Manager, Engineering - Mobile

Company: Linden Lab
Location: San Francisco
Posted on: February 17, 2026

Job Description:

Job Description Job Description Our Story and Purpose Linden Lab develops platforms that empower people to create, connect, and thrive through transformative virtual experiences. Since our founding in 1999, we have been at the forefront of the creator economy, building durable platforms that support limitless imagination, self-expression, and human connection. In 2003, we launched Second Life , a vibrant, user-driven virtual world that has grown into a living global community. Hundreds of thousands of people actively spend time there, building relationships, expressing themselves, and creating meaning together. With over two billion user creations and a flourishing $650 million economy, Second Life enables people not only to connect, but for those who choose, to build real livelihoods through their creativity. Unlike traditional social media, Second Life fosters sustained, positive connection between strangers. It offers mobility, agency, and community to people whose real-world circumstances may limit their options, and it creates space for belonging, collaboration, and shared purpose. For many, it is not just a platform, but a place where they can participate fully and authentically. The same principles that shape our communities also guide how we work together. We believe our strength lies in diversity of perspectives, experiences, and ideas. Our values are rooted in organizational health, strengths-based leadership, and the belief that collaborative teams are stronger than individuals. At Linden Lab, your work directly shapes how real people connect, create, and build meaningful lives online. You will be part of a thoughtful, mission-driven team working on technology with real social impact and uncommon longevity. Whether you are building innovative tools or fostering a welcoming community, you will find a place to belong, grow, and do work that matters. We invite you to come as you are. Your Mission This role follows a Monday through Thursday in-office schedule at our San Francisco headquarters, with Fridays designated as a remote workday. We're looking for an Engineering Manager, an active technical contributor, who will lead and grow a high-performing mobile engineering team through hands-on technical leadership and strong people management, guiding the evolution of Second Life's mobile experience. In this individual contributor and people management role, reporting to the SVP of Engineering, you'll translate organizational priorities into clear, executable plans while remaining deeply engaged in mobile architecture, design, implementation, and day-to-day technical decisions. You'll lead a hybrid team of internal engineers and external partners, help transform a complex, legacy-rich platform into an accessible, modern mobile product, collaborate closely with Product, Design, Platform Engineering, and external partners to drive architectural direction, and create an environment where engineers do their best work by setting expectations, removing blockers, coaching talent, and fostering accountability, trust, and continuous learning. How You'll Grow With Us At the Lab, you'll experience the best of both worlds: the stability of an established company with over 20 years of expertise and the dynamic momentum of a startup driven by continuous progress. You'll have the unparalleled opportunity to forge meaningful relationships, design impactful systems, and craft strategies that shape the future of virtual experiences. Our vibrant in-office environment in San Francisco is designed to foster creativity, collaboration, and ingenuity. With spaces purpose-built for brainstorming, team building, and spontaneous conversations, you'll find endless opportunities to engage and grow. We believe in the power of in-person connections to cultivate a strong sense of community and inclusion, ensuring that your ideas are valued, your contributions celebrated, and your impact deeply felt every day. The Impact You'll Drive Deliver high-quality mobile experiences by owning app quality, performance, and developer velocity. Guide technical direction through sound judgment, early risk identification, and thoughtful tradeoffs between scope, quality, and delivery. Develop engineers through regular feedback, career support, and hiring to build a strong, balanced team. Partner closely with Product, Design, Backend, QA, and Infrastructure to drive cohesive execution. Contribute to mobile engineering standards and best practices across teams. Lead and grow the mobile engineering team, including both internal engineers and external contractors, with a focus on technical excellence, clarity, and accountability. Act as a hands-on technical leader: reviewing designs, leading architectural discussions, making specific recommendations, and staying close to the code. Evaluate the current mobile architecture (Unity client, React-based UI layer, proxy services connecting to existing Second Life backend services) and recommend improvements that balance performance, scalability, and development velocity. Partner deeply with UX and Product to translate product vision into executable technical plans, milestones, and tradeoffs. Partner with Product to own delivery of the mobile app: planning, execution, quality, release readiness, and post-launch learning. Play a key role in growing and shaping the mobile engineering team. Collaborate closely with Marketing to build out acquisition, engagement, and experimentation pathways. Key deliverables include but are not limited to, roadmaps, gantt charts, decision support materials, executive presentations, weekly status reports, vendor relationships, employee development materials. Additionally: App store crash rates, overall ratings, performance, memory usage, operational costs, DAU, MAU, Retention, Concurrency, Monetization. How You'll Shape Our Future At Linden, we celebrate all the dimensions of diversity, including