Engineering Manager, Services

Engineering Manager, Services Ilir Sela started Slice with the belief that local pizzerias deserve every advantage available to major franchises—without sacrificing their independence. What began with his family’s pizzerias now supports tens of thousands of restaurants with the technology, services, and collective power they need to serve modern customers and build lasting businesses. We build for entrepreneurs who put everything into their shops. They deserve technology that is dependable, intuitive, and capable of creating meaningful economic value. We move with urgency, think from first principles, and measure success by the outcomes we create for pizzerias and their customers. The Challenge to Solve Slice’s Services teams build the backend systems, APIs, integrations, and operational capabilities that power our platform. We are looking for a high-agency Engineering Manager who can identify the most valuable problems, turn ambiguity into clear direction, and build a team capable of delivering exceptional results. This is not a coordination-only role. You will stay close to the technology, product, and customer. You will be accountable for both your team's performance and the impact it creates. Management is a force multiplier—not another layer of process. Your role is to create the conditions in which talented engineers can do the best work of their careers. That means setting a clear mission, raising standards, removing obstacles, developing judgment, and holding yourself and others accountable. Putting people first does not mean avoiding difficult conversations or lowering the bar. It means giving people meaningful ownership, direct feedback, strong support, and the opportunity to grow. Our strongest managers: • Focus teams on customer outcomes rather than activity. • Create clarity when the path is uncertain. • Make decisions with incomplete information and adapt quickly. • Stay close to the details without becoming the bottleneck. • Challenge assumptions and look for asymmetric opportunities. • Build trust through candor, consistency, and follow-through. • Take responsibility for outcomes, including when things go wrong. The Role Own customer and business outcomes Partner with Product, Design, Data, and Operations to identify the problems most worth solving. Define success through measurable value for pizzerias, customers, and the business—not projects completed or code shipped. Lead technical direction Guide architecture and engineering decisions across the services your team owns. Help the team balance speed, reliability, simplicity, and long-term system health. Our services are converging on Python, while parts of our ecosystem use Go and Ruby. We choose technology based on the problem and the customer value it enables—not preference or fashion. You should be comfortable leading teams working with: • Python, Go, and Ruby services. • APIs, distributed systems, and asynchronous workflows. • Databases, AWS, observability, and production operations. • Service migrations, reliability, security, and performance. Build a high-agency team Give engineers context, clear decision boundaries, and meaningful ownership. Expect them to move with urgency, exercise judgment, raise issues early, and own what happens in production. When the team is blocked, work across boundaries and find a path forward rather than simply escalating the problem. Raise execution standards Help the team deliver valuable improvements frequently without sacrificing quality. Reduce unnecessary ceremony, make risk visible, and build lightweight mechanisms that improve focus and learning. Use customer feedback, product data, incidents, and operational metrics to understand whether the team’s decisions are working. Develop exceptional people Hire and retain outstanding engineers, including those from unconventional backgrounds who demonstrate unusual ability and drive. Coach engineers across experience levels, recognize future leaders, reward strong performance, and address underperformance clearly and promptly. Lead across Slice Build strong relationships with other engineering, product, and business leaders. Influence through judgment and results rather than hierarchy. Surface disagreement directly, resolve it constructively, and optimize for Slice and its customers—not only your own team. The Team You will lead engineers working on services that power key Slice experiences. The team collaborates across the US, Canada, UK, and North Macedonia, alongside partners in Product, Design, Data, and Operations. We value thoughtful asynchronous communication, direct discussion, and high-quality written decisions. Geography should not determine who has context, influence, or ownership. You will report to an Engineering Director and work with other managers and technical leaders to raise the standard across Slice Engineering. The Winning Recipe We care more about evidence of impact, judgment, and trajectory than a perfectly conventional background. Strong candidates will bring: • Experience building and operating customer-facing software or platforms. • Experience managing high-performing engineering teams. • Strong technical judgment across backend services, APIs, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and production operations. • Experience with Python, Go, Ruby, or comparable backend technologies. • A record of improving both customer outcomes and engineering effectiveness. • The ability to turn complex, ambiguous problems into clear direction. • A founder-minded approach: resourceful, decisive, intellectually curious, and unwilling to wait for perfect conditions. • Strong instincts for leverage—knowing when to move quickly and when deeper investment is necessary. • The courage to challenge weak thinking, including your own. • Clear, direct communication across technical and non-technical audiences. • Low ego, high standards, and a strong sense of personal accountability. You will be succeeding when: • Your team understands the customer outcomes it owns. • Engineers operate with increasing independence, judgment, and urgency. • Valuable improvements reach customers frequently. • Systems become simpler, more reliable, and easier to evolve. • High performers are growing and choosing to stay. • Performance problems are addressed rather than allowed to compound. • Cross-functional partners trust the team to solve difficult problems. • Slice creates more value for pizzerias because your team exists. The Extras Benefits include: • Medical, dental, and vision plans. • Flexible working hours. • Generous time-off policies. • Employee well-being allowance for eligible employees. • Market-leading maternity and paternity schemes. Compensation package: $150k-$175k CAD base, plus benefits. Benefits may vary by location. The Hiring Process • Application. • 30-minute introductory conversation. • 60-minute conversation with an Engineering Director. • Two leadership and technical interviews with future peers and team members. • Conversation with our Head of RnD. • Offer. At Slice we are committed to fostering an inclusive, diverse, and supportive workplace. Our core values – We’re doers, Nail the basics, Better together, We’re Pan Atlantic, Build in Public and It’s a pizza Party - guide everything we do, innovate, learn and grow. Privacy Notice Statement of Acknowledgment When you apply for a job on this site, the personal data contained in your application will be collected by Slice. Slice is keeping your data safe and secure. Once we have received your personal data, we put in place reasonable and appropriate measures and controls to prevent any accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, or unauthorised access. 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