Systems Engineering Manager

Modal
Stockholm, SE
On-site

Who this role is best for

Aimed at mid-level engineering leaders with deep systems expertise who thrive in hands-on technical leadership roles in AI infrastructure.

Best fit for

  • Experienced engineering leader comfortable balancing technical contributions with people management.
    — “This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll spend roughly half your time on technical contribution and half on people management
  • Technical leader with proven experience in high-performance distributed systems.
    — “Experience building high-performance distributed systems at a large scale
  • Systems expert proficient in low-level operating system foundations.
    — “Strong knowledge of low-level operating system foundations (Linux kernel, file systems, containers, etc.)

Things to consider

  • Requires substantial industry experience, including leadership roles.
    — “At least 10 years of industry experience, including 3 years experience in a leadership role
  • Expects proficiency in systems-level languages like Rust or C++.
    — “Proficient in systems-level languages such as Rust, C, C++, or Java

How to stand out

  • Highlight specific examples of removing blockers in complex systems.
    — “remove blockers, and foster a strong engineering culture as they tackle complex systems challenges
  • Demonstrate calm decision-making under pressure in past roles.
    — “you are pragmatic, calm under pressure, and focused on impact
  • Showcase contributions to open-source or large-scale cloud infrastructure projects.
    — “Our team includes creators of popular open-source projects
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · MediumDecision Impact · TeamLevel · Senior

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • set direction
  • remove blockers
  • foster engineering culture
  • tackle complex systems challenges
Typical background
10+ years of industry experience3+ years in a leadership role

Skills & requirements

Required

Engineering LeadershipHigh-performance Distributed SystemsCloud InfrastructureLow-level Operating System FoundationsSystems-level Languages

Preferred

Open-source ProjectsAcademic Research

Stack & domain

RustCC++JavaLinux KernelFile SystemsContainersDistributed SystemsCloud InfrastructureLeadershipCommunicationProblem SolvingAi InfrastructureDistributed ComputingLarge-scale Data HandlingPerformance Optimization

About the role

Original posting from Modal via Ashby

ABOUT US:

Modal provides the infrastructure foundation for AI teams. With instant GPU access, sub-second container startups, and native storage, Modal makes it simple to train models, run batch jobs, and serve low-latency inference. We have thousands of customers who rely on us for production AI workloads, including Lovable, Scale AI, Substack, and Suno.

We're a fast-growing team based out of NYC, SF, and Stockholm. We've hit 9-figure ARR and recently raised a Series B https://modal.com/blog/announcing-our-series-b at a $1.1B valuation. Our investors include Lux Capital https://www.luxcapital.com/, Redpoint Ventures https://www.redpoint.com/, Amplify Partners https://www.amplifypartners.com/, and Elad Gil https://eladgil.com/.

Working at Modal means joining one of the fastest-growing AI infrastructure organizations at an early stage, with many opportunities to grow within the company. Our team includes creators of popular open-source projects (e.g. Seaborn https://github.com/mwaskom/seaborn, Luigi https://github.com/spotify/luigi), academic researchers, international olympiad medalists, and experienced engineering and product leaders with decades of experience.

The Role:

We’re looking for an Engineering Manager to lead a group of highly experienced engineers. This is a hands-on leadership role where you’ll spend roughly half your time on technical contribution and half on people management, depending on the need. You’ll work closely with the team to set direction, remove blockers, and foster a strong engineering culture as they tackle complex systems challenges in distributed computing, large-scale data handling, and performance optimization.

Who You Are

We think you are an experienced engineering leader who thrives close to the work and enjoys building alongside their team when needed. You earn trust through technical depth, communicate with clarity, and help great engineers move fast and make sound decisions. You thrive in a fast paced environment, you are pragmatic, calm under pressure, and focused on impact.

REQUIREMENTS:

  • At least 10 years of industry experience, including 3 years experience in a leadership role
  • Experience building high-performance distributed systems at a large scale
  • Strong background in cloud infrastructure
  • Strong knowledge of low-level operating system foundations (Linux kernel, file systems, containers, etc.)
  • Proficient in systems-level languages such as Rust, C, C++, or Java

Source: Modal careers (Ashby)

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