Engineering Manager, Developer Observability

This is Adyen

Adyen provides payments, data, and financial products in a single solution for customers like Meta, Uber, H&M, and Microsoft - making us the financial technology platform of choice. At Adyen, everything we do is engineered for ambition. 

For our teams, we create an environment with opportunities for our people to succeed, backed by the culture and support to ensure they are enabled to truly own their careers. We are motivated individuals who tackle unique technical challenges at scale and solve them as a team. Together, we deliver innovative and ethical solutions that help businesses achieve their ambitions faster.

We don’t just build APIs; we build the lens through which thousands of global merchants view their integration. As the Engineering manager for developer observability, you will lead a specialized team dedicated to making the "invisible" visible. Your goal is to eliminate the guesswork for developers.

You aren't just managing infrastructure; you are building a product suite that provides real-time clarity. You’ll ensure that when a developer integrates with us, they have the telemetry, debugging tools, and insights to move from "first request" to "production" with zero friction.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role. You will guide a full-stack team of engineers who balance lean experimentation with the rigors of high-scale reliability. You’ll oversee the systems (PostgreSQL, Kafka, Elasticsearch) that power our API Logs and Developer dashboards, transforming raw data into actionable guidance for our partners.

• Maintain a strong product mindset, move beyond standard monitoring to build "Customer-Centric Observability"—tools that tell a developer exactly why a payment failed or how to optimize their integration. You will propose new features and collaboratively shape the future direction of the product.
• You’ll participate in architectural designs and code reviews, ensuring our data tech stack (Kafka/Elasticsearch) delivers near real-time insights at scale (~3.5 billion events weekly growing fast). Act as a technical leader and domain expert for your teams products, challenging and driving technical design and solutions to ensure an exceptionally high technical bar. You will be the point person for product technical decisions, speaking for the product across the organization and to customers.
• We value "live" over "perfect." You will lead your team to ship functionalities within weeks, not months, impacting millions of transactions globally. Work closely with Product Managers to manage project timelines while proactively addressing technical debt, and enforcing best engineering practices.
• Coach, mentor, and build a high-performing team of Backend and Frontend engineers. You will be responsible for continuous performance management, professional development, and maintaining a culture of rapid, top-notch execution.

Who you are:

• You believe integration should be effortless. You care about the "inner loop" and the ergonomics of an API.
• You are deeply comfortable with Java, SQL, and distributed systems. You don’t just know how to run a database; you know how to build services on top of it that people love to use.
• You have experience with large-scale systems but prioritize the product knowledge and customer experience over technical complexity for its own sake.
• You thrive in autonomy and ambiguity, and you value diverse perspectives when solving "unsolvable" scaling or UX challenges.

Minimum Qualifications:

• 5+ years of technical experience, with a significant background as a hands-on Software Engineer.
• 3+ years in a leadership role, managing high-performing engineering teams while maintaining "boots on the ground" technical literacy.
• Proven track record in building developer-facing tools, observability platforms, or high-traffic API products.
• The "Plus": Experience in payments or building external-facing developer consoles/dashboards.

The annual base salary range for this role is $215,00 - $320000 in San Francisco, plus RSUs; to learn more about our compensation philosophy, please click here.   

Our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion commitments 

Our unique approach is a product of our diverse perspectives. This diversity of backgrounds and cultures is essential in helping us maintain our momentum. Our business and technical challenges are unique, and we need as many different voices as possible to join us in solving them - voices like yours. No matter who you are or where you’re from, we welcome you to be your true self at Adyen. 

Studies show that women and members of underrepresented communities apply for jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. Does this sound like you? If so, Adyen encourages you to reconsider and apply. We look forward to your application!

What’s next?

Ensuring a smooth and enjoyable candidate experience is critical for us. We aim to get back to you regarding your application within 5 business days. Our interview process tends to take about 4 weeks to complete, but may fluctuate depending on the role. Learn more about our hiring process here. Don’t be afraid to let us know if you need more flexibility.

Adyen 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.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.

You must be work authorized in the United States without the need for new visa sponsorship. The company can support visa transfers but will not sponsor individuals for H-1B CAP applications.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

This role is based out of our San Francisco office. We are an office-first company and value in-person collaboration; we do not offer remote-only roles.