Engineering Manager, Control Plane - Tailscale

About Tailscale

Tailscale is making safe connection effortless by delivering software that makes it easy to securely interconnect people and their devices, no matter where they are. From hobbyists to multinational corporations, teams of every size use Tailscale each day to protect their networks, share access to internal tools, and more. We're building a future for the Internet that's easy, sensible, and safe, like it used to be. Founded in 2019 and fully distributed, we're backed by Accel, CRV, Insight, Heavybit, and Uncork Capital.

About the Role

We’re seeking a talented and motivated full-time Software Engineering Manager to join our growing team. You will work as part of the engineering team to:

• Provide guidance, mentorship, and career development for a team of software engineers.
• Contribute toward the success of our Product organization which includes Engineering, Product Management, and Design. We operate in Pods of 2-4 engineers plus a Product Manager and Designer, and each Engineering Manager handles 2-3 such Pods. Pods work across the codebase to implement features, address shortcomings, and answer customer requests.
• Provide technical direction in projects as needed, as well as growing the technical leadership capabilities of the engineers reporting to you.
• Help in growing the organization: interviewing and recruiting, guiding the development of the engineering culture, and developing processes as we grow.

Because we’re an early-stage and fully remote company, we’re looking for a motivated individual who can help move the product forward. The ability to think on your feet, collaborate with highly technical teams, and comfort working asynchronously are essential.

Key Responsibilities

• People Management: Prior experience as a people manager to support, mentor, and guide engineers.
• Cross-functional Collaboration: Achieve significant business outcomes through cross-functional collaboration with product managers, data scientists, and designers.
• Technical Quality & Design: Help your team improve their performance and work quality, while guiding major design decisions.
• Inclusive Team Culture: Hire, nurture, and oversee a team of engineers while fostering an atmosphere of psychological well-being, embracing diversity, and promoting inclusion.
• Production Operations: Lead a team responsible for managing a critical production service, including operational concerns (monitoring, alerting, on-call rotations, and incident response).
• Conflict Management: Manage healthy conflict by moderating design discussions and cultivating a positive culture of feedback with candor and kindness.
• Cross-Org Execution: Collaborate with interdisciplinary teams across the organization to complete complex projects spanning multiple technical domains.
• Strategic Planning: Drive planning across multiple time horizons, from immediate tactical needs to long-term strategic direction.

What We Are Looking For

• Demonstrated leadership with substantial experience in managing and mentoring engineering teams, including performance evaluations, career development, and fostering a collaborative work environment.
• Background building and operating production services with high availability and performance targets.
• Expertise managing on-call rotations and incident response.
• Strong technical acumen, able to independently evaluate complex technical tradeoffs in design conversations while leaning on experts in the team for design and implementation.
• Experience developing in Go, which is used for much of the system.
• Ability to give and process constructive feedback, as well as work independently in an asynchronous environment.
• Flexibility to adjust to the dynamic nature of a fast-growing startup.

What We Offer

• Inclusive, flexible environment: Work in an empowering, flexible setup that lets you integrate work and life.
• Competitive compensation: Base salary of $206,000—$257,000 USD plus an equity incentive plan.
• Comprehensive group benefits: Coverage for health, vision, dental, and more with no waiting period.
• Remote-first culture: Work from home with corporate co-working access (WeWork or similar).
• Retirement match: Employer-funded retirement match up to 0.75% of eligible compensation.
• IRL Connections: Annual company retreat, team off-sites, and travel support for in-person collaboration.
• Learning & Development: $1,500 USD annual professional development stipend plus coaching and mentorship.
• Flexible PTO: Generous paid time off to support life, travel, and rest.
• Home Office Support: Company-owned laptop (Mac or PC), monthly internet reimbursement, and a $500 USD workstation setup budget.
• Paid Parental Leave: 20 weeks for birthing parents, 16 weeks for non-birthing parents.