Engineering Manager, Research & Development

Company Overview

If you are looking for a career at a dynamic company with a people-first mindset and a deep culture of growth and autonomy, ACV is the right place for you! Competitive compensation packages and learning and development opportunities, ACV has what you need to advance to the next level in your career. We will continue to raise the bar every day by investing in our people and technology to help our customers succeed.

We hire people who share our passion, bring innovative ideas to the table, and enjoy a collaborative atmosphere.

ACV is a technology company that has revolutionized how dealers buy and sell cars online. We are transforming the automotive industry. ACV Auctions Inc. (ACV) has applied innovation and user-designed, data‑driven applications and solutions. We are building the most trusted and efficient digital marketplace with data solutions for sourcing, selling, and managing used vehicles with transparency and comprehensive insights that were once unimaginable.

We are disruptors of the industry and we want you to join us on our journey. Our network of brands includes ACV Auctions, ACV Transportation, Clear Car, MAX Digital and ACV Capital within its Marketplace Products, as well as True
360 and Data Services.

• Company Sponsored (paid) Healthcare, Dental, Vision, Life/AD&D, Short-Term and Long-Term Disability.
• Comprehensive additional optional benefits such as Critical Illness and Supplemental Life/AD&D.
• All insurance benefits go into effect on your date of hire.
• Generous Parental Leave, Top-Up Pay, and Vacation Programs.
• Employee Stock Purchase Program with additional opportunities to earn stock in the company.
• Retirement planning through the Company’s RRSP.

An R&D Engineering Manager to lead and develop a team of engineers (software, quality, or site reliability), with full accountability for delivery outcomes and team performance.

• Actively and consistently support all efforts to simplify and enhance the customer experience.
• Lead a polyglot engineering team, directly manage and mentor a diverse team of engineers (local and remote).
• Act as a hands‑on mentor, conducting deep‑draft code reviews and creating personalized career development paths for engineers working across varied languages and frameworks.
• You are accountable for people management, recruiting for your team, associate career development and performance management.
• Serve as the primary technical interface for non‑engineering partners, translating complex R&D progress into clear business impact and roadmap updates.
• Bridge Research and Production, drive the evolution of R&D prototypes into scalable, production‑ready systems, ensuring that experimental code meets long‑term stability and performance standards.
• Balance innovation with stability by strategically allocating resources to maintain the "innovation‑to‑maintenance" ratio, ensuring core systems remain stable while the team pursues high‑risk, high‑reward R&D milestones.
• Other duties as assigned.

• 4‑Year/Bachelors Degree - Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent required.
• 8 years in the technology field.
• Ability to read, write, speak and understand English.
• Providing architectural guidance across a modern stack including Python, Java, React, React Native, Postgres, MySQL, Kubernetes and more.
• Strong understanding of RESTful and/or GraphQL API design patterns to ensure seamless communication between mobile, web, and polyglot backend services.
• Practical experience with distributed messaging and streaming platforms, preferably Kafka, to support high‑throughput, decoupled microservices.
• Experience managing technical roadmaps and resource allocation within Agile or Kanban frameworks, balancing long‑term research goals with immediate delivery milestones.
• Demonstrated experience leading software teams in a Research and Development or high‑innovation environment, specifically taking prototypes from "proof of concept" to production‑grade deployment.
• Hands‑on experience architecting and deploying scalable applications within AWS and GCP, including deep knowledge of their respective storage (S3/GCS) and database…