Senior Engineering Manager, Advanced Cryptographic Engineering

Block is one company built from many blocks, all united by the same purpose of economic empowerment. The blocks that form our foundational teams — People, Finance, Counsel, Hardware, Information Security, Platform Infrastructure Engineering, and more — provide support and guidance at the corporate level. They work across business groups and around the globe, spanning time zones and disciplines to develop inclusive People policies, forecast finances, give legal counsel, safeguard systems, nurture new initiatives, and more. Every challenge creates possibilities, and we need different perspectives to see them all. Bring yours to Block.

The Role

Advanced Cryptographic Engineering (ACE) builds the infrastructure that safeguards Block's most sensitive data and enables the company to meet its risk and compliance goals at scale. The team's mission is to provide modern cryptographic standards, engineer-friendly key management, and flexible key lifecycles through services and libraries that product engineers across Block rely on daily.

We design and operate systems using proven isolation technologies such as Hardware Security Modules (HSMs) and Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), ensuring sensitive keys are protected and managed safely throughout their lifecycle. Our customers are Block's internal engineering teams—from Cash App to Square and our goal is to make cryptography simple, scalable, and self-serve so product teams can focus on building while ACE ensures compliance and data protection.

As Senior Engineering Manager, you will lead this team of backend engineers to deliver high-quality, automation-driven cryptographic infrastructure. You'll be responsible for defining and executing the roadmap, maturing engineering practices, reducing technical debt, and driving multi-quarter initiatives that improve scalability, reliability, and developer experience. Success in this role requires pragmatism over idealism, a strong software engineering foundation, and the ability to empower technical leaders while communicating clearly with stakeholders across Block.

You Will

• Lead a team of backend engineers building cryptography and key management infrastructure used by internal product teams across Block.
• Partner with engineering and security leadership to define and execute ACE's roadmap—focusing on scalability, reliability, and developer experience.
• Establish and reinforce strong software engineering practices that improve quality, velocity, and reliability.
• Guide the team through multi-quarter technical initiatives, including tech-debt reduction, system migrations, and scalability improvements.
• Advocate for automation and self-serve tooling, reducing toil and high-touch workflows in favor of durable platforms.
• Empower TLs and ICs to lead technically; provide clarity and context rather than micromanaging decisions.
• Communicate strategy and progress effectively to stakeholders across Block (BASE, InfoSec, product engineering teams).

You Have

• 10+ years of software engineering experience at a technology company.
• 5+ years of engineering management experience leading backend or platform services teams at scale.
• Proven ability to mature engineering processes and practices in organizations larger than Block.
• Track record of shipping internal platforms/services used by other engineering teams.
• Pragmatic, iterative approach to delivery—able to align stakeholders while making steady progress toward a long-term vision.
• Excellent communication skills: can articulate trade-offs, priorities, and decisions to diverse audiences.

Nice to Have

• Exposure to or interest in security/cryptography
• Experience managing complex legacy systems and executing long-term modernization plans.
• Background in building automation-driven platforms with self-serve tooling.

We're working to build a more inclusive economy where our customers have equal access to opportunity, and we strive to live by these same values in building our workplace. Block is an equal opportunity employer evaluating all employees and job applicants without regard to identity or any legally protected class. We will consider qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records for employment in accordance with state and local laws and “fair chance” ordinances.

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