Sr. Engineering Manager

About Ovative Group:

Ovative Group is the premier independent media and measurement firm in the United States. We help trailblazers in fast-growing, customer-centric organizations across industries reinvent their marketing and measurement programs. We leverage our media, measurement, and consulting capabilities to help brands like Domino’s, Facebook, The Home Depot, CVS, Disney, and UnitedHealth Group transform their media and marketing programs. Our proprietary approach to measuring and optimizing marketing investment decisions, Enterprise Marketing Return (EMR), is disrupting the industry and setting the gold standard for customer and marketing strategy, activation, and measurement.  

Recognized eight consecutive years on Star Tribune’s list of Top 150 Workplaces and five years on Inc. 5000’s list of the fastest-growing private companies in America, we pride ourselves in always overdelivering for our clients, our teams, and our communities.  

About the Role:

We are seeking a Sr Engineering Manager to join our rapidly growing product and engineering development team.

Our company specializes in enterprise-level media measurement and optimization across various industries. In this role, you will lead a cross-functional team responsible for creating, optimizing, and maintaining scalable software and data solutions to enhance performance, stability, and scalability. You will play a pivotal role in leading the team and working closely with internal and client stakeholders throughout the entire software development lifecycle, from concept to deployment.

The ideal candidate will bring extensive experience in iterative development practices, a deep knowledge of version control (e.g., GitHub), and both conceptual and pragmatic problem-solving skills. Your outstanding attention to detail and strong written and oral communication skills will enable you to work directly with business leaders and users, understanding their objectives, translating them into technical solutions, and leading your team to deliver. As a key technical leader, you will have the opportunity to mentor team members, lead the delivery of innovative solutions, drive the adoption of cutting-edge technologies, and foster your own professional growth.

Responsibilities:

Strategic Sprint Planning:

• Collaborate seamlessly with the Scrum Lead and Technical Lead to craft robust Sprint plans that align with project goals and timelines.
• Ensure thorough backlog refinement, providing developers with the necessary resources and information to successfully accomplish their assigned stories.
• Drive continuous improvement of agile best practices, creating efficiencies and better product outcomes.

Timely Delivery Accountability:

• Take ownership and ensure on-time delivery, holding yourself accountable to the Scrum Lead and driving the team towards successful completion of Sprint plans.
• Take ownership of cross-team success, driving accountability to the Product outcomes.

Team Development and Mentorship:

• Act as a dedicated coach and mentor for the engineering team and other engineering managers, fostering a culture of continuous learning, growth, and collaboration.
• Actively solicit feedback on individual and team performance to encourage a culture of open communication and improvement.
• Actively challenge team members to think outside their wheelhouse, enabling them to become more flexible and resilient team members.
• Develop and drive cross-team training initiatives that help us better understand our users and grow as technical experts.

Champion of Excellence:

• Assist in the development of a culture of both personnel and technical excellence, creating an environment where team members are inspired to achieve their best.
• Lead Quality Assurance (QA) efforts and drive excellence in deployments, ensuring that the team consistently delivers high-quality, reliable software.

Strategic Representation:

• Represent the team effectively in interactions with All-Staff, Leadership, Talent Services, Product Management, Scrum Leads, and in Cross-Team discussions, showcasing the team's achievements and contributions.
• Lead strategic efforts across teams including roadmap and OKR creation, communicating proactively and collecting continuous feedback to validate assumptions.

Team Advocacy:

• Be the key advocate for the team within the organization, liaising with Product and participating actively in Centers of Excellence to ensure the team’s needs and perspectives are heard and considered.
• Partner with other leaders to advocate for Engineering Management and the entire Engineering team.

Initiative Leadership:

• Define and drive Quality, DevOps, and Security initiatives, ensuring that these endeavors not only meet but exceed the expectations, raising the bar for Engineering excellence across the organization.
• Take ownership of the customer perspective, always advocating for a high level of quality and polish on the definition of done within appropriate constraints.

Required Skills:

• 8 years of relevant experience in computer science, software engineering, or another technical discipline
• Proficiency and passion for leading and leading cross-functional technical team members in their personal development
• Proficiency working collaboratively with cross-functional team members, product owners, and stakeholders to drive and support business goals.
• Strong organization skills and ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines
• Experience leading high performance leaders including lead engineers and/or engineering managers
• Experience influencing and communicating with non-technical decision makers as a technical thought leader
• Experience bringing conceptual, analytical, and “big picture” thinking to strategic problem solving
• Experience with cloud environments (e.g., Google Cloud Platform, Azure, Amazon Web Services, etc.)
• Experience with at least one major programming language (e.g., JavaScript, Python, Java).
• Familiarity with web technologies (e,g,, JavaScript, HTML, CSS), data manipulation (e.g., SQL), and version control systems (e.g., GitHub)
• Familiarity with DevOps practices/principles, Agile/Scrum methodologies, and the product development lifecycle

Preferred skills:

• Experience with marketing APIs and/or automating data pulls from marketing platforms
• Experience in marketing technology management, especially at a digital agency or in a marketing environment
• Experience collaborating closely with Product Owners and contributing to product strategy.
• Familiarity with modern web APIs and full stack frameworks.

Pay Transparency 

At Ovative, we offer a transparent view into three core components of your total compensation package: Base Salary, Annual Bonus, and Benefits. The salary range for this position below is inclusive of an annual bonus. Actual offers are made with consideration for relevant experience and anticipated impact. Additional benefits information is provided below. 

For our Sr. Manager positions, our compensation ranges from $111,000 to $186,000, which is inclusive of a 25% bonus.

Benefits of Working at Ovative Group 

We provide strong, competitive, holistic benefits that understand the importance of your life inside and out of work. 

Culture: 

Culture matters and we’ve been recognized as a Top Workplace for eight years running because of it. We demand trust and transparency from each other. We believe in doing the hard and complicated work others put off. We’re open in communication and floor plan. We’re flat – our interns sit next to VPs, our analysts work closely with senior leaders, and our CEO interacts with every single person daily. Put together, these elements help foster an environment where smart people can support each other in performing to their highest potential. 

Compensation and Insurance: 

We strive to hire and retain the best talent. Paying fair, competitive compensation, with a large bonus incentive, and phenomenal health insurance is an important part of this mix. 

We’re rewarded fairly and when the company performs well, we all benefit. 

Tangible amenities we enjoy: 

• Access to all office spaces in MSP, NYC, and CHI 
• Frequent, paid travel to our Minneapolis headquarters for company events, team events, and in-person collaboration with teams. 
• Flexible paid vacation policy 
• 401k match program 
• Top-notch health insurance options 
• Monthly stipend for your mobile phone and data plan 
• Sabbatical program 
• Charitable giving via our time and a financial match program 
• Shenanigan’s Day 

Working at Ovative won’t be easy, but if you like getting your hands dirty, driving results, and being surrounded by the best talent, it’ll be the most rewarding job you’ll ever have. If you think you can make us better, we want to hear from you! 

Salary : $111,000 - $186,000