Role in brief
Notion is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead their Search & Context Platform team. This role involves overseeing the development and operation of critical search infrastructure, including indexing and retrieval systems, which are foundational for Notion's AI tools. The ideal candidate has a strong background in search or large-scale data systems and experience leading engineering teams to deliver reliable, high-performance platforms.
About the role
This Engineering Manager role at Notion focuses on leading a platform team dedicated to search infrastructure. The team is responsible for core components like lexical and semantic search, data indexing, and retrieval mechanisms. A key aspect of the work involves balancing long-term platform investments with rapid development cycles to integrate new features and entities, ensuring the platform remains robust and adaptable.
The position demands a strong emphasis on operational excellence and reliability. This includes establishing and maintaining Service Level Objectives (SLOs), implementing comprehensive observability, managing on-call rotations, and fostering a prevention-first approach to incident management. The manager will also collaborate closely with product and AI teams, anticipating their needs to enhance platform capabilities and accelerate product development.
Success in this role means building and guiding a high-performing team. This involves active participation in hiring, providing coaching and feedback, and cultivating an environment where individual contributors can thrive technically. The manager will also contribute to Notion's broader engineering practices, particularly in areas like platform design, reliability, and infrastructure relevant to AI applications.
The estimated base salary for this position ranges from $280,000 to $330,000 per year.
Skills that matter here
- search: This role requires expertise in search infrastructure, encompassing both lexical and semantic search components.
- retrieval: The manager will lead the development and operation of systems responsible for efficient data retrieval.
- data indexing: A core responsibility is managing the systems that index data for Notion's search and AI tools.
- big data pipelines: The role involves working with large-scale data processing pipelines that feed into the search and context platform.
- platform management: This position is centered on leading and product managing an infrastructure platform, balancing foundational work with feature delivery.
Who this role suits
- You have a technically-leaning management style and are comfortable debating architectural decisions and tradeoffs.
- You possess strong judgment regarding system scalability, performance, security, and enterprise readiness.
- You are adept at making difficult tradeoffs to maintain product velocity while safeguarding long-term system health.
- You thrive in environments with ambiguity and rapid change, adapting quickly to evolving requirements.
From the employer
- Lead a high-performing platform team responsible for search infrastructure (lexical & semantic), indexing, retrieval, and context/memory primitives.
- Set a clear roadmap balancing foundational platform investments with fast iteration on indexing new entities/features.
- Operate the platform with a high reliability bar: SLOs, deep observability, on-call health, early-warning signals, and prevention-first incident/post-mortem practices.
- Partner closely with the Search & Context product team, the AI team, and other consumers of the platform.
- Anticipate customer needs and invest in capacity and capabilities to accelerate product velocity.
- Build and lead the team through hiring, coaching, feedback, and creating an environment for strong technical ICs.
- Contribute to Notion's broader engineering practices around platform design, reliability, on-call, and AI-era infrastructure.
- 4+ years of experience leading engineering teams with a track record of shipping high-quality systems.
- A technically leaning management style with the ability to debate architecture and tradeoffs.
- Depth in search, retrieval, or large-scale data/indexing systems.
- Experience product managing a platform or infrastructure scope.
- Strong systems judgment around scalability, performance, security, and enterprise readiness.
- A bias for making hard tradeoffs to unblock product velocity while protecting long-term health.
- Experience working closely with product and AI teams as customers of a platform.
- High tolerance for ambiguity and rapid change.
- Highly competitive cash compensation, equity, and benefits.
- Estimated base salary range for this role is $280,000 - $330,000 per year.
Questions about this role
What is the remote work policy for this role?
This is a fully remote position.
What level of experience is required for this position?
Candidates should have at least 4 years of experience leading engineering teams and a background in search, retrieval, or large-scale data/indexing systems.
How does this role contribute to Notion's AI initiatives?
This role is foundational for Notion's AI tools, as it involves building and maintaining the search infrastructure and context/memory primitives that power them.