Software Engineering Manager

Overview

Second Order Effects (SOE) is an engineering consulting firm that specializes in electrical, electromechanical, and embedded systems. Founded in 2016, SOE has grown from a 3-person operation to a team of over 50 members across offices in El Segundo, California and Redmond, Washington. Our designs control rocket engines, manage satellite communications, instrument fusion reactors, and are enjoyed by consumers around the world.

The only thing we won’t build are weapons. SOE practices a “first principles approach” to technical problems and focuses on solving the right problems and building teams to take them on.

We empower others, build the right thing, lead with curiosity, and own the outcome. Learn .

Job Overview

As a Software Engineering Manager, you will lead and support the software engineering team across both offices in Redmond, WA and Los Angeles, CA in delivering high-quality solutions that meet customer and project needs. You’ll balance day-to-day team management with hands-on technical guidance, ensuring your team has the tools, processes, and clarity needed to succeed. In this role, you’ll mentor engineers, foster professional growth, and create an environment that encourages collaboration and continuous improvement.

You’ll work closely with cross-functional partners and leadership to align team efforts with project goals, while helping shape processes and capabilities that mature the software engineering discipline at SOE.

What You Will Do

• Shape the Software Engineering (SW) team across both offices by being accountable for their engineering decisions, output, and outcomes

• Ensure the success of projects in multiple industries by partnering with Business Development to define technical scope, execution expectations and success criteria

• Manage, mentor, and resource the SW team, helping them develop personal goals that align with the business strategy, build their skills, and advance professionally

• Set clear performance expectations for the team and effectively resource members to multiple concurrent projects and efforts

• Leverage technical expertise in mentoring and supporting ongoing software development efforts while balancing personnel management priorities

• Establish standards, processes, and best practices that promote and measure consistency, efficiency, and excellence in software and embedded design and execution

• Collaborate with senior leadership to define opportunities for growth within the Software engineering team, both in skills and capabilities

What You Will Need

• Bachelor’s degree (Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or Science, Physics, Systems Engineering, or related field)

• 7+ years in a software engineering and hardware development role for aerospace, industrial automation, and/or robotics, especially for tightly coupled systems

• 5+ years of progressively impactful software engineering leadership roles

• Previous experience in both a people management and engineering design leadership role

• Aptitude for cross functional community building and collaboration with mechanical, electrical, systems and test engineers to improve the output of the software engineering team

• Expertise in successfully executing end-to-end embedded system design from requirements generation through software bring-up

• Proven hands-on experience designing and implementing software development processes (SDLC, Sec Dev Ops , CI/CD) including evaluating, selecting, and configuring supporting tool chains and infrastructure to establish scalable development workflows

• Strong communication skills; ability to synthesize and communicate technical information to non-technical stakeholders

• Ability to evaluate and manage project risk, including scope creep, remediating missing critical requirements, and ensuring that technical challenges are sufficiently addressed

What Would Be Useful

• Master’s degree (Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering or Science, Systems Engineering, Engineering Management, Physics, or related field)

• Experience in startup, tech, or consulting environments, managing multiple responsibilities simultaneously

• Experience with client interaction for a complex…