---
title: 'Manager, Systems Engineering (Hybrid) at Rewards Network'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/manager-systems-engineering-hybrid-rewards-network-chicago-wnrpnmtx5v64'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-09'
---

# Manager, Systems Engineering (Hybrid) at Rewards Network

- **Company:** Rewards Network
- **Location:** Chicago, IL
- **Compensation:** $160k–$175k
- **Posted:** 2026-08-20
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-09
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.greenhouse.io/rewardsnetwork/jobs/5178729007

## Job description

## About Rewards Network

For 41 years, Rewards Network has been helping restaurants grow revenue, increase traffic, and boost customer engagement through innovative financial, marketing services, and premier dining rewards programs. By offering unique card-linked offers, we introduce diners to fantastic restaurant experiences, leveraging advanced technology and data analytics to deliver value to restaurants, diners, and our strategic partners' loyalty programs.

Our Culture

At Rewards Network, you'll be part of a driven and diverse team that excels in collaboration, issue resolution, and taking ownership of both personal growth and the company's success. We take pride in partnering with the world's most powerful loyalty programs to drive full-price paying customers to local restaurants through marketing services and flexible funding options. Our engaging and rewarding environment is designed to help you gain your full potential.

Job Overview

The Manager, Network & Systems Engineering is a player-coach role responsible for the technical leadership and operational health of Rewards Network’s network and systems infrastructure. This position combines direct people management of a small, senior engineering team with meaningful hands-on technical contribution, ensuring both day-to-day stability and longer-term infrastructure modernization. The role reports to the Senior Manager, Infrastructure & Site Reliability Engineering and collaborates closely with Security, SRE, DBA, and product engineering teams.

This is a hybrid position that requires in office presence 3 days a week (Tuesday-Thursday) in Chicago.

What you’ll bring to the table: (Responsibilities)

- Lead, develop, and support a team of network and systems engineers; manage performance, career growth, and day-to-day prioritization while remaining technically engaged alongside the team.
- Architect, maintain, and continuously improve on-premises network infrastructure including routing, switching, firewalls, and physical datacenter topology.
- Own the health and reliability of Windows and Linux server environments, including patching cadence, configuration management, and OS lifecycle planning.
- Drive infrastructure modernization initiatives such as datacenter consolidation, network stabilization, and cloud expansion in partnership with the broader engineering organization.
- Lead or contribute to database platform migrations and integrations (MS SQL to PostgreSQL), partnering with DBAs and application teams on planning and execution.
- Collaborate with the AWS-focused SRE team to extend and mature the organization’s cloud infrastructure, with emphasis on networking, security boundaries, and hybrid connectivity.
- Evaluate infrastructure hardware and software options with a cost-conscious, ROI-driven approach; partner with engineering leadership on procurement decisions and vendor selection.
- Establish and maintain runbooks, change control practices, and technical documentation to support reliable operations and audit/compliance requirements.
- Participate in incident response as an escalation point for network and systems issues; conduct root cause analysis and drive durable remediation.
- Manage and evolve virtualization and containerization platforms across on-premises and cloud environments, ensuring efficient resource utilization and alignment with broader infrastructure strategy.
- Contribute to infrastructure roadmap planning by surfacing technical risks, capacity needs, and modernization opportunities to engineering leadership.
- Own disaster recovery planning for network and systems infrastructure; define recovery objectives, maintain runbooks, and lead regular DR testing exercises to validate recoverability.

Do you have the right mix of ingredients:

- 5+ years of hands-on experience in network engineering, systems administration, or a combined infrastructure role
- 2+ years in a lead or management capacity with direct reports
- Demonstrated experience with enterprise networking (routing, switching, firewalls, VLANs)
- Proficiency administering Windows Server and Linux/Unix environments
- Working knowledge of AWS or comparable public cloud platform
- Experience supporting or migrating relational databases (SQL Server, PostgreSQL)
- Strong written and verbal communication; able to translate technical concepts for non-technical stakeholders and leadership
- Effective prioritization and time management across people management, project work, and operational response
- Collaborative approach to cross-functional work with engineering, product, security, and finance teams
- Analytical and cost-conscious mindset when evaluating infrastructure decisions and vendor options
- Ability to operate independently and drive initiatives with minimal oversight in a fast-paced environment
- Commitment to documentation, operational rigor, and continuous improvement

What you’ll love about us:

Comprehensive benefits package, which includes:

- This is a full-time, exempt position. The base salary range for this role in Chicago is $160,000–$175,000 annually, depending on level (mid-level or senior), as well as candidate experience, skills, and other factors. This role is also eligible for an annual bonus target of 15%, bringing total target compensation to $184,000-$201,250.
- Competitive Time Off Benefits: including flexible PTO, 11 company holidays, and parental leave.
- Generous dining reimbursement when you dine with our restaurant clients
- 401(k) plan with a company match
- Two medical plan options- Standard PPO or High Deductible Health Plan (HSA with company match for HDHP participants)
- Partnership with Rx n Go, offering certain prescriptions for free
- Two dental plan options and a vision plan
- Flexible Spending Accounts and a pre-tax commuter benefit program
- Accident, Critical Illness, and Hospital Indemnity Insurance Plans
- Short Term and Long Term disability
- Company-paid life insurance and AD&D insurance, supplemental employee, spouse, and child life insurance
- Employee Life Assistance Program
- Hybrid working environment in a new office space downtown near the Metra Train stations and catered lunches on Tuesdays.