diversity of experience. We recognize that candidates applying for this role will be most successful if they bring the following with them: 7–10 years of professional software engineering experience with prior senior IC background, plus 3 years leading or managing engineers with responsibility for delivery and people development; demonstrated success coaching, mentoring, performance managing, hiring (including sourcing from personal and professional networks), interviewing, onboarding, and developing engineers through regular feedback and goal setting. Strong hands-on technical background with the ability to design, write, review, and ship production-quality code; proven ability to lead technical discussions, evaluate tradeoffs, guide sound engineering decisions, and plan, prioritize, and deliver work in collaboration with Product and Design partners. Strong communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate priorities, risks, and tradeoffs to technical and non-technical stakeholders, including executive leadership. Proven experience launching and operating multiple production mobile applications, with required cross-platform development experience using Unity and C#. Strong experience with modern web frameworks (React, Vue), real-time or complex rendering pipelines, analytics and engagement tools (Amplitude, OneSignal), and deploying and operating applications on cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP). Familiarity with virtual worlds or large-scale interactive environments strongly preferred. Experience contributing to or shaping the strategic direction of AI initiatives aligned with business objectives, paired with demonstrated curiosity and hands-on experimentation with emerging AI capabilities to solve complex problems and enable new user experiences. If you don't meet every requirement listed for this role, we still encourage you to apply. Too often, the confidence gap or imposter syndrome keeps exceptional candidates from taking the leap—and we don't want that to hold you back. If you believe in our mission and in your ability to make an impact, we want to hear from you! The Fine Print Pay Transparency Notice Linden Lab's Total Rewards philosophy is rooted in fairness, equity, and an unbiased approach to compensation, paired with competitive benefits across all locations where we operate. For this San Francisco Bay Area-based role, the salary range is $165,000 - $223,000 , and Linden Lab hires new employees at the midpoint of this range ( $194,000 ). This midpoint represents the amount the company reasonably expects to pay upon hire. Base salary is the only form of cash compensation for this role; it does not include variable or bonus pay. In addition to base pay, employees are eligible to be considered for awards under our Equity Incentive Plan (EIP) and receive a comprehensive benefits package that includes medical, dental, vision, and 401(k) plans. Our talent partners will provide more details during the hiring process. Essential Role Functions & Work Environment The details below outline the core functions and work environment required for this role. Linden Lab is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to support individuals with disabilities in performing these essential duties. Perform focused, computer-based tasks and collaborate effectively with coworkers in a dynamic, in-office environment. While some remote collaboration may occur, in-office presence is an essential requirement of this role to foster creativity, teamwork, and spontaneous problem-solving. Communicate clearly and effectively through typing, using hands and fingers for keyboard tasks. Maintain the ability to sit, stand, or remain stationary for extended periods (up to eight hours) during calls, meetings, or collaborative sessions, with ergonomic workstations and tools provided. Sustain prolonged attention on a computer monitor to perform tasks requiring visual focus and attention to detail. Operate office equipment and handle materials as needed for presentations, discussions, or team activities. Move freely around the office to attend meetings, participate in team activities, and contribute to shared responsibilities, supporting a collaborative and engaging workplace culture. Travel may be required for business meetings, team summits, or company events, where in-person participation is an essential part of the role to foster collaboration, alignment, and engagement. Our Commitment to Equal Opportunity At Linden Lab, we know that great work can't happen without a diverse team and an inclusive environment. That's why we intentionally seek out individuals with a wide range of strengths, backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. We believe this diversity gives us a competitive advantage, helping us better serve our residents, support one another, and grow both as Lindens and as individuals. We celebrate and value diversity in all its forms, including differences in thought, race, national origin, culture, age, experience, religion, economic and social status, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, and disability. Fostering a culture of inclusion and belonging empowers us to create and share meaningful experiences, both within our team and across the virtual communities we serve. We invite candidates from all backgrounds to apply and help shape the future of virtual experiences. Global Data Privacy Notice Your privacy is important to us. Depending on your location, laws such as the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) may govern how we handle and process the personal data of job applicants. To learn more, please review our full notice detailing how applicant data is collected, used, and protected in applicable regions. By submitting your application, you consent to the processing of your data in accordance with applicable laws and our privacy practices.

Keywords: Linden Lab, Daly City , Manager, Engineering - Mobile, Engineering , San Francisco, California