Sr. Manager, Software Engineering - Computer Backup

About Backblaze

Backblaze provides reliable, high-availability cloud storage and backup trusted by consumers, SMBs, enterprises, and developers in over 150 countries. Backblaze Computer Backup protects the data of hundreds of thousands of customers, backing up laptops and desktops across Windows and macOS to the Backblaze cloud. We build durable, scalable systems with a strong emphasis on reliability, product quality, and a great customer experience.

Role Overview

We are looking for a Senior Software Development Manager to lead the team responsible for Backblaze Computer Backup, spanning both the cross-platform desktop client and the backend services that receive, store, and restore customer data. The entire Computer Backup engineering team reports into this role, which you will run through Desktop and Backend Leads who own the day-to-day of their areas. You will set the long-term technical direction for the product, own its multi-quarter delivery strategy, and hold accountability for the team’s budget and results.

This is a hands-on management role. You will take part in architecture discussions, code reviews, and technical decisions across both the desktop and backend sides of the product, while also owning strategy, budget, and the growth of your staff. The right candidate brings strong experience running agile teams, experience managing managers or team leads, deep expertise in system architecture, and a track record of leading distributed, remote-first engineering teams. You bring 7+ years of engineering management experience and enthusiasm for how AI-assisted development is changing the way software gets built.

What You'll Be Doing

• Lead the full Computer Backup engineering team, with Desktop and Backend Leads running day-to-day execution.
• Set long-term technical direction for Computer Backup, ensuring architecture and platform decisions scale effectively.
• Own multi-quarter delivery strategy and partner with Product leadership to define roadmaps, scope, schedules, and priorities.
• Hold accountability for team budget and spend, aligning headcount, tooling, and infrastructure investments with business priorities.
• Make technical and organizational decisions with broad, long-term impact, including shared platform components and infrastructure.
• Ensure client and backend teams align on shared goals and consistent agile delivery processes.
• Provide oversight of agile ceremonies (sprint planning, backlog refinement, standups, retrospectives).
• Own end-to-end delivery across client and backend, partnering with dedicated QA and release teams.
• Guarantee reliability, performance, and maintainability of desktop backup clients and backend services.
• Champion engineering quality by growing automated test coverage and unit testing practices.
• Participate hands-on in code reviews, architecture decisions, and technical problem-solving.
• Champion AI-assisted development tools and guide adoption of agentic coding practices.
• Identify engineering bottlenecks, refine processes, and invest in modern tooling to boost team productivity.
• Negotiate directly with senior leadership and major customers on critical product and technical decisions.

What We Are Looking For

• 7+ years of engineering management experience, including managing managers or team leads in cloud, SaaS, desktop software, or platform engineering environments.
• Proven track record setting long-term technical direction, system architecture, and multi-quarter delivery strategy.
• Demonstrated experience owning team/department budgets and resource allocation.
• Deep expertise in agile development processes and methodologies (Scrum, estimation, backlog management).
• Strong track record managing distributed, remote-first engineering teams with robust async communication practices.
• Hands-on technical background in system architecture, design reviews, and code reviews across desktop clients and backend services.
• Solid command of the full SDLC, from requirements gathering through production deployment and monitoring.
• Commitment to software quality, automated testing, and establishing testing standards within engineering teams.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills with executive leadership and enterprise clients.
• Familiarity with AI agentic coding tools (e.g., Claude Code, Codex) is a plus.

Why Backblaze

• Lead core software that protects data for hundreds of thousands of customers globally.
• Own an end-to-end product line spanning desktop user experience to backend storage architecture.
• Enjoy direct access to executive leadership in a flat, low-bureaucracy organization.
• Collaborative, remote-first culture emphasizing work-life balance and continuous learning.