Engineering Manager

About Downtown Music Publishing

Since the foundation of Downtown Music Publishing in 2007 and Songtrust in 2011, publishing has been at the core of Downtown’s mission. As the landscape transformed, Downtown divested its owned song catalog in 2021 to focus exclusively on providing world-class publishing administration and creative services. Downtown Music’s publishing administration services - Downtown Music Publishing, Songtrust, and Sheer Publishing Africa - currently have nearly 360,000 songwriters and almost 5 million copyrights under management.

Scope

Downtown Music Publishing seeks a highly skilled and experienced Application Engineering Lead to own all software architecture, engineering, development, and support for the division’s proprietary applications, which internal and external customers use. This position is responsible for the activities and resources contained within the group’s multiple project teams to deliver projects on time and on budget. Projects include high levels of risk, complexity, and visibility.

As the Application Engineering Team Lead, you will be pivotal in steering our new product development, maintaining existing systems, and leading the application engineering team. 

• Develop and articulate the technological vision and strategy for application engineering, ensuring they align with the company's broader goals and technology landscape.
• Lead, manage, and mentor a team of engineers, fostering an environment of learning and growth while ensuring high productivity and team morale.
• Involved in hands-on planning, execution, and delivery of projects and features in partnership with the product lead, ensuring they are completed on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards.
• Conduct thorough code reviews and enforce quality assurance practices to maintain high code integrity and system reliability standards.
• Drive the identification, evaluation, development, implementation, and organizational adherence to best practices, methodologies, and tools to improve and successfully complete large-scale, mission-critical projects continuously. Promote the organization’s education, adoption, and adherence to the above-mentioned practices.
• Work closely with other departments, such as product management, marketing, support, and operations, to ensure a cohesive and coordinated approach to product development and implementation.
• Actively participate in the hiring process for the software engineering teams, including conducting interviews, evaluating candidates, and making hiring recommendations to build high-performing and diverse teams.
• Stay abreast of publishing domain challenges, industry trends, and standards within the DDEX community, and encourage constant learning and adaptation within the team.

Qualifications

• Demonstrable experience managing distributed engineering teams (7 to 9 people), showcasing an ability to lead, communicate, and collaborate effectively across different geographical locations.
• Proven track record of leading re-architecture projects, with a strong understanding of best practices in system design and scalability.
• Solid experience building products from the ground up (0 to 1), demonstrating creativity, innovation, and the ability to work in fast-paced, evolving environments.
• Strong expertise in Python (Django), PostgreSQL, and AWS infrastructure. Familiarity with Snowflake, and data engineering is highly desirable.
• Experience with rights management systems, preferably in the music or related industries.
• Outstanding leadership qualities, including mentoring and growing a team, coupled with excellent communication skills.
• Willingness and ability to travel to the US for work visits, facilitating effective collaboration and alignment with teams and stakeholders.