As a hands-on Software Engineering Manager, operate as a strong technical lead with a managers hat - writing code, reviewing designs, and remaining directly engaged in the day-to-day engineering work of your team, while also guiding a small team of engineers early in their careers through architecting, designing, testing, documenting, improving, and maintaining code, primarily in Java (and other languages as needed). 3+ years of experience with relational, NewSQL, and NoSQL databases, including schema design and query optimization Proficiency in OOP principles, data structures, algorithms, and software design patterns (e.g., GoF), with a proven focus on leading teams implementing testable, maintainable, and extensible distributed systems.