Principal Software Engineer
•Skimmer· 1d
💻 Engineering⏰ Full-time🎯 Lead / Principal🇺🇸 USA
1d ago
Supabase·about 2 months ago
Supabase is the Postgres development platform, built by developers for developers. We provide a complete backend solution including Database, Auth, Storage, Edge Functions, Realtime, and Vector Search. All services are deeply integrated and designed for growth.
We're looking for a Senior Manager, Technical Program Management to join our R&D Organization and stand up the Technical Program Management function at Supabase. You'll report to the Head of Product, Engineering, and Design and partner directly with the heads of Customer Success, Support, GTM, and PMM. You'll manage a small team of senior IC TPMs (starting with one), and you'll personally own the cross-functional interface fabric between Engineering, Product, Design, and the rest of the value delivery chain.
This is a founding role for the function. The shape, standards, and operating model are yours to define, against a clear position: TPM is not PMO. Engineering Managers are accountable for delivery on their teams. TPMs own the connective tissue between teams and between functions, the dependency graph of our largest programs, and the company standard for how we run projects in Linear.
This role is ideal for an experienced operator who has built TPM functions before, has strong technical fluency, and wants to define the operating fabric of a fast-moving, distributed software company without falling into the failure modes of centralized status-collection.
Stand up the TPM function at Supabase. Define the operating model, the engagement model within product, eng and design, the standards we hold ourselves to, and the bar for the role. Hire and grow the team over time.
Manage the senior IC TPM and grow the team as the function proves out. Coach, set direction, hold the standard, and protect the team from drift into status-collection or hygiene-on-behalf-of-teams.
Own the cross-functional interface fabric between EPD and the rest of the company — named seams between Engineering and Customer Success, Support, GTM, PMM, with DRIs on each side, hand-off contracts, SLAs, and escalation paths. This is the unowned gap in the company today and your highest-leverage area in the first year.
Author the company standard for project management in Linear, and pair synchronously with EMs and program leads on key cross-functional projects to make sure they get broken down against the standard. The standard covers project structure, tagging and labeling, milestone conventions, issue breakdown patterns, and the leadership views we use to read program state. You are accountable for the outcome of that standard in Linear at the company level.
Hold the line on accountability. EMs are accountable for delivery and for the project management discipline on their teams. Your team authors the standard and supports synchronously. You do not let the TPM function drift into doing hygiene work on behalf of teams; that failure mode is the explicit antipattern we're hiring against.
Own the dependency graph and launch readiness for our largest cross-functional programs — multi-team launches, major customer migrations, and platform initiatives that span 3+ engineering teams and downstream functions.
Operate the program-level rollup infrastructure that makes program state legible to leadership without adding load on teams. Status is written by EMs. Your function builds the connective infrastructure.
Partner across EPD with the heads of Engineering, Product, and Design on a single shared system for how we run work end-to-end, and reinforce the artifact discipline of our delivery operating model.
Have 10+ years of experience in technical program management, including experience standing up or scaling a TPM function in a high-growth software company
Have managed a team of senior IC TPMs and held the bar for the function
Have strong technical fluency: you read code well enough to find the real risk in a plan, and you hold your own with senior engineers on architecture and dependencies
Have built cross-functional interfaces between engineering and the field (Customer Success, Support, GTM, PMM) that held under launch pressure
Have operated Linear, Jira, or equivalent at scale, including defining the standard that many teams run on
Have a clear point of view on the difference between TPM and PMO, and on why hygiene-on-behalf-of-teams is a failure mode
Are comfortable working with Engineering Managers as the accountable owners on each team
Communicate with precision in writing and async, in a globally distributed team
Have high judgment and can hold a position without positional authority
Fully Remote
We hire globally. We believe you can do your best work from anywhere. There are no Supabase offices, but we provide a WeWork membership or co-working allowance you can use anywhere in the world.
ESOP
Every team member receives ESOP (equity ownership) in the company. We want everyone to share in the upside of what we’re building together.
Tech Allowance
Use this budget to set up your ideal work environment—laptop, monitor, headphones, or whatever helps you do your best work.
Health Benefits
Supabase covers 100% of health insurance for employees and 80% for dependents, wherever you are. Your wellbeing and your family’s health are important to us.
Annual Off-Sites
Once a year, the entire company gathers in a new city for a week of connection, collaboration, and fun. It’s a highlight of our year.
Flexible Work
We operate asynchronously and trust you to manage your own time. You know what needs to be done and when.
Professional Development
Every team member receives an annual education allowance to spend on learning—courses, books, conferences, or anything that supports your growth.
Supabase was born-remote and open-source-first. We believe our globally distributed team is our secret weapon in building tools developers love.
~400 team members
60+ countries
20+ languages spoken
Over $1B raised (including our $500M Series F)
540,000+ community members
We move fast, build in public, and use what we ship. If it’s in your project, we probably use it in ours too. We believe deeply in the open-source ecosystem and strive to support—not replace—existing tools and communities.