Experienced Engineering Manager, Network Enablement and Access (NEA)
Plaid
Plaid's Network Enablement and Access (NEA) organization is the backbone of the Plaid network. We build and maintain connections to 10,000+ financial institutions, ensuring that every product Plaid offers is powered by reliable, high-quality data access. Our work spans the full lifecycle: building new integrations, maintaining existing ones at scale through automated health monitoring, turning network data into intelligence products for data partners, and giving customers direct visibility into their integration health.
NEA is evolving from a connectivity-first org that builds and maintains bank integrations at scale, to an intelligence platform that turns network data into products data partners value as much as connectivity itself. At the same time, we're rethinking how the org itself operates: applying AI not just to our products, but to the engineering workflows, operational processes, and technical infrastructure that underpin everything we ship. We've already dramatically reduced the cost of building new integrations with AI; the next phase extends that same thinking across how we monitor, diagnose, and evolve the network.
The Role
You'll lead NEA's 50+ engineering organization across eight teams, partnering with our Product Area Lead to co-own strategy and execution spanning access platform development, network enablement and intelligence, integration operations, and solutions engineering.
You'll manage six engineering managers directly, own the engineering hiring bar, and be the senior engineering voice in company-wide strategy discussions. You'll set technical direction across the org, deciding where to invest in foundations vs. product delivery and making those tradeoffs with conviction.
NEA is in the middle of an AI transformation. We've already seen dramatic results from leading AI transformations in integration development, and we're pushing toward agentic systems that can observe, diagnose, and repair issues autonomously. You should have a strong point of view on how AI changes the way engineering orgs build software.
Responsibilities
- Set engineering strategy for NEA in partnership with the Product Area Lead. Balance product delivery with foundational investment across eight teams.
- Manage 6 engineering managers. Coach, calibrate performance, develop the management bench.
- Own technical direction for NEA's platform: integration frameworks, automation infrastructure, ML/data pipelines, and customer-facing surfaces.
- Drive recruiting and hiring across the org. Set the bar, own pipeline health, make final hiring decisions for 10+ open roles.
- Partner cross-functionally with product, data, operations, and business teams on roadmap priorities and tradeoffs.
Qualifications
- 10+ years of software engineering experience, 5+ years in engineering management.
- 2+ years leading large engineering organizations (40-50+ people) at the director level or equivalent.
- Track record of building technical foundations that created compounding returns.
- Experience working cross-functionally with product, data, operations, and business teams as a true partner.
- Nice to have:
- Experience leading AI transformation in an engineering org.
- Experience shipping data/insights products.
- Fintech background.
264000 - 350000 USD a year
Our geographic zones are as follows:
Zone 1 - San Francisco / New York City / Seattle
Zone 2 - Los Angeles / Washington DC / Austin / Boston / Sacramento / San Diego
Zone 3 - Atlanta / Portland / Chicago / Philadelphia / Denver / Miami / Dallas / Raleigh
Zone 4 - All other US cities
The base salary range listed for this full-time position excludes commission (if applicable), equity and benefits. The pay range shown on each job posting is the minimum and maximum target for new-hire salaries. Actual pay may be higher or lower depending on factors like skills, experience, and relevant education or training.