Engineering Manager (Desktop Native)

Engineering Manager 

Bitwarden is the trusted identity security leader for millions of users worldwide, empowering enterprises, developers, and individuals to securely manage and share sensitive information anywhere. Bitwarden makes it easy for all users to extend robust security across their devices with password management, secrets management, and passwordless and passkey innovations. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California with team members located across the globe. Learn more at bitwarden.com. 

About the Role

As we establish our India Engineering Center of Excellence (COE), we are looking for an experienced Engineering Manager who can lead and grow a team of Build Release and Self-Hosted Orchestration and Tooling Engineers, with strong technical fluency in CI/CD, automation & release engineering. Primarily a people-management and process-leadership role - not a hands-on IC role, though technical credibility and the ability to get hands-on when needed are expected.

This team owns build, release, delivery pipeline, and workflow infrastructure supporting engineers across the organization. You will work closely with Bitwarden's US-based BRE and SHOT leadership on functional oversight and team direction, while building strong relationships with engineering leadership in India. 

What You Will Do

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of Build Release and Self-Hosted Orchestration and Tooling engineers.
• Facilitate team ceremonies including sprint planning, backlog refinement, and retrospectives.
• Monitor in-flight work to identify blockers, proactively drive resolution, and communicate progress and context to stakeholders outside the team.
• Lead technical discussions and help shape architectural vision across a range of stakeholders, including the India BRE/SHOT team, the US BRE/SHOT team, and broader leadership.
• Partner with US-based BRE and SHOT leadership to align team priorities with broader organizational goals.
• Maintain a healthy, well-defined backlog that balances feature work, support requests, and technical debt.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, develop individualized growth plans, and identify stretch opportunities for team members.
• Perform periodic performance reviews and support career development conversations.
• Create an inclusive, collaborative team environment.
• Maintain enough technical depth in CI/CD, automation, and release engineering to get to the bottom of difficult problems when necessary.

What You'll Bring

• 10-12 years of demonstrated experience leading engineering teams or complex cross-functional product engineering initiatives within a software engineering organization.
• 2+ years of experience managing engineering teams, including 1:1s, performance management & career development.
• Experience working in globally distributed Product Engineering, GCC, or Center of Excellence environments along with managing distributed or cross-regional teams, including working across time zones.
• Proven ability to successfully lead delivery across engineering organizations and influence multiple stakeholders.
• Strong understanding of Agile software development, modern engineering practices, and product delivery lifecycles.
• Experience in Engineering Management, Technical Program Management, Engineering Delivery, Product Operations, Design Program Management, or similar leadership roles.
• Ability to communicate effectively with Engineering, Product, Design, and executive stakeholders.
• Strong problem-solving, prioritization, and decision-making skills with a continuous improvement mindset.
• A coaching-oriented leadership style with demonstrated experience developing high-performing teams.
• Strong technical background in CI/CD, automation & release engineering - sufficient to engage credibly in technical discussions and step in hands-on when necessary.
• Excellent communication skills, with experience representing a team's work to leadership and stakeholders outside the team.
• Prior experience managing or working closely with BRE, SRE, DevOps, or Platform Engineering teams.
• Strong Experience with Kubernetes and Infrastructure as Code.
• Formal management training or certifications preferred.
• Experience with specific tools like Jira, Confluence, or similar project management platforms preferred with AI tooling for development and workflow support (Claude Code or similar).

Success in This Role

You'll thrive in this position if you:

• Lead through influence, collaboration, and trust.
• Bring structure without introducing unnecessary processes.
• Balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
• Create clarity across complex, cross-functional initiatives.
• Enjoy building teams, developing people, and enabling engineering excellence.
• Are energized by helping establish and scale a world-class Engineering organization.

Why Join Us

This is an opportunity to play a foundational role in shaping our India Engineering COE from the ground up. 

Our user community loves us and we love them. Come to work each day with a sense of purpose as we bring a more secure internet experience to everyone from our friends and family to the world’s largest organizations.

Become an expert. You’ll get immersed in the prominent technology markets of security and open source software. You'll work alongside talented global teams, solve meaningful engineering challenges, influence how we scale our engineering organization & contribute to products used by customers around the world.

If you're passionate about building exceptional teams, enabling engineering excellence, and making a lasting impact within a fast-growing engineering company, we'd love to hear from you.

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where everyone can do their best work. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and make employment decisions based on skills, experience, qualifications, and business needs.