Engineering Manager, Payroll Platform Engineering San Francisco, CA
Rippling, San Francisco, CA, United States
About the role
Rippling is looking for a highly technical, hands‑on Engineering Manager to lead a critical platform team powering the foundation of our payroll system. This team owns the ingestion, integration, and interface layers that bring together data from across Rippling—and external systems—into the payroll engine.
What you will do
Own the platform layer for payroll data ingestion and integrations
Lead the systems that ingest and unify data from across Rippling (HRIS, Benefits, Time, Spend, etc.) and external partners into the payroll engine.
Drive a rebuild of core infrastructure
Redesign and scale the integrations and data pipelines layer to support increasing data volume, complexity, and reliability requirements.
Define and evolve APIs and system interfaces
Own the internal and external interfaces for payroll, including APIs and integration points with third‑party systems and partners.
Lead a highly technical, hands‑on team
Manage and grow a small team (starting ~5 engineers), while staying close to the architecture, design, and execution details.
Partner cross‑functionally across the platform
Work closely with teams across HRIS, Benefits, Time & Attendance, and other core systems to ensure clean, scalable data contracts and integrations.
Enable downstream systems including payroll engine, reporting, and AI
Ensure data pipelines reliably power payroll calculations, reporting layers, and emerging AI‑driven products.
Improve system reliability, scalability, and developer experience
Address technical debt, standardize integration patterns, and build systems that are sustainable at scale.
What you will need
Strong platform engineering background
Experience building and scaling distributed systems, data pipelines, or platform infrastructure (payments experience not required).
Hands‑on technical leadership
Ability to operate deeply in the code/design when needed—this role requires getting into the weeds, not just managing.
Experience with large‑scale, complex systems
Proven track record designing systems that handle high data volume, reliability constraints, and cross‑system dependencies.
Systems thinking and architectural judgment
Ability to identify long‑term risks, design for scale, and avoid common pitfalls in evolving platform systems.
Experience leading small, high‑impact teams
Comfortable building and scaling teams from an early stage, including hiring and shaping team structure.
Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills
Ability to work across multiple product and platform teams to define contracts, integrations, and shared infrastructure.
Builder mindset with a bias for action
Comfortable stepping into imperfect systems, driving clarity, and executing on large, ambiguous problem spaces.
Additional Information
Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics. Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email accommodations@rippling.com.
Rippling highly values having employees working in‑office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office‑based employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office, working in the office at least three days a week under current policy is an essential function of the employee's role.
This role will receive a competitive salary, benefits, and equity. Salary for US‑based employees is aligned with one of the ranges below based on location.
Pay range for this role: 186,000 - 310,000 USD per year (US San Francisco Bay Area).
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Rippling is looking for a highly technical, hands‑on Engineering Manager to lead a critical platform team powering the foundation of our payroll system. This team owns the ingestion, integration, and interface layers that bring together data from across Rippling—and external systems—into the payroll engine.
What you will do
Own the platform layer for payroll data ingestion and integrations
Lead the systems that ingest and unify data from across Rippling (HRIS, Benefits, Time, Spend, etc.) and external partners into the payroll engine.
Drive a rebuild of core infrastructure
Redesign and scale the integrations and data pipelines layer to support increasing data volume, complexity, and reliability requirements.
Define and evolve APIs and system interfaces
Own the internal and external interfaces for payroll, including APIs and integration points with third‑party systems and partners.
Lead a highly technical, hands‑on team
Manage and grow a small team (starting ~5 engineers), while staying close to the architecture, design, and execution details.
Partner cross‑functionally across the platform
Work closely with teams across HRIS, Benefits, Time & Attendance, and other core systems to ensure clean, scalable data contracts and integrations.
Enable downstream systems including payroll engine, reporting, and AI
Ensure data pipelines reliably power payroll calculations, reporting layers, and emerging AI‑driven products.
Improve system reliability, scalability, and developer experience
Address technical debt, standardize integration patterns, and build systems that are sustainable at scale.
What you will need
Strong platform engineering background
Experience building and scaling distributed systems, data pipelines, or platform infrastructure (payments experience not required).
Hands‑on technical leadership
Ability to operate deeply in the code/design when needed—this role requires getting into the weeds, not just managing.
Experience with large‑scale, complex systems
Proven track record designing systems that handle high data volume, reliability constraints, and cross‑system dependencies.
Systems thinking and architectural judgment
Ability to identify long‑term risks, design for scale, and avoid common pitfalls in evolving platform systems.
Experience leading small, high‑impact teams
Comfortable building and scaling teams from an early stage, including hiring and shaping team structure.
Strong cross‑functional collaboration skills
Ability to work across multiple product and platform teams to define contracts, integrations, and shared infrastructure.
Builder mindset with a bias for action
Comfortable stepping into imperfect systems, driving clarity, and executing on large, ambiguous problem spaces.
Additional Information
Rippling is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and do not discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected characteristics. Rippling is committed to providing reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities who need assistance during the hiring process. To request a reasonable accommodation, please email accommodations@rippling.com.
Rippling highly values having employees working in‑office to foster a collaborative work environment and company culture. For office‑based employees who live within a defined radius of a Rippling office, working in the office at least three days a week under current policy is an essential function of the employee's role.
This role will receive a competitive salary, benefits, and equity. Salary for US‑based employees is aligned with one of the ranges below based on location.
Pay range for this role: 186,000 - 310,000 USD per year (US San Francisco Bay Area).
#J-18808-Ljbffr