Senior Engineering Manager, Emerging Business

Position Overview

• Location Type: Remote
• Employment Type: Full-time
• Salary: Not specified

Upwork is the world’s largest work marketplace, connecting businesses with highly skilled professionals worldwide. From entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 enterprises, companies trust Upwork’s platform to access expert talent, leverage AI-powered work solutions, and drive meaningful business outcomes. Upwork’s AI-powered platform has facilitated over $20 billion in economic opportunity for professionals worldwide. With professionals spanning 10,000+ skills, including AI and machine learning, software development, sales and marketing, customer support, finance and accounting, and more, Upwork empowers businesses of all sizes to scale, innovate, and build agile teams.

We’re looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to join our Emerging Business organization and lead the development of AI-native products that create measurable impact for our customers. This role is ideal for a hands-on engineering leader who thrives at the intersection of execution, innovation, and team leadership. If you’re passionate about building and scaling AI-powered solutions, prototyping new experiences, and working cross-functionally to bring ideas to life, you’ll thrive here.

Reporting to the Director of Engineering for Emerging Businesses, you’ll manage and grow multiple teams focused on rapidly delivering AI-first features and systems. You’ll play a critical role in shaping the technical direction of our AI investments, enabling our teams to build autonomous, intelligent agents that solve real customer problems.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop multiple engineering teams focused on AI-native product development, ensuring high performance and collaboration.
• Rapidly build functional prototypes and proof-of-concepts to validate ideas, demonstrating full-stack technical fluency.
• Oversee the architecture and implementation of AI agent systems that enhance user experience and drive business outcomes.
• Collaborate closely with Product, Design, and Machine Learning partners to align roadmaps and deliver value with speed.
• Champion AI-first thinking, guiding teams to explore, adopt, and scale innovative technologies responsibly and pragmatically.
• Translate emerging AI trends into actionable insights that influence technical strategy and product direction.
• Ensure delivery of high-quality, maintainable solutions while balancing short-term milestones with long-term scalability.

What it Takes to Catch Our Eye:

• Demonstrated success managing multiple engineering teams (typically 2+ teams and 10+ engineers) in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong understanding of AI systems, including LLMs, agent architectures, and real-world implementation challenges.
• Proven ability to prototype and guide technical direction with hands-on contributions when needed.
• Strong collaboration skills and a track record of working effectively across engineering, product, and machine learning teams.
• Pragmatic approach to shipping working solutions while setting a long-term vision.