Senior Manager, Software Tools Development

Zoox is hiring a Senior Manager, Software Tools Development in Foster City, United States. It pays $245k-$348k a year and Level rates it ; you can apply on Zoox.

Level's read on this job

Level rates this role Uses AI ●●○○: an ordinary role that requires AI tools.
The posting mentions AI agents among its tools and skills.
Level classes it as a senior role.
Zoox has 224 other open roles on Level.

AI in this role

ai-agents

We're looking for a Senior Manager of SW Tools Development to lead an organization built on two closely connected pillars: AI-powered tools and agents, and the test infrastructure, data pipelines, and process automation that engineering and business teams rely on every day. You'll bring deep knowledge of large language models (LLMs) and applied AI, and use it not only to build new AI-driven products but to find where AI can meaningfully upgrade test infrastructure, data pipelines, and automation — the overlap between these areas is where some of your team's highest-leverage work happens. Beyond building the tools, you'll be the face of your organization's products internally — demoing capabilities, winning over new adopters, and growing the portfolio of tools your team owns. You will manage multiple engineering teams (including managers), partner cross-functionally with stakeholders across the business, and build the processes that let your tools ship safely and reliably at scale.

In this role, you will:

Lead and grow multiple engineering teams spanning AI-powered tools/agents and test infrastructure, data pipelines, and process automation, managing and mentoring managers and senior engineers, and holding your organization accountable for delivery and quality across both areas.
Set a unified, prioritized roadmap across your organization that balances new AI agent/tool capabilities with test infrastructure, data pipeline, and process automation needs — with a sharp eye for where applying LLMs to automation, pipelines, or test systems creates outsized leverage.
Design and enforce the architecture, quality gates, and release processes that ensure tools, pipelines, and AI agents are validated, secure, and reliable before reaching production.
Partner cross-functionally with engineering, operations, and business leadership across the company to align priorities, scope integrations, and drive adoption of new tooling at an organizational level.
Demo and present your team's tools to internal stakeholders, attract new internal customers, and grow the portfolio of products and use cases your team supports.
Build and continuously improve the processes (planning, release management, quality assurance, reporting) that let your organization ship tools predictably and at scale.

Qualifications:

6-8+ years of experience in software engineering or applied AI, including experience managing managers and/or multiple engineering teams, with accountability for delivery and quality across an organization.
Solid, practical knowledge of LLMs and applied AI, with experience identifying and delivering AI-driven solutions to real business problems.
Experience designing and shipping production AI agent or automation systems, including defining architecture, tool/integration contracts, and validation processes.
Experience with test infrastructure, data pipeline design, and process automation, including recognizing where AI/LLM techniques can improve or extend these systems.
Proven track record leading cross-functional programs and presenting to senior stakeholders, aligning priorities and driving adoption across teams and functions that don't report to you.

Bonus Qualifications:

Experience operating AI-driven automation or triage tools in production with measurable quality/accuracy metrics.
Background in complex, safety-critical, or high-uptime operational environments.
Experience managing distributed or contractor engineering teams.

How we rate this

Senior Manager, Software Tools Development at Zoox rates 45 out of 100 for how much of the daily work is AI. That makes it Uses AI (AI Level 2 of 4). The level is about AI in the job, not seniority.

Classification

Uses AI. An ordinary role that requires AI tools.

●●●● Builds AI80 to 100
●●●○ Works on AI60 to 79
●●○○ Uses AI40 to 59
●○○○ Little AI0 to 39

Levels come from how often the tools, models and workflows of the role are named in the posting itself. Read the description and count the AI tools, models and workflows it names.

Key facts

Senior Manager, Software Tools Development is an open job at Zoox.
Level rates this role AI Level 2 of 4: Uses AI.
The listed salary is $245k-$348k a year.
The role is based in Foster City, CA.
The job was posted on July 27, 2026.
Seniority: senior.
Applications are handled by Zoox. Apply on Zoox

Prepare for this job

Built from this posting and from similar jobs on Level.

Skills and AI tools this role asks for

AI agents

Questions you could be asked

How do you decide when an AI agent can act on its own versus asking for approval first?
This role expects you to use AI tools as part of the job. Which ones have you used, and for what?
Tell me about a time an AI tool got something wrong. How did you catch it?

Adapt your resume

List these exact terms on your resume: AI agents. An applicant tracking system matches the wording, not the idea.
Attach one line of real, concrete experience to at least one of them. A tool named with nothing behind it rarely survives a human read.
Put the AI tool in a bullet point about what you did, not just in a skills list. This role treats it as a required part of the job.

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