep the team's work aligned with what the client's product owner asks for, turn priorities into clear direction, and flag drift or unclear requirements early
• Give developers ownership of product areas, and split refinement sensibly with BAs where a project has them. We don't want AI crunching tickets; we want people who understand the product and review what AI produces
• Run the client cadence on your projects and deliver honest news early; bring commercial questions to the named commercial owner
• Make sure evidence of correctness exists before we say "done"

Lead AI-first delivery

• Use AI tools every day in your own work: directing frontier models and agents, reading and reviewing what they produce
• Own each project's AI working agreement with our AI core group: how developers work with AI, how work is taken in, adversarial review, automated evaluation, security and rollback
• Help people adopt AI through pairing and practice, not pressure; spot who needs help and get it to them

Report up with intent

• Tell leadership what you intend to do and why, lead with risks, and make sure nothing reaches a client or an executive as a surprise
• Keep a current picture of skills, capacity, and readiness on your team

What this role is not

• You will not carry a personal coding quota or be the team's critical-path implementer
• You will not override Technical Leads on technical execution inside the project
• You will not own price, contract terms, or commercial change approval
• You will not be a reporting layer; where a system can produce a number, we automate it

Requirements

What we are looking for

• 3+ years managing software engineers or software delivery teams, including at least a year where people management was your primary job. You've handled performance problems, advocated for promotions, and had difficult conversations with care
• Product and delivery ownership you can point to: client software projects where you answered for scope, schedule, and outcome, ideally including fixed-price or outcome-based work
• Daily, hands-on use of AI tools in software work, and a clear view that AI delivery depends on specification, evaluation, review, and guardrails
• A strong grounding in the software development lifecycle. You don't have to be an engineer for product-focused projects. If you are one, with senior technical-lead depth, you may also lead technical direction on highly technical projects
• Client-facing judgment. Clients trust you to tell them hard truths, protect scope, and deliver
• Clear written and spoken Spanish and English (C1 or equivalent). Your teams may include people in Ecuador, the United States, and other countries, and your clients are in the United States
• Based in Quito and able to work from our office two days a week

A bachelor's degree is required, in any field. We care about what you've led and how it went. Former developers, QA leads, technical project managers, product managers, and solutions engineers who have managed software teams are all plausible backgrounds.

How we'll know it's working

At six months, your reports have clear expectations, credible growth plans, and confidence that concerns get follow-through. Every project has a published AI working agreement and measured adoption. Leadership hears about risks from you first.

At twelve months, your promotion recommendations hold up in calibration, engagement and retention on your team are stable or improving, clients are satisfied, and your projects deliver the product outcome: milestones accepted and margin protected where we own the outcome, stable, well-aligned teams, where the client leads.

Reporting and growth

You report to our CTO and work closely with the Head of Engineering, the Head of Client Services, HR, and our AI core group. Growth means larger or more technical portfolios and, over time, helping lead the PEM practice by onboarding and coaching new PEMs.

Benefits

• Hybrid and flexible modality, so you can split your time between home and the office.
• Three weeks of annual vacation, plus paid sick, family, and parental leave days.
• A fun, collaborative, and rewarding work environment, certified as a Great Place to Work in Ecuador. 
• Opportunity to participate in OSS projects, company-sponsored conferences, and talks.
• Regular 1:1 sessions with your manager, employee assessments, training, and book clubs.
• Top-tier private health and dental insurance and a mental health counseling bonus.
• Exciting and challenging projects from different industries, leveraging various tools and technologies.
• In-person team-building activities, birthday and holiday celebrations, and more.
• A Welcome Package on your first day with a Stack Builders laptop and additional equipment.
• All benefits established by Ecuadorian law.

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More than our EOO statement, this is what makes us a Great Place to Work:

Stack Builders is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We are committed to creating a safe and inclusive work environment and don’t tolerate discrimination or harassment during the hiring process or time of employment.

All team members and candidates are assessed and appreciated for their attitude, qualifications, and potential - regardless of race, religion, color, nationality, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, age, disability, marital status, pregnancy, and other characteristics protected by law.

Learn more about us by visiting our website, where you can find blog posts, tutorials, and testimonials from our team and clients.

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Aviso de Privacidad Stack Builders Ecuador:

Al postular a nuestras vacantes en Ecuador, usted confirma que ha leído y acepta nuestro Aviso de Privacidad de Ecuador.
CLÁUSULA INFORMATIVA PARA TRATAMIENTO DE DATOS DE CANDIDATOS 

1. Datos del responsable del tratamiento: 

• SBIE CONSULTORÍA DE SOFTWARE CIA. LTDA (en adelante STACK BUILDERS)
• Dirección: Av. Amazonas E3-39 y Av. Naciones Unidas, Edif. La Previsora, piso 10, ofic. 1002, Quito
• RUC: 1792443253001
• Teléfono: 02-401-6115
• Correo electrónico: dataprivacy@stackbuilders.com  

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