Forward Deployed Engineering Manager
Spruce Systems
Software Engineering, Other Engineering
United States
Posted on Sep 3, 2025
At SpruceID, we are reimagining trusted interactions by creating the world’s best software for digital identity. We are a team of engineers building world-class open source software that implements open global standards. We believe success is not only about great technology, but also about empowering people to have secure, private, and reliable experiences with their governments.
As a Forward Deployed Engineering Manager, you will lead a team of engineers delivering solutions for state governments and other public sector partners. You will be responsible for both people management and delivery execution, ensuring projects meet customer needs while supporting the growth and success of your team. This role combines engineering leadership, customer engagement, and operational management. You’ll work closely with delivery managers and executives, both within SpruceID and in government, to align technical execution with strategic outcomes.
This job is fully remote within the US, but we prefer candidates in states where we do business including CA, UT, and CO
What You'll Do
- Manage and grow a team of forward deployed engineers, providing coaching, mentorship, and career development
- Oversee multiple public sector deployments, from prototyping to development to operations and maintenance
- Partner with delivery managers to ensure projects are executed on time, within scope, and to high technical standards
- Build strong relationships with government partners, serving as a trusted technical leader and ensuring alignment with policy and operational goals
- Set and enforce engineering best practices across deployments, including security, privacy, and accessibility requirements
- Identify and drive efficiencies across projects, ensuring knowledge and tooling are shared across teams
- Collaborate with platform teams to feed customer insights into SpruceID’s roadmap and contributions to global identity standards
Qualifications
- 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3+ years in an engineering management or team leadership role
- Experience managing teams delivering production-grade systems in statically typed languages (Rust, Go, Java, C#)
- Proven track record leading cross-functional engineering projects in complex or regulated environments
- Strong technical background across the software development stack, including infrastructure, devops, backend, frontend, and mobile
- Demonstrated ability to build trust with both technical and executive stakeholders, ideally in the public sector
- Excellent communication, leadership, and organizational skills
- Based in the US and willing to travel as needed to support state government partners
Bonus Qualifications
- Prior experience managing engineering teams working with public sector software projects
- Familiarity with government procurement, compliance, and governance considerations
- Knowledge of computer security, cryptography, and user data privacy practices
- Experience scaling engineering organizations or establishing new delivery functions
At SpruceID, we value diversity of perspectives and backgrounds. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or veteran status.