Engineering Manager: Initiative

Kikoff: A Fin Tech Unicorn Powering Financial Progress with AI

At Kikoff, our mission is to provide radically affordable financial tools to help consumers achieve financial security. We are a profitable, high‑growth Fin Tech unicorn serving millions of people, many of whom are building credit or navigating life paycheck to paycheck. With innovative technology and AI, we simplify credit building, reduce debt, and expand access to financial opportunities to those who need them the most.

Founded in 2019, Kikoff is headquartered in San Francisco and backed by top‑tier VC investors and NBA star Stephen Curry.

This is a consumer fintech startup, and you will be working with serial entrepreneurs who have built strong consumer brands and innovative products. We value extreme ownership, clear communication, a strong sense of craftsmanship, and the desire to create lasting work and work relationships. Yes, you can build an exciting business AND have real‑life real‑customer impact.

Kikoff is one of the fastest‑growing consumer fintech apps in the US, already serving millions of Americans. This role leads a dedicated team working on one of Kikoff's most important product initiatives with real autonomy, high visibility, and a direct line to the company's long‑term growth story.

As Engineering Manager, you will start with a team of four engineers and grow it to about eight by end of year. You will set the technical direction, hire and develop the team, and partner closely with product and design to take this initiative from early stages to full scale.

This is a player‑coach role at the start. You will be close to the code, close to product decisions, and close to the people. As the team grows, you will shift toward leading through others — but the technical foundation you set early will matter.

If you want a role where your decisions shape a product from day one, where your team's work reaches millions of users, and where strong execution today shapes a company that millions of people depend on — this is it.

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of 4 engineers, with a plan to grow to ~8 by end of year
• Hire strong engineers who thrive in ambiguity, take ownership of outcomes, and care about craft
• Build a highly collaborative team environment where engineers have real ownership, do high‑impact work, and grow faster because they are surrounded by great people and genuinely difficult problems
• Be hands‑on early: reviewing code, making architecture calls, unblocking the team directly when needed

• Define the architecture and foundational technical decisions for a new product built on Kikoff’s existing platform
• Uphold high engineering standards: code quality, testing discipline, system reliability, and safe deployments
• Partner with Kikoff’s app platform and foundation teams to build on shared, well‑maintained infrastructure

• Work closely with product and design to turn ambiguous problems into scoped, shippable work
• Own the technical roadmap and ensure the team is always working on the highest‑impact problems
• Be a genuine collaborative partner to product and design – bring engineering creativity to open problems, surface possibilities they have not considered, and stay curious about their perspective and user insights
• Think in terms of outcomes for users and the business, not just features shipped

• 5+ years of software engineering experience with a strong backend or full‑stack foundation: you can review code, make architecture decisions, and contribute directly when needed
• 2+ years of engineering management experience, ideally with time building a new product or feature from scratch
• A track record of shipping: you have taken products from idea to production and know what it takes to keep quality high while moving fast
• Experience hiring and developing engineers: you know what good looks like, and you have a process for finding and growing it
• You use AI like having an AI double helping you get more done like writing JDs 😉
• Strong product sense: you care about the “why” as much as the “how”, and you can hold a product…