Hybrid opportunity at
Wattpad[Wattpad] Engineering Manager
Wattpad is recruiting an Engineering Manager for its Platform Engineering group in Toronto. The team builds and maintains the backend services that power social interaction, notifications,…
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About This Role
Wattpad is recruiting an Engineering Manager for its Platform Engineering group in Toronto. The team builds and maintains the backend services that power social interaction, notifications, subscriptions and the coin economy inside Wattpad. Colleagues in product, marketing and the business side, along with other engineering groups, depend on these services to ship features to readers and writers. The manager is responsible for the group's technical direction and for growing the…
Job Description
Wattpad is recruiting an Engineering Manager for its Platform Engineering group in Toronto. The team builds and maintains the backend services that power social interaction, notifications, subscriptions and the coin economy inside Wattpad. Colleagues in product, marketing and the business side, along with other engineering groups, depend on these services to ship features to readers and writers.
The manager is responsible for the group's technical direction and for growing the engineers in it. The work spans people management, including performance reviews, career development and team routines, plus hands-on technical leadership, such as running design sessions and reviewing documents and code.
The ideal fit is a manager with a strong backend and distributed systems background who can make sound decisions and explain complex ideas to both technical and non-technical listeners. Day-to-day tasks include coordinating resources, estimating timelines, flagging blockers early and taking part in recruiting.
This role is hybrid, with staff in the downtown Toronto office three days a week. Applicants must have legal work status in Canada outside Quebec, as the employer will not sponsor work permits.
Responsibilities
- Manage and support engineers on the team, including performance, career progression and team administration
- Contribute to the technical roadmap by linking business goals to engineering priorities
- Lead and join technical design and planning discussions
- Give technical feedback on designs, documents and code
- Collaborate with Product and sister groups while requirements are gathered and solutions designed
- Plan staffing, provide estimates, and surface blockers and issues
- Hold a high quality bar and encourage long-term thinking and new ideas
- Mentor colleagues on technical and interpersonal skills and help with hiring
Requirements
- Eight or more years in software development, including three or more years managing a group of at least three engineers, senior-level staff included
- Background in designing and building distributed backend systems, and in writing architecture documents that use diagrams
- Majority of career in backend work, with real hands-on time spent on APIs and the design of applications and systems
- Advanced skill building software on Unix-style operating systems
- Familiarity with a compiled programming language, for example C++, Java, Golang or Rust
- Sound technical judgment for choosing well and describing complicated topics to mixed audiences
- Able to operate in uncertain situations and work with technical and non-technical stakeholders alike
- Undergraduate degree, or equivalent experience, in computing, engineering, math or a closely related area
Qualifications
- Background as a staff, principal or architect-level engineer
- AWS cloud experience
- Familiarity with OpenAPI, gRPC or Protobuf
- Hands-on knowledge of Golang, Docker, containers or Kubernetes
Core Skills
Benefits
- Career growth supported by mentorship
- Vision and dental cover within health benefits, plus a yearly wellness account
- RRSP savings contributions in Canada and 401K contributions in the USA
- Vacation allowance and top-up during maternity or parental leave
- Option to work remotely from other countries for part of the year
Frequently Asked Questions
Answers are based only on the employer’s listing; where it doesn’t say, neither do we.
Where is the job located?
The posting describes a hybrid setup, with staff in the downtown Toronto office three days a week. The listing does not give a separate location.
Who may apply?
Applicants need legal work status in Canada outside Quebec. The employer says it will not sponsor work permits.
What management background is asked for?
The posting asks for three or more years leading a group of at least three engineers, within eight or more years of software development.
Is the role full-time, and what is the pay?
The role is full-time. The posting does not specify a salary.
What does the interview process look like?
All interviews are held remotely using third-party tools such as video platforms like Google Meet and Zoom.
Sample Interview Questions
AI-generated questions tailored to this specific role — a preview of the full practice set.