Manager, Software Engineering - Payload

Figma is growing its team of passionate creatives and builders on a mission to make design accessible to all. As an Engineering Manager for the Payload team, you'll lead the engineering efforts behind Figma’s open-source CMS and application framework, guiding technical investments and collaborating with various teams to shape the roadmap.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the engineering team behind all of Payload
• Develop and execute on a strategy to leverage Payload to accelerate Figma’s suite of offerings
• Engage directly with open-source community members, contributors, and enterprise customers to understand their needs, gather feedback, and help translate insights into product and engineering priorities
• Provide hands-on technical leadership to your teams and others that collaborate with your teams to ensure a cohesive product experience and the right technical abstractions
• Lead, coach, and grow a team of engineers through hiring, mentorship, performance management, and career development, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and technical excellence
• Partner closely with the product and technical leaders of Payload to align team priorities, support roadmap execution, and ensure engineering investments are focused on the highest-impact opportunities

Requirements:

• 3+ years of experience leading and developing software engineering teams within a technical product company
• Strong technical background building modern web applications and platforms using technologies such as Node.js, TypeScript, React, Next.js, or similar frameworks
• Experience building or leading teams responsible for developer platforms, application frameworks, or other highly extensible software systems
• Excellent product and technical judgment, with experience shaping developer-facing APIs and collaborating closely with design teams to deliver intuitive user experiences
• Hands-on knowledge of CMS systems, particularly Payload and its ecosystem
• A track record of contributing to, maintaining, or leading teams behind open-source projects, with a strong grasp of community-driven product development
• A background in supporting enterprise customers and balancing the needs of large organizations with broader community priorities
• Comfort working with AI-assisted development workflows, agentic coding tools, or developer productivity platforms