Explore Manager, Systems Engineering, Production jobs and discover a pivotal leadership role at the intersection of technology infrastructure and software delivery. This profession involves overseeing the systems engineering teams responsible for the production environments that power large-scale, often cloud-based, applications and services. Professionals in this role are technical leaders who manage both complex systems and the engineers who build and maintain them, ensuring the underlying platform is secure, reliable, and scalable to support business-critical operations. Typically, a Manager of Systems Engineering for Production is responsible for defining the technical vision and roadmap for production infrastructure. This includes guiding the design and implementation of architecture that enables global capabilities and robust performance. A core aspect of the role is fostering a culture of automation and observability, empowering product development teams to self-serve and rapidly resolve incidents. Common responsibilities involve authoring and reviewing infrastructure-as-code, implementing tooling for monitoring and alerting, and partnering with product teams to uphold stringent standards for security, availability, and deployment velocity. People leadership is equally critical; these managers hire, directly supervise, mentor, and develop top engineering talent, building strong cross-functional relationships across the organization. The typical skill set for these jobs blends deep technical expertise with strong leadership acumen. Candidates generally possess a background in systems engineering or site reliability engineering, often within SaaS or similar high-availability environments. Competency in at least one programming or scripting language is common, alongside a broad knowledge base for solving complex distributed systems problems. Essential soft skills include the ability to devise and adapt roadmaps, provide and receive actionable feedback, and coach teams through change. A successful manager in this field demonstrates a growth mindset, particularly regarding process improvement and emerging technologies like AI, and balances hands-on technical contributions with a passion for team career growth. They are adept at recruiting in competitive markets and are known for building resilient, automated systems and high-performing, collaborative teams. For those seeking leadership roles that shape both technological foundations and engineering culture, Manager, Systems Engineering, Production jobs offer a challenging and rewarding career path.
