Engineering Manager

The Texas Tribune is hiring an Engineering Manager to ensure our digital products and technical projects are delivered reliably, efficiently and in close alignment with our mission. This role is by design a hybrid of engineering-best-practice stewardship, day-to-day delivery leadership, agile management and architectural oversight.

This is a delivery-first engineering leadership role. You are here to create the conditions for successful execution, not to act as a “maker-manager.” It’s about orchestrating teams, removing blockers, clarifying requirements, and keeping momentum and standards high across often-complex, multi-stakeholder projects. 

You’ll report to the Chief Product Officer and work closely with two product managers responsible for growth and data. The team also includes designers, data journalists, and two engineers focused on ethical AI adoption and full-stack product engineering. We create and ship systems that help guide transformation as we launch and sustain new local newsrooms to serve more Texans. You will work directly with journalists and product teammates to create and improve the technologies that power the Tribune.

The Technical Delivery Manager is centered on people and delivery, not just tech decisions. This person should ensure the Tribune’s platforms are robust, scalable, and serve both audience and newsroom teams with minimal friction. They must balance hands-on support of their team with clear communication to organizational leadership.

The salary for this position starts at $130,000, depending on qualifications.

Responsibilities

• Technical leadership: Guide engineering best practices, set technical direction and ensure architectural decisions align with broader product and organizational goals. This includes overseeing migrations, integrations (CRM and membership in 2026) and technical support for new initiatives (AI, data products).
• Staff management and development: Supervise and serve as the primary point of support and accountability for engineers. This includes hiring, onboarding, performance feedback, mentorship and career path conversations. The manager shields staff from organizational churn — such as shifting project priorities — and fosters a healthy, inclusive team environment.
• Project delivery and execution: Own technical execution of product roadmaps. This means breaking down large priorities into actionable engineering tasks, setting realistic timelines, monitoring progress, troubleshooting blockers and ensuring deliverables match requirements, including stakeholder communication across teams.
• Cross-departmental liaison: Act as a bridge between editorial, product and design, translating business and user needs into clear technical work. A technical manager isn’t just “the boss of the engineers.” They’re a key voice in cross-functional planning, helping scope, de-risk and sequence projects amid shifting priorities.
• Quality and reliability: Set and enforce standards for code quality, uptime, documentation and operational support — including monitoring, on-call and incident response as appropriate. They do not write code but are responsible for technical debt and reliability across the stack.
• Budget and vendor management: Participate in evaluating, selecting and managing external vendors, SaaS tools and hosting infrastructure, ensuring value and alignment with strategic priorities.
• Non-goals: Product prioritization and roadmap definition are the responsibility of the CPO and product managers, though this technical delivery manager participates in those conversations.

About you

You’re a kind, process-driven technical manager with a heart for public service. We’re looking for someone who is energized by the fast pace and civic mission of a nonprofit media organization. 

Preferred Qualifications

The ideal candidate will have at least five years of experience in the following areas:

• Demonstrated success leading delivery of digital products or technical initiatives in agile settings, with particular experience running sprints, facilitating retrospectives and keeping teams focused through cross-functional change.
• Proven ability to manage and steward code review and quality processes, ensuring engineering standards without needing to be the technical decider; adept at escalating and resolving technical blockers.
• Hands-on experience coordinating data integrations and system workflows across platforms, ideally with tools such as a Newspack CMS, Salesforce CRM and Beehiiv ESP.
• Strong vendor and third-party partnership management skills, including contract/scoping oversight, delivery tracking and technical integration.
• Excellent communicator — able to translate technical concepts for non-technical partners, align project dependencies, and foster a culture of accountability, transparency and continuous improvement.

We know some great candidates won’t check all of these boxes, and we also know you might bring important skills that we haven’t considered. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself.

Location

The Tribune is headquartered in Austin, and we have journalists in cities across the state. This position can be based anywhere in the United States, but we prefer candidates who are familiar with Texans and their news needs.  

Benefits

This job is full-time and has the following benefits:

• Medical, vision and dental insurance
• Monthly cellphone stipend
• 20 days of paid time off each year
• 12 paid holidays
• Up to 16 weeks of paid family leave, plus four weeks of additional job protection
• Annual 401(k) match
• Support for professional training and career development
• Remote working flexibility

How to Apply

Submit your application by Feb. 8. Be prepared to upload: 

1. Your resume
2. A cover letter telling us about yourself and why you want to work in product at The Texas Tribune. Please describe your relevant engineering experience creating features that make information more accessible and efficient at a newsroom or similar organization.
3. A description of how you guided a complex technical project to completion using excellent project management skills. Tell us about your role in the work and what you learned from the process.

The Texas Tribune is an equal opportunity employer and values diversity. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We can't wait to hear from you.

About The Texas Tribune

Here’s what you should know about the Tribune. From day one, we’ve had disruption, innovation and risk-taking in our DNA. We’re ambitious as all get out but still have the punch-above-your-weight mentality of a scrappy start-up. We believe we can meet the demands of our audience and our own expectations for excellence without breaking the bank — or our staff. We understand not everything is a story for us — we have to make choices — but we’re always looking to expand our boundaries. 

We’re nonprofit because the challenging economic reality for media these days obligates us to find a different way, reliable and sustainable, to fund serious journalism. We’re nonpartisan because we live in the United States of Confirmation Bias — and we don’t need to be part of the problem. We don’t need to be yet another source of information affirming the voices and perspectives that are already in people’s heads. At the same time, nonpartisan is not non-thinking. We call B.S. when B.S. needs to be called.

The Texas Tribune seeks to ensure that its newsroom and its news coverage reflect Texas by including a wide range of perspectives from people of different backgrounds, ideologies and experiences.

Learn more about The Texas Tribune here.