Senior Engineering Manager
Grindr
Chicago, IL, USA
Posted on Mar 9, 2026
About The Team
Grindr is an AI-native platform powering how millions of gay people connect globally. With 15M+ monthly users, 130B+ annual messages, and a team of fewer than 200, we move fast, stay lean, and tackle technical problems at a scale few companies ever see.
Come play a key role in building the next generation of the Grindr app! Working within our Engineering Leadership team, you’ll have the opportunity to solve challenging problems, work with the latest technologies, collaborate with a kind and exceptional team, and contribute to a one-of-a-kind app at a unique scale. The Grindr team continues to innovate as the largest social media app for the LGBTQ+ community.
At Grindr, we operate in Grindr Mode. Moderately hardcore day to day, truly hardcore when it counts. It’s about doing great work without burning out. Outcomes over outputs. Smart, driven people who raise your bar, with room to live full lives.
This is a hybrid role based in our Chicago office and will require you to be in the office Tuesdays and Thursdays.
About The Job
Grindr is building the global gayborhood in your pocket. With more than 15 million monthly active users, Grindr has become a fundamental part of the gay community and is charting a path to make the world more free, equal, and just.
As a public company, we're moving into the next chapter: becoming an AI-native organization that's redefining what's possible for our community. We're embedding AI into our product and operations, moving with startup speed while operating at scale.
Everything we do is rooted in impact for our users and outcomes for the business. This isn't social work, it’s impact through excellence. Business success is what gives us the power to serve our community and the seat at tables others can't reach. How we work is defined by Grindr Mode, our operating model that's moderately hardcore day-to-day and truly hardcore when it counts. We think like owners, drive real outcomes, create clarity through action, and push each other to go further than we thought possible.
We’re headquartered in West Hollywood with offices in the Bay Area, Chicago, and New York. Our work extends beyond the product through Grindr for Equality, our nonprofit that's partnered with 100+ community organizations globally to advance safety, health, and human rights for LGBTQ+ people worldwide.
We're profitable, growing, and building a team of smart, driven people who bring different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to the work. Want to build technology at a massive scale that serves millions? Come join us!
Grindr is an equal-opportunity employer.
To learn more about how we handle the personal data of applicants, visit our Employee and Candidate Privacy Policy.
Grindr is an AI-native platform powering how millions of gay people connect globally. With 15M+ monthly users, 130B+ annual messages, and a team of fewer than 200, we move fast, stay lean, and tackle technical problems at a scale few companies ever see.
Come play a key role in building the next generation of the Grindr app! Working within our Engineering Leadership team, you’ll have the opportunity to solve challenging problems, work with the latest technologies, collaborate with a kind and exceptional team, and contribute to a one-of-a-kind app at a unique scale. The Grindr team continues to innovate as the largest social media app for the LGBTQ+ community.
At Grindr, we operate in Grindr Mode. Moderately hardcore day to day, truly hardcore when it counts. It’s about doing great work without burning out. Outcomes over outputs. Smart, driven people who raise your bar, with room to live full lives.
This is a hybrid role based in our Chicago office and will require you to be in the office Tuesdays and Thursdays.
About The Job
- Lead and Inspire: Hire, build and retain a high-performing, full-stack engineering team, cultivating a strong culture of excellence.
- Drive Execution at Scale: Deliver complex, cross-functional programs that directly support the company’s strategic and financial goals.
- Influence at the Top: Work at the intersection of business, product and engineering and represent engineering with senior leadership to shape high-impact initiatives.
- Champion Technical Evolution: Advance engineering best practices while guiding the team’s transformation into an AI-native organization.
- Foster a Thriving Team Culture: Build an inclusive, psychologically safe environment that values excellence, experimentation, humility and accountability.
- Balance Present and Future: Navigate trade-offs between short-term priorities and long-term innovation, adapting your leadership to changing needs.
- Experienced People Leader: Led multiple teams and managers, coached senior engineers, and built diverse, high-performing organizations.
- Hands-On Management: Comfortable leading ICs directly, driving trust, accountability, and high-quality technical outcomes.
- Technically Fluent: Deep understanding of engineering systems; a credible partner to your team without needing to be hands-on daily.
- Cross-Functional Operator: Skilled at collaborating with Product, Design, Business, and external engineering teams to align on shared goals.
- Strategic and Decisive: Craft clear strategies, manage complexity, and deliver results in ambiguous, high-stakes environments.
- Customer-Centric Builder: Scaled consumer-facing products — ideally mobile — in high-growth tech environments.
- Health, Dental & Vision Full premium coverage for you. Partial coverage for dependents.
- Family Formation Up to $200,000 in fertility and family-building support, covering IVF, surrogacy, egg freezing, and adoption.
- Retirement: 401(k) with 6% match and immediate vesting.
- Compensation: Industry-competitive compensation, company bonus, and equity for every employee.
- Gender-Affirming Care : Industry-leading gender-affirming offerings with up to 90% cost coverage, access to Included Health, monthly stipends for HRT, and more.
- Time Off & Rest Flexible vacation policy. Two company-wide rest weeks per year.
- Other Benefits: Monthly stipends for cell phone, internet, wellness, food, and commuting, breakfast/lunch
Grindr is building the global gayborhood in your pocket. With more than 15 million monthly active users, Grindr has become a fundamental part of the gay community and is charting a path to make the world more free, equal, and just.
As a public company, we're moving into the next chapter: becoming an AI-native organization that's redefining what's possible for our community. We're embedding AI into our product and operations, moving with startup speed while operating at scale.
Everything we do is rooted in impact for our users and outcomes for the business. This isn't social work, it’s impact through excellence. Business success is what gives us the power to serve our community and the seat at tables others can't reach. How we work is defined by Grindr Mode, our operating model that's moderately hardcore day-to-day and truly hardcore when it counts. We think like owners, drive real outcomes, create clarity through action, and push each other to go further than we thought possible.
We’re headquartered in West Hollywood with offices in the Bay Area, Chicago, and New York. Our work extends beyond the product through Grindr for Equality, our nonprofit that's partnered with 100+ community organizations globally to advance safety, health, and human rights for LGBTQ+ people worldwide.
We're profitable, growing, and building a team of smart, driven people who bring different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to the work. Want to build technology at a massive scale that serves millions? Come join us!
Grindr is an equal-opportunity employer.
To learn more about how we handle the personal data of applicants, visit our Employee and Candidate Privacy Policy.