Manager, Software Engineering - Payload

Figma is growing our team of passionate creatives and builders on a mission to make design accessible to all. Figma’s platform helps teams bring ideas to life—whether you're brainstorming, creating a prototype, translating designs into code, or iterating with AI. From idea to product, Figma empowers teams to streamline workflows, move faster, and work together in real time from anywhere in the world. If you're excited to shape the future of design and collaboration, join us! The Payload team is building the future of content infrastructure at Figma. Payload is Figma’s open-source CMS and application framework, enabling developers and organizations to create websites, digital products, internal tools, asset management systems, and content-driven experiences at scale. As Engineering Manager, you'll lead the engineering team responsible for Payload’s evolution as both a thriving open-source platform and a foundational part of Figma’s future. You'll work alongside Payload’s founders and core contributors to scale the team, grow the community, and guide technical investments that strengthen Payload’s position as a leading content platform. You'll help engineers do their best work while partnering across product, design, go-to-market teams, enterprise customers, and the open-source ecosystem to shape the roadmap. Success in this role means balancing the needs of a passionate developer community with opportunities to create seamless integrations and workflows across Figma’s products, unlocking entirely new ways for teams to design, build, and manage digital experiences. If you're excited about open source, developer tools, platform strategy, and building high-performing teams, this role offers the opportunity to influence both a fast-growing product and the future of how content and design come together. This is a full time role that can be held from one of our US hubs or remotely in the United States. What you’ll do at Figma: Lead the engineering team behind all of Payload Develop and execute on a strategy to leverage Payload to accelerate Figma’s suite of offerings Engage directly with open-source community members, contributors, and enterprise customers to understand their needs, gather feedback, and help translate insights into product and engineering priorities Provide hands-on technical leadership to your teams and others that collaborate with your teams to ensure a cohesive product experience and the right technical abstractions Lead, coach, and grow a team of engineers through hiring, mentorship, performance management, and career development, fostering a culture of ownership, collaboration, and technical excellence Partner closely with the product and technical leaders of Payload to align team priorities, support roadmap execution, and ensure engineering investments are focused on the highest-impact opportunities We'd love to hear from you if you have: 3+ years of experience leading and developing software engineering teams within a technical product company Strong technical background building modern web applications and platforms using technologies such as Node.js, TypeScript, React, Next.js, or similar frameworks Experience building or leading teams responsible for developer platforms, application frameworks, or other highly extensible software systems Excellent product and technical judgment, with experience shaping developer-facing APIs and collaborating closely with design teams to deliver intuitive user experiences While not required, it’s an added plus if you also have: Hands-on knowledge of CMS systems, particularly Payload and its ecosystem A track record of contributing to, maintaining, or leading teams behind open-source projects, with a strong grasp of community-driven product development A background in supporting enterprise customers and balancing the needs of large organizations with broader community priorities Comfort working with AI-assisted development workflows, agentic coding tools, or developer produc…