Desktop Software Engineering Manager

Alpha Sense is building a new Desktop Software Engineering function within Corporate Technology, and we are looking for the manager who will shape it from the ground up. This role sits at the intersection of enterprise endpoint engineering and internal product quality — primarily responsible for ensuring that Alpha Sense's own desktop applications behave reliably on every managed endpoint across the company, while also contributing to the team responsible for macOS and Windows device management at scale.

This is not a traditional IT management role. You will lead a team of engineers (not generalist support technicians) who own MDM platforms, write automation, and serve as the technical bridge between Corporate IT and the product engineering organization.

• Ensure the team is testing new desktop application releases against the managed device baseline before broad internal rollout
• Own the team's relationship with product engineering as it relates to how Alpha Sense desktop applications behave on managed employee endpoints
• Define the standard for how the team captures and communicates diagnostic data (logs, traces, environmental context) to product engineering in a way that accelerates resolution
• Establish and maintain a process for reproducing, triaging, and escalating employee-reported desktop application issues — including crash analysis, update failures, OS permission conflicts, and performance degradation

• Maintain visibility into the health of the endpoint fleet and the desktop application experience, and report proactively on trends, risks, and improvements
• Coordinate with Integrated IT leadership on resourcing, prioritization, and roadmap planning
• Contribute to the Secure IT initiative by owning the endpoint engineering workstream within the broader Corporate Technology program

• Hire, onboard, and develop a team of 2–4 Desktop System Software Engineers, with a focus on building deep technical capability in endpoint engineering and desktop application diagnostics
• Define the operating model for the function: how issues are triaged, escalated, diagnosed, and resolved; how the team interfaces with product engineering; and how work is tracked and reported
• Build and maintain a culture of engineering rigor — runbooks, documentation, automation, and post-incident review — rather than reactive ticket-chasing
• Set clear expectations, provide regular feedback, and support career development for each team member
• Represent the Desktop Engineering function in cross-functional forums and planning cycles

• Collaborate and contribute on the strategy and execution of macOS and Windows endpoint management across the enterprise fleet via Kandji/Iru and Microsoft Intune
• Guide the team in designing and maintaining enrollment workflows, configuration profiles, compliance policies, and custom automation scripts
• Help ensure software deployment, patch management, and application control strategies are current, scalable, and aligned with the Security team's enforcement posture
• Partner with Security on EDR (Crowd Strike Falcon), Zero Trust (Cloudflare WARP/Gateway), and identity (Okta) integrations at the endpoint layer, representing the endpoint engineering perspective in policy decisions

• 5+ years of experience in endpoint engineering, desktop platform engineering, or a related technical discipline — with at least 2 years in a people management or formal tech lead role
• Hands-on background with macOS and/or Windows at a systems/configuration level, beyond standard user support; able to credibly evaluate and guide the technical work of your team
• Demonstrated experience with one or more enterprise MDM platforms:
  Kandji/Iru, Jamf Pro, or Microsoft Intune
• Experience managing or closely partnering with product engineering teams on client-side issues; comfortable reading a bug report, asking the right diagnostic questions, and holding the line on quality
• Proven ability to build and run a technical function: defining process, establishing standards, and…