Principal Tech Lead Manager - Customer Domains (Workforce)

Company Overview ID.me is the next-generation digital identity wallet that simplifies how individuals securely prove their identity online. Consumers can verify their identity with ID.me once and seamlessly login across websites without having to create a new login and verify their identity again. Over 152 million users experience streamlined login and identity verification with ID.me at 20 federal agencies, 45 state government agencies, and 70+ healthcare organizations. More than 600+ consumer brands use ID.me to verify communities and user segments to honor service and build more authentic relationships. ID.me’s technology meets the federal standards for consumer authentication set by the Commerce Department and is approved as a NIST 800-63-3 IAL2 / AAL2 credential service provider by the Kantara Initiative. ID.me is committed to “No Identity Left Behind” to enable all people to have a secure digital identity. To learn more, visit https://network.id.me/ . Role Overview ID.me is seeking a Tech Lead Manager (TLM) VI to lead the engineering team building solutions for the Workforce domain — including employment verification, employer onboarding, and workforce compliance integrations that help tens of millions of Americans prove their employment status and access benefits they’ve earned. This role sits within the Customer Domains org and owns the full technical and people leadership mandate for one of ID.me’s most consequential B2B verticals. The Workforce team builds the platform that powers employment data exchange between ID.me and enterprise HR systems, payroll providers, government agencies, and benefits administrators. Your team’s work directly enables employees to prove job status, wage history, and benefits eligibility — reducing friction in everything from mortgage applications to unemployment claims to public benefits onboarding. This is deeply mission-critical, privacy-sensitive, and technically demanding work at the intersection of identity, HR tech, and regulatory compliance. As a TLM at the Principal level, you will be accountable for both the technical architecture of the Workforce platform and the health and growth of the engineering team delivering it. You will work closely with Product, Legal, Security, and enterprise partners to drive a roadmap that balances velocity with the compliance rigor the workforce domain demands. The ideal candidate brings deep backend systems experience, a track record of leading high-performing teams, and genuine passion for building identity products that serve everyday people. This position will work from our Mountain View, CA office five days per week. Key Responsibilities Own the Workforce Platform Architecture: Define and evolve the technical architecture for ID.me’s Workforce platform, including integrations with HR systems (Workday, ADP, SAP SuccessFactors), payroll providers, government employment databases, and benefits administrators. Ensure systems are secure, scalable, privacy-preserving, and compliant with relevant regulatory frameworks (FCRA, EEOC, I-9/E-Verify, state privacy laws). Lead Engineering Execution: Drive roadmap delivery across the team — setting priorities, removing blockers, and ensuring the team ships high-quality, well-tested software on time. Balance short-term velocity with long-term platform health and technical debt reduction. API & Integration Design: Lead the design of employment verification APIs and data workflows including income verification, I-9/E-Verify integrations, direct-employer onboarding automations, and benefits eligibility checks. Champion clean, secure, and developer-friendly API design across internal and external surfaces. Team Leadership & Talent Development: Recruit, hire, and retain a high-performing team of engineers (SDE II through Staff). Conduct 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development conversations that help engineers grow technically and as collaborative teammates. Build a team culture of ownership, rigor, and continuous improvement. Cross-Functional Partnership: Serve as the technical bridge between Engineering, Product, Legal/Compliance, Security, and enterprise customer teams. Translate complex compliance and integration requirements into actionable engineering work, and represent the Workforce team in cross-domain architecture discussions. Reliability, Security & Compliance: Own the availability, performance, and compliance posture of Workforce services. Partner with Security and Privacy Engineering to ensure workforce data handling meets the highest standards for data minimization, consent management, and access control. Roadmap & Technical Strategy: Stay current on the workforce tech ecosystem (HRMS integrations, VOIE standards, direct-to-employer models, emerging employment data standards) and translate market opportunities and customer needs into platform investments. Provide technical input into team and org-level planning. AI-Forward Engineering Culture: Champion AI-first practices across the team — driving adoption of AI tooling for code generation, test coverage, documentation, and accelerated iteration. Model and reinforce a culture where AI is a force multiplier for engineering quality and velocity. Required Qualifications Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience). 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least 3 years in an engineering management or tech lead manager capacity leading teams of 5–10+ engineers. 5+ years of experience with application and backend engineering foundations — architect secure, scalable APIs and distributed systems (Java, Go, Ruby, Python, or similar). Experience building B2B or enterprise integrations involving data exchange, APIs, or workflow automation at scale. Deep familiarity with data privacy, security, and compliance considerations in products that handle sensitive personal or employment data. Proven tr