Rewards Network is an Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). We encourage and strongly support workplace diversity.

Expected Pay Range $160,000—$175,000 USD

## About Rewards Network

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Rewards Network partners with local restaurants to drive full-price paying guests through a card-linked dining rewards program funded by the world’s largest loyalty programs.
- **Entity Type**: Private (backed by TowerBrook Capital Partners)
- **Headquarters**: Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Founded**: 1984 (over 40 years in operation)
- **Founders**: Not publicly available

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Dining rewards, marketing services, financial services for restaurants
- **Target customers**: B2B (local and independent restaurants) and B2B2C (via loyalty program partners such as airlines, hotels, and retail brands)
- **Mission**: “When local restaurants thrive, communities thrive.”

## Products & Services
- **Dining Rewards Program**: A card-linked offer platform where diners earn rewards (e.g., airline miles, hotel points) for full-price dining at partner restaurants. Restaurants pay only when a verified member visits — no upfront costs, no discounts required.
- **Marketing Services**: National and local restaurant marketing via loyalty partner channels (e.g., American Airlines, Hilton, Caesars Rewards) to drive new, full-price customers.
- **Working Capital Solutions**: Rewards Network pre-purchases food and beverage on behalf of diners, providing restaurants with fast, non-loan capital (over $3.4 billion funded to date).
- **Data & Analytics Portal**: Live sales reports, guest survey analytics, and verified review management tools for restaurant partners.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation**: Not publicly disclosed (private company)
- **Key Metric**: $3.4 billion in total cash funded to restaurants; network of 20,000+ restaurant partners; 25 million+ dining members
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: TowerBrook Capital Partners (private equity backer). Strategic partners include American Airlines, United Airlines, Hilton Hotels, Caesars Entertainment, and other major loyalty programs.
- **Growth Signals**: Over 400 employees; expanding hybrid workforce with active hiring across Sales, Engineering, Product, and Data Science; investing in AI and advanced data analytics.

## Competitive Advantages
- **40+ Year Track Record**: Deeply entrenched in the restaurant financing and marketing ecosystem.
- **Unique Business Model**: Restaurants pay only for performance (actual customer visits), not for clicks or impressions — aligning incentives with restaurant success.
- **Exclusive Loyalty Network**: Access to 25 million+ verified, high-spend diners who are incentivized by top-tier loyalty currencies (miles, points) — not discounts.
- **Capital Without Debt**: Pre-purchase model provides restaurants with working capital without traditional loan terms.

## Strategic Focus
- **Technology & Data Analytics**: Renewed focus on advanced technology and more sophisticated data analytics under new leadership.
- **AI Investment**: Actively hiring an AI Operations Specialist, signaling a push into AI-driven marketing and operations.
- **National Sales Expansion**: Hiring Sales Account Executives in over 25 U.S. markets (from Seattle to Miami), indicating aggressive geographic growth.
- **Product Development**: Hiring Product Managers for B2C Offers and Senior Product Marketing Managers, suggesting new consumer-facing features.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Casual, collaborative environment with a “service mentality.” Emphasizes work/life balance, teamwork, and community involvement (e.g., volunteer events at Greater Chicago Food Depository).
- **Hybrid/Remote Policy**: Most corporate roles are listed as “Hybrid” (Chicago HQ). Field sales roles are remote in assigned territories.
- **Benefits**: Blue Cross Blue Shield medical, dental, vision; HSA with employer match; 401(k) with 50% match up to 8% of salary; generous PTO; 33% dining reimbursement at partner restaurants; commuter benefits; free on-site fitness center in Chicago.
- **Engineering Culture**: Agile development environment; teams include Scala, Python, and data engineering roles. Emphasis on iterative learning and fast execution.
- **Impact**: Directly helps local restaurant owners grow their businesses — a mission-driven role for those who care about small business success.
- **Fun Perks**: Ping pong tournaments, holiday parties, company lunches, volunteering events.

## Sources
1. [rewardsnetwork.com](https://www.rewardsnetwork.com/about-us/)
2. [rewardsnetwork.com](https://www.rewardsnetwork.com/)
3. [rewardsnetwork.com](https://www.rewardsnetwork.com/about-us/careers/)
4. [job-boards.greenhouse.io](http://job-boards.greenhouse.io/rewardsnetwork)
5. [linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/company/rewards-network)

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