Software Engineering Manager

At R2, we believe that small and medium businesses are the productive engine of society. Small and medium businesses (SMBs) make up over 90% of companies in Latin America, yet they face a trillion-dollar credit gap. Our mission is to unlock SMBs’ potential by providing financial solutions tailored to their needs. We are reimagining the financial infrastructure of Latin America, where SMBs’ financial needs are met without ever having to go to a bank.

R2 enables platforms across Latin America to embed financial services that SMBs can leverage, starting with revenue-based financing. We are a high-performing, close-knit team with talent from organizations such as Google, Amazon, Nubank, Uber, Capital One, Mercado Libre, Globant, and J.P. Morgan.

We are entering a new phase of growth following a strategic investment from Ant International, focused on rapidly expanding our partner footprint, strengthening our credit and underwriting capabilities, and scaling operations across multiple markets. As part of this growth journey, eligible team members have the opportunity to participate in R2’s Phantom Share Program, a performance-based incentive designed to align our team with the company’s long-term success and value creation. We believe in building a culture of ownership, where those who help create value share meaningfully in it.

As a Software Engineering Manager (EM), you will be responsible for building and nurturing a high-performing engineering team. You’ll balance people leadership, execution management, and technical guidance, ensuring the team delivers high-quality, scalable solutions aligned with product and business goals.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives in dynamic environments, cares deeply about people, and has the technical depth to support strong decision-making without being hands-on every day.

• Hire, onboard, and grow engineers across different levels.
• Run effective 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development conversations.
• Coach engineers in both technical and soft skills.
• Foster a healthy, inclusive, and motivating team culture.

• Ensure projects are delivered on time and with quality.
• Oversee sprint rituals (planning, standups, retrospectives) from a manager’s perspective.
• Identify and remove blockers, improve workflows, and refine processes.
• Partner with PMs and Designers to set priorities and align on goals.

• Guide architectural and technical decisions (without daily coding).
• Ensure best practices in testing, monitoring, scalability, and security.
• Review designs and mentor senior engineers.
• Act as a bridge between leadership priorities and engineering execution.

• Understand product and business goals and translate them into engineering strategy.
• Balance short-term delivery with long-term sustainability.
• Participate in budgeting and headcount planning.
• Represent engineering in leadership and cross-functional discussions.

• Strong empathy, emotional intelligence, and communication skills.
• Experience in coaching, mentorship, and conflict resolution.
• Ability to create trust and psychological safety.

• Solid grasp of Agile, Kanban, or Lean practices.
• Familiarity with prioritization frameworks (OKRs, RICE, ICE).
• Experience collaborating with stakeholders and managing expectations.
• Proven ability to hire and build great teams.

• Solid background in software engineering and systems design.
• Ability to evaluate technical proposals and make informed trade-offs.
• Familiarity with infrastructure, scalability, observability, and reliability.
• Understanding of CI/CD, testing practices, and incident response.
• Ability to connect engineering decisions to business impact.
• Strong judgment in balancing speed vs. quality, features vs. tech debt.
• Comfort communicating trade-offs and risks to executives.
• 5+ years of engineering experience, with 2+ years in management or tech lead roles.
• Proven experience managing teams of 5–15 engineers.
• Background in fintech, SaaS, or other high-scale environments is a plus.
• Fluency in English and Spanish/Portuguese is a strong plus.

Originally posted on Himalayas