Engineering Manager, Product Experience (PX)

[ABOUT ISTARI DIGITAL] Istari is a digital engineering software company enabling our customers to turn the physical world into the digital to accomplish their specific mission or business objectives. Istari was founded with the vision of making open, scalable digital engineering ecosystems a reality – where new technologies and systems are created digitally, free from the real-world constraints of costs and schedules. We are creating the world’s best engineering model sharing platform, allowing our customers to simply and securely integrate their models across different engineering disciplines, organizations, and security levels. At Istari, we are passionate about our mission of creating the world's first open and scalable industrial metaverse. Whether our customers are designing prototypes, performing virtual testing, or training AI and autonomy for complex systems, we know that going digital will save them time, resources, and reduce their environmental impact.   While we are a distributed team with most team-members working remotely, we place an emphasis on staying connected and collaborative, prioritizing in-person opportunities to build trust as a team. At Istari, we still believe that trust is best built in-person. To do this, we have an engineering headquarters in Cambridge, MA for focused technical development and several times per year we gather for an off-site that allows us to develop our professional skills and our team relationships. [VALUES] At Istari, we live by our values, which include: - Focus is rewarded. Finish is remembered.  - Facts are friendly. Even when they are not fun. - Fellowship is fundamental. Make others successful. Equal Opportunity Istari is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status. About this Role We’re hiring an Engineering Manager to lead our Product Experience team building modern web applications, developer tools, and AI-powered capabilities for aerospace and defense customers. This role sits at the intersection of JavaScript application development, applied AI, and product development. You’ll lead a team responsible for delivering intuitive, high-performance user experiences in complex, secure environments — while partnering closely with customers to understand their workflows and translate those insights into impactful product capabilities. You’ll operate as a product-oriented engineering leader, combining strong technical judgment with customer empathy to shape the direction of our platform. You should be deeply technical, product-minded, and comfortable engaging directly with users in regulated or mission-critical domains. What You’ll Do

Lead Technical Direction

Own frontend and developer tooling architecture across our platform.

Drive best practices in JavaScript/TypeScript (React, Node.js, testing, performance, build systems).

Guide integration of AI capabilities (LLMs, retrieval systems, copilots, workflow automation).

Ensure systems are secure, scalable, and operable in constrained or air-gapped environments.

Lead Product-Centered Engineering

Work closely with Product, Design, and customers to translate real user workflows into product capabilities.

Contribute to product discovery by participating in customer conversations, demos, and feedback sessions.

Help shape product direction by combining technical insight with customer needs and platform strategy.

Ensure engineering decisions support long-term product usability, adoption, and value.

Manage & Grow the Team

Lead, mentor, and hire engineers focused on frontend, DX, and AI-enabled workflows.

Establish strong execution practices that balance speed, quality, and reliability.

Translate product goals into clear technical plans and milestones.

Partner Cross-Functionally

Collaborate closely with Product and Design to deliver elegant, technically complex tools.

Engage directly with customers to understand engineering workflows, constraints, and unmet needs.

Represent engineering in product discussions and help align roadmap decisions with technical realities.

Required Qualifications

8+ years in software engineering; 3+ years leading teams.

Experience working directly with customers or end users to shape product direction.

Strong product instincts and ability to translate user needs into technical solutions.

Deep expertise in JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystems (React, Node.js).

Experience with back-end services in Python or Go.

Experience building developer tools, platforms, or complex web applications.

Practical experience integrating AI into products (LLMs, embeddings, AI-assisted UX).

Strong architectural judgment in secure or regulated environments.

Clear communicator comfortable engaging with customers, product teams, and engineering leaders.

Preferred Experience