[Hiring] Tech Lead Manager, Site Reliability @Niche

Role Description

The Tech Lead Manager (TLM), Site Reliability is the single technical and people leader for a small, high-ownership Site Reliability team (3–4 engineers) focused on building reliable, scalable, and secure environments that power the applications our students and schools rely on. This is a pivotal role in executing our strategy to accelerate product development and reduce barriers to software delivery without sacrificing quality and reliability.

This is not a traditional Engineering Manager role with technical fluency as a nice-to-have — the TLM is expected to be hands-on with code, architecture, and technical decision-making on a regular, ongoing basis, in addition to owning the full scope of people leadership: 1:1s, growth, performance, and hiring.

Success for the team is measured by:

• Reliability and performance metrics for the overall product and delivery systems
• Reduced incident detection and recovery times
• Adoption rates of platform tools and services
• Increased product development team self-service
• Modernization efforts across a portfolio of legacy services and infrastructure
• Reduction of recurring toilsome or interrupt activities

What You Will Do

• Take on inbound SRE and platform work directly rather than delegating it by default
• Own technical debt and infrastructure modernization within your team's scope
• Maintain deep enough understanding of every project your engineers are running
• Own delivery outcomes and the team's quality bar
• Guide technical direction through system design, architectural consult, and hands-on code review
• Own people leadership for your team
• Own how the team works, currently Agile Scrum or Kanban
• Ensure the team balances urgency over perfection while maintaining high standards
• Model effective AI-assisted development in your own hands-on work

During the First Month

• Learn about Niche by meeting with various team members
• Get hands-on in the codebase and infrastructure your team owns
• Build rapport with your direct reports and understand each ongoing project
• Work alongside the team to learn the tech stack and current process

Within 3 Months

• Be a regular, direct contributor to inbound technical work
• Foster a culture of quality by providing thoughtful, constructive feedback
• Make your first joint call with engineering leadership on a process adjustment
• Establish a working rhythm for 1:1s, performance conversations, and career development
• Join the on-call rotation suggesting improvements

Within 6 Months

• Demonstrate ownership of a nontrivial technical decision or architectural direction
• Show a track record of catching and correcting technical or platform issues
• Complete a full performance/calibration cycle for your directs

Within 12 Months

• Lead a deliberate evolution of your team's process
• Be a recognized technical authority for Site Reliability
• Navigate the Niche codebase and triage technical work
• Balance hands-on technical contribution with sustained people leadership

Qualifications

• Strong, current hands-on software engineering experience
• 4+ years of professional software engineering experience
• 3+ years of professional platform engineering experience incorporating DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering principles
• Prior experience owning technical direction or people management
• Comfort operating without a separate Tech Lead
• Experience with distributed systems and technologies such as AWS, Kubernetes, HashiCorp Vault, Grafana, GitHub Actions, Postgres, Kafka/MSK, Redis/Valkey, or equivalent platforms
• Understanding of modern microservice-based architectures and methodologies
• Experience with Golang, TypeScript, and React is a plus
• Experience with or strong aptitude for AI-assisted development tooling and workflows
• A track record of making pragmatic technical trade-offs under real delivery pressure
• Experience with, or openness to evolving, agile/Scrum-based team processes
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, both verbal and written

Compensation

Our national target base salary range is $146,000-$183,000, plus participation in our Annual Bonus and Stock Option Program. Base compensation will be commensurate with experience and skills.

Benefits

• Best-in-class 100% paid employee health plan, including vision and dental
• Flexible Paid Time Off Policy
• Stipend for building your work from home office
• Parental leave for all employees (12 weeks fully paid)
• Meaningful 401(k) with employer match
• Your ideas and work will make an immediate impact
• Join a team that cares about you and celebrates wins together

Interview Process

• Phone Screen with Talent Acquisition Partner - 30 Minutes
• Video Interview with Hiring Manager - 45 Minutes
• Technical Assessment - 45 Minutes
• Team Interview - 45 Minutes
• Leadership Interview - 45 Minutes

Company Description

Niche is the leader in school search, making researching and enrolling in schools easy, transparent, and free. We help millions of people find the right school for them and assist thousands of schools in recruiting best-fit students.