Startup Software Engineer Manager Jobs in Chicago, IL

ECHO Incorporated is an industry leader in developing and manufacturing high-performance, professional-grade, handheld outdoor power equipment. With distributors and thousands of dealers across North and South America, ECHO is constantly anticipating the future of the outdoor power equipment industry and the need for environmental sustainability. Working for ECHO means joining a team of people who are committed to collaboration, innovation, creativity, and high-quality products that make us a globally competitive brand.

ECHO is seeking a hands-on Software Engineering Manager to lead a team responsible for enterprise integrations, API services, platform engineering, and full-stack application development. This role is responsible for building and developing a high-performing engineering team, establishing technical direction, driving architectural decisions, and ensuring successful delivery of scalable, secure, and reliable solutions.

The ideal candidate combines strong people leadership with deep technical expertise and is comfortable mentoring engineers, guiding architectural patterns, and contributing to technical design and implementation when needed.

The salary range for this position is $165,000-$180,000 based on experience and qualifications.

This is a hybrid position that will offer the flexibility of working from home and on-site at our Lake Zurich facility.

ECHO’s benefits include:

• 11 paid holidays
• Extremely affordable medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Paid time off 
• Yearly bonus potential
• 5% 401K match
• Tuition reimbursement

Duties/Responsibilities: 

Engineering Leadership & Team Development

• Lead, coach, mentor, and develop a team of software engineers across integration, API, platform, and full-stack development disciplines.
• Establish team priorities, goals, and delivery commitments aligned with business and technology objectives.
• Foster a culture of accountability, innovation, collaboration, continuous learning, and engineering excellence.
• Conduct performance reviews, career development planning, succession planning, and talent acquisition activities.
• Remove organizational and technical barriers that impact team productivity and delivery.

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Define and drive architectural vision, standards, and best practices for enterprise applications, integrations, APIs, and platform services.
• Guide engineering teams in designing scalable, secure, maintainable, and high-performing solutions.
• Lead architecture reviews, design discussions, and technical decision-making across multiple projects and platforms.
• Ensure adherence to software engineering principles, coding standards, security requirements, and operational best practices.
• Partner with enterprise architects and technology leaders to align solutions with the organization's long-term technology strategy.

Delivery & Execution

• Oversee the planning, prioritization, and successful execution of engineering initiatives.
• Collaborate with business stakeholders, product owners, and technology teams to translate business needs into technical solutions.
• Balance strategic initiatives, technical debt reduction, platform modernization, and operational support activities.
• Ensure projects are delivered with high quality, reliability, and predictable outcomes.
• Drive continuous improvement in development processes, Agile practices, and team effectiveness.

Hands-On Engineering

• Participate in technical design, solution reviews, code reviews, and troubleshooting of complex issues.
• Provide guidance on full-stack application development, API design, integration patterns, and cloud-native architectures.
• Support critical production incidents and root-cause analysis efforts.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend improvements to platforms, tools, and development practices.

Platform, Integration & API Management

• Lead the design, development, and support of enterprise integrations, middleware services, APIs, and platform capabilities.
• Drive API lifecycle management, governance, monitoring, and performance optimization.
• Promote reusable services, standardized integration patterns, and platform capabilities that accelerate development across teams.
• Partner with Infrastructure, Security, and DevOps teams to improve scalability, reliability, observability, and automation.

Job Experience/Skills: 

• 8+ years of software engineering experience with enterprise applications, APIs, and integrations, including full-stack application development.
• 4+ years of experience leading and managing software engineering teams.
• Strong experience with modern software architecture, system design, integration patterns, and API development.
• Experience building and supporting full-stack applications using modern frontend and backend technologies.
• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud (Preferably Azure).
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams, influence technical decisions, and deliver complex technology initiatives.
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with integration platforms such as Boomi, MuleSoft, Azure Integration Services, Kafka, or similar technologies.
• Experience with microservices, event-driven architectures, CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and platform engineering.
• Experience in manufacturing, distribution, supply chain, or enterprise business environments.

Education:  Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, or related field.

Equal Opportunity Employment:

We are an equal opportunity employer. We welcome all applicants.

E-Verification:

In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire.