Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This Engineering Manager role sits at a core SaaS inflection point: turning AI from a set of product features into shared platform capability. In a no code application platform, foundational AI infrastructure becomes a multiplier across many workflows, so the work centers on enabling broad product surface area rather than shipping a single end user experience. The emphasis on agent runtime, orchestration, semantic search, and evaluation reflects the current SaaS shift toward embedded AI that must operate reliably at scale.
From a SaaS career perspective, the role offers durable platform leadership experience that translates across modern product led companies. Building abstractions and APIs for internal consumers is a direct line into how SaaS organizations scale engineering throughput. The focus on evaluation, monitoring, and quality systems also maps to an industry wide need: operationalizing probabilistic models with enterprise grade expectations around performance and safety.
This position is best suited to an engineering leader who prefers systems thinking and iterative platform delivery, and who is comfortable partnering across teams to define technical direction. It fits someone who has moved from senior individual contribution into people leadership and wants to stay close to architecture while growing management scope in an AI enabled SaaS environment.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
Airtable is the no-code app platform that empowers people closest to the work to accelerate their most critical business processes. More than 500,000 organizations, including 80% of the Fortune 100, rely on Airtable to transform how work gets done. We’re investing deeply in AI to make app building faster, smarter, and more accessible—so anyone can go from an idea to a working Airtable app in minutes.
We're looking for an Engineering Manager to lead Airtable's AI Platform pod, which builds the foundational infrastructure and systems that power AI experiences across Airtable. You’ll own the core agent architecture, AI evaluation systems, and platform capabilities that empower internal teams and end users to leverage AI effectively. Your team will be responsible for making AI reliable, scalable, and accessible throughout Airtable–from the underlying agent runtime that orchestrates complex workflows to the semantic search infrastructure that helps users find exactly what they need and powers rich features like linked-record matching.
Please note: while we employ a hybrid working model at Airtable (flexible in working from the office or elsewhere), we are looking to hire candidates at this level that are based in San Francisco or New York City who are open to coming into the office at least ~2-3 times/week for team collaboration.
What you’ll do
- Build the AI platform foundation: Own the core agent architecture, orchestration layer, and runtime that powers all AI experiences across Airtable—ensuring it's extensible, reliable, and can scale to support diverse use cases across multiple teams
- Design for platform scale: Create robust abstractions and APIs that enable other teams to build AI-powered features quickly and safely, while maintaining quality and consistency across the product
- Establish AI reliability systems: Build comprehensive evaluation frameworks, monitoring, and quality assurance systems that ensure AI features meet enterprise-grade standards for accuracy, performance, and safety
- Drive technical strategy: Partner with Staff+ engineers to define the technical roadmap for Airtable's AI infrastructure, making architectural decisions that will shape how we build with AI for years to come
- Enable AI democratization: Build platform capabilities that make sophisticated AI accessible to all Airtable users—from semantic search and natural language interfaces to intelligent automation—without requiring technical expertise
Who you are
- Platform builder at heart: You think in systems and abstractions. You've built infrastructure that other teams depend on and understand how to balance flexibility with reliability
- Technical depth with strategic thinking: You can dive deep into architectural decisions while keeping sight of the broader platform vision and how it enables the business
- Systems thinker with shipping velocity: You can architect for the long term while delivering incremental value. You know how to build platforms through iteration rather than big-bang releases
- AI infrastructure experience: You've worked on ML platforms, agent frameworks, or AI infrastructure at scale. You understand the unique challenges of building reliable systems on top of probabilistic models
- Quality through architecture: You believe the best way to ensure quality isn't through process but through well-designed systems—building platforms that make it easy to do the right thing
- Strong technical and management growth trajectory: 5+ years experience as an engineer (previously in a staff or TL level IC position) and 1+ years as a manager, or a similar combination.
Airtable is an equal opportunity employer. We embrace diversity and strive to create a workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We welcome people of different backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any characteristic protected by applicable federal and state laws, regulations and ordinances. Learn more about your EEO rights as an applicant.
VEVRAA-Federal Contractor
If you have a medical condition, disability, or religious belief/practice which inhibits your ability to participate in any part of the application or interview process, please complete our Accommodations Request Formand let us know how we may assist you. Airtable is committed to participating in the interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants.
