Manager, Software Engineering - Storage Platform

About the role

This role focuses on leading a team responsible for Figma's critical database infrastructure. The manager will oversee sharded Postgres clusters, schema management, and database provisioning, ensuring these foundational systems are robust and scalable. A key aspect of the work involves driving operational excellence, which includes managing incident response, fostering a postmortem culture, and proactively investing in system resilience to maintain high availability.

The manager will define the technical direction and roadmap for the storage area, balancing investments in reliability with the development of new platform capabilities. This requires close collaboration with product and engineering leadership to prioritize work effectively, as the Storage Platform team supports all product teams at Figma. Success in this role means providing a stable and performant data tier that accelerates product development.

A significant part of this position involves team leadership and development. The manager will recruit, retain, and grow infrastructure engineering talent, fostering a culture where engineers can thrive. This includes guiding career progression, managing performance, and building a desirable team environment. The role also involves championing the adoption of AI-assisted tools to improve database operations, from schema guidance to automated migration safety checks.

The salary for this position ranges from $258,000 to $376,000 USD annually.

Skills that matter here

• Postgres: This role involves leading engineers who manage core database infrastructure, specifically sharded Postgres clusters.
• MySQL: The team manages core database infrastructure, which may include MySQL in addition to Postgres.
• AI: The manager will champion the adoption of AI-assisted tooling to improve developer experience around database operations.
• distributed systems: Candidates need proven technical depth in distributed systems to make informed technical tradeoffs and earn credibility with senior engineers.
• infrastructure: This position requires managing infrastructure engineering teams and setting the technical direction for foundational platform capabilities.
• data-intensive backend systems: The role demands technical depth in data-intensive backend systems to ensure the reliability and operational excellence of Figma's data tier.

Who this role suits

• You have a background managing infrastructure, platform, or backend engineering teams for at least four years.
• You possess deep technical understanding of distributed systems and can quickly grasp unfamiliar technical domains.
• You have a track record of improving on-call culture, incident response, and reliability practices for production systems.
• You are skilled in developing engineers' careers, including coaching, performance management, and team building.

From the employer

What you’ll do at Figma:

• Lead and develop engineers responsible for Figma's core database infrastructure, including sharded Postgres clusters, schema management, migrations tooling, and database provisioning.
• Own the reliability and operational excellence of Figma's data tier — drive incident response, postmortem culture, and proactive investment in system resilience.
• Set technical direction and roadmap for the area, balancing reliability investments with platform capabilities that accelerate product engineering teams.
• Partner with product and engineering leadership to prioritize work across competing demands — this is a foundational platform team that every product team depends on.
• Recruit, retain, and grow top infrastructure engineering talent — build a team culture where engineers do the best work of their careers.
• Drive execution through clear planning, regular reviews, and transparent communication of progress and risks to stakeholders.
• Collaborate with peer engineering managers across Infrastructure on shared operational standards and cross-cutting initiatives.
• Champion the adoption of AI-assisted tooling to improve developer experience around database operations — from schema guidance to automated migration safety checks.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

• 4+ years of experience managing infrastructure, platform, or backend engineering teams.
• Proven technical depth in distributed systems, stateful infrastructure, or data-intensive backend systems, with a track record of earning credibility with senior engineers and making informed technical tradeoffs.
• Demonstrated ability to ramp quickly on unfamiliar technical domains and apply strong engineering fundamentals.
• Track record of building or improving on-call culture, incident response processes, and reliability practices for production systems.
• Experience developing engineers' careers — you've coached people through promotions, navigated difficult performance conversations, and built teams that people want to join.
• Comfort leading distributed teams across multiple time zones.

What Figma offers:

• Competitive salary and equity.
• Health, dental & vision benefits.
• Retirement with company contribution.
• Parental leave & reproductive or family planning support.
• Mental health & wellness benefits.
• Generous PTO and company recharge days.
• Learning & development stipend.
• Work from home stipend and cell phone reimbursement.
• Sales incentive pay for most sales roles and an annual bonus plan for eligible non-sales roles.