Engineering Manager, Data & AI

Are you a product-focused engineering leader passionate about hiring and scaling high performance teams? Do you consider yourself a skilled and empathic manager? Do you enjoy leading people, collaborating with cross-functional teams, and improving software development practices? Have you mentored, coached and provided a clear framework for growth for your team members? We might have the perfect opportunity for you.

ABOUT US:

ChowNow is one of the leading players in off-premise restaurant technology. As takeout becomes a vital revenue stream for independent restaurants, our platform helps owners focus on what they do best—serving great food—by offering solutions across the entire digital dining experience. From building branded websites and mobile apps, to powering online orders, managing menus, consolidating delivery, and running targeted marketing, we give restaurants the tools to grow on their own terms.

We support over 20,000 restaurants across North America, helping process $1B+ in gross food sales while saving our partners over $700M in third-party commission fees. Through our white-label ordering solutions, a growing demand network (including Google, Yelp, Apple, and Snap), and a diner-friendly marketplace, we empower independent restaurants to own their customer relationships and avoid inflated pricing and fees charged by 3rd party delivery apps like Uber and Doordash. 

Founded in 2012, we’ve navigated rapid growth and transformation—from startup roots through the pandemic boom—and are now beginning an exciting new era under our CEO, Kanika Soni. As we evolve with new leadership and cutting-edge tools, we’re deepening our commitment to helping local restaurants thrive in the digital economy.

About the Position:

ChowNow’s Engineering Team has built a modern platform to enable restaurants to streamline their online ordering processes and create a strong digital brand. Our “quality product first” approach to engineering contributes to our success and brand recognition. We’ve reached the time when we need to grow and scale our engineering team to meet the demand of the many exciting new products and features on our roadmap.

We’re looking for an experienced software engineering leader to join our growing engineering team. As an Engineering Manager, you will help us launch reliable and stable products and support new initiatives to continuously improve the experience of our users. You will shape the product, the software architecture, the development process, and the culture. 

Most importantly, you will motivate, encourage and lead your team to success, by finding growth opportunities, providing constructive feedback, and combining challenge and support to get the best out of your colleagues. You will be vital in fostering an engineering culture based on collaboration, inclusion, support, measuring and tracking results, and constant improvement.

This position will lead a team of data and AI/ML engineers who are focused on building the systems that will fuel our product led growth strategies. Your team will directly influence new features while simultaneously tackling engineering-driven initiatives to support our efforts to scale.

This role reports to the Chief Technology & Product Officer. Manages a team of 3-4 engineers.

This is a remote role based in the United States. Please note: ChowNow is not eligible to employ in every state and the recruiting team will confirm location and eligibility before moving past initial stages.

WHAT WE LOVE ABOUT YOU:

You put restaurants first. You deeply understand the importance of local restaurants and put them at the center of everything you do. You aim to help them not only survive but thrive.

You celebrate diversity. You recognize that diversity and inclusivity matter. You’re committed to progress, which means everyone gets the support and resources they need, no matter who they are.  You have an ability to listen to other team members' ideas and can thrive in an environment that embraces individuality. Everyone’s voice counts.

You raise your hand. You consistently go above and beyond what is asked of you. You help your peers accomplish their tasks while also excelling at accomplishing your own. When you have a smart idea, you raise your hand and share it.

You keep reaching. You set clear ambitious goals. You don’t allow yourself to become complacent with where you’re at and what you’ve done, so you seek out new opportunities and challenges.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE: 

• Complete our ChowNow onboarding (Ramp Camp) where you’ll learn the ins and outs about ChowNow and our products.
• Get to know people - your direct team of data engineering, data analytics and AI/ML engineers, as well as the rest of the Engineering organization, Product, and Design. 
• Join team stand-ups, sprint planning, grooming, and more in order to get familiar with the overall product and team processes.
• Familiarize yourself with the end to end development process and SDLC.
• Spend deep dive time with the team to learn more about the core products and how they all fit together.
• Through 1:1s and team sessions, start to understand your team members’ areas of strength and opportunity, in order to be able to provide career guidance and performance reviews.
• Understand how business goals and compliance affect our internal processes.

• Understand our end to end data and ML stack 
• Drive team towards regular cadence of building and release data and ML products at scale
• Coach your team on building and delivering new data & ML features and capabilities natively in our customer-facing applications
• Develop strong relationships with Engineering Leadership and Product peers.
• Review product requirements and design documents, perform code reviews and weigh in on implementation choices.

• Collaborate on defining high-level technology roadmap addressing tech debt, product roadmap, and other needs.
• Provide on-going constructive feedback and guidance to your team members and as part of performance reviews.
• Support and collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure consistent application of engineering practices.
• Lead evolution of software development process and practices specially for Data & ML domains while supporting growth of the team and new product initiatives.

• You have 10+ years of software engineering experience with 5+ years focused on data and ML systems, including 3+ years managing high-performing engineering teams of 5-12 direct reports
• You have successfully managed teams that built data pipelines and ML-powered products such as recommendation engines, personalization systems, or agentic workflows
• You have strong knowledge of modern data engineering stack including real-time data processing (Kafka, Spark), data quality monitoring, ETL/ELT pipelines, Snowflake, dbt
• You have working knowledge of Python, and TensorFlow or PyTorch
• You have thorough understanding of ML model deployment including CI/CD pipelines, A/B testing frameworks, feature stores, and automated ML pipelines
• You have hands-on AWS experience with ML services (SageMaker, EMR, Redshift) or GCP equivalent
• You are passionate about Observability, ML model monitoring, drift detection, and performance optimization at scale
• Experience with LLMs, RAG systems, vector databases, and transformer architectures is a nice to have
• You have a passion for team building and a track record of recruiting, onboarding and fostering high-performing engineering teams.
• You care about the quality of work your team produces.
• You are a fan of rapid iteration and experimentation. You think about failures as a learning opportunity. 
• You are a thoughtful mentor and leader who loves supporting your team and collaborating with others to achieve great things.
• You thrive in environments supporting your growth, and where you can support others.
• You are passionate with a contagious energy, encouraging those around you to pursue their goals.

• Expected Base Salary Range: $201,875 - $262,500 depending on candidate location
• Ongoing training and growth opportunities.
• A "Best Place to Work" winner multiple times where we focus on creating a great employee experience.
• Rock solid medical, dental, and vision plans.
• Mental Health Coverage - we offer several programs to support your mental health and wellness goals.
• Unlimited Paid Vacation. We expect you to work hard, but still enjoy your personal life
• 7 weeks of baby bonding time for all new parents (within the first year of birth or adoption), 8 Weeks of Paid Pregnancy Leave.
• 401(k) Matching
• Employer-contributing student loan assistance program or continuing education reimbursement program
• Commuter benefits (including Uber Pool).
• Employee Stock Incentive Plan.
• Pet insurance for your fur babies
• Consistent & fair leadership: we’ll share info, set clear goals, show you respect, and treat everyone fairly.
• Enough freedom to spread your wings while still holding you accountable.

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required.

As one of ChowNow’s core values, “Celebrates Diversity”, we are committed to an inclusive and diverse work environment. ChowNow is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin, religion, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, marital status or any legally protected status.  We are committed to developing a barrier-free recruitment process and work environment, if you require any accommodation, please let us know at your earliest convenience and we’ll work with you to meet your accessibility needs.

Information Regarding Recruiting Scams: ChowNow does not engage in outreach to prospective candidates by text message about employment opportunities, interviews, or employment offers, and we do not make job offers after only one interview. ChowNow does not ask candidates to submit sensitive personal information (Passport details, banking information, etc.) as part of the interview process. ChowNow employment offers are made by a ChowNow Talent Acquisition team member with a @chownow.com email address only. ChowNow does not ask candidates to provide funds to the company for onboarding, equipment, or supplies. If you receive an employment inquiry or employment offer from a non @chownow.com email address, consider it spam.  

Read here about your California privacy rights.

#Li-Remote