Senior Engineering Manager, Data & AI Products

About the role

Pleo is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead two new teams: Data & AI Products and Data Serving. This role focuses on developing customer-facing AI features and the data infrastructure that supports them. You will guide technical direction and ensure high-quality delivery across both groups.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Lead and develop multidisciplinary teams, including Applied AI Engineers, Data Scientists, ML Scientists, Backend Engineers, Data Platform Engineers, and Data Engineers.
• Oversee the delivery of AI features for customers and the underlying API and serving layers.
• Collaborate with product teams to define the AI feature roadmap and advocate for customer needs.
• Establish quality and trust standards for AI feature development, including evaluation methods, production monitoring, and responsible AI practices.
• Ensure the data serving layer meets reliability and latency requirements for production AI features, product teams, and external customers.
• Manage hiring and resource allocation for both teams during a growth period.
• Represent both teams in leadership discussions, translating technical progress and challenges into actionable decisions.
• Partner with the Manager of GenAI Platform to align platform development with product demand.

Requirements

• Proven experience leading cross-functional teams building customer-facing products that are AI-powered or data-intensive.
• Technical expertise in at least one area: AI product engineering, real-time reporting/analytics data APIs, or ML systems, sufficient for technical discussions and architectural decisions.
• Experience building or significantly expanding teams, including hiring, developing, and retaining senior technical talent.
• Strong product and business understanding, enabling collaboration with Product Managers and designers to shape roadmaps.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality products under pressure, specifically AI features and production APIs with high customer trust requirements.
• Comfortable managing distinct team mandates with different profiles, stakeholders, and operational rhythms.
• Experience scaling teams from inception and navigating ambiguous environments.

Nice to have

• Experience building and growing highly specialized teams from scratch.
• Strong understanding of both product engineering and data domains.
• Up-to-date with technology changes and eager to engage in hands-on work, potentially having developed personal agentic solutions.

Skills & tools

• AWS
• Kotlin
• Python
• Kubernetes
• LiteLLM
• BrainTrust
• Temporal
• LLM APIs

Practical notes

• This role can be remote, hybrid, or in-person within the UK, provided you have a valid right to work. Visa sponsorship is not available.
• Benefits include a Pleo card, catered lunches or allowance, comprehensive private healthcare (Vitality, Alan, or Médis), 25-28 days of holiday plus public holidays, option to purchase 5 additional holiday days, MyndUp mental health support, and paid parental leave.
• The interview process includes an intro call, a hiring manager interview, a technical interview with a real-life scenario, and a final interview with the Chief Product & Technology Officer.
• Applications should be in English and demonstrate specific, impactful achievements using the "Achieved X, as measured by Y, by doing Z" format. Generic or AI-generated CVs without human intervention are discouraged.
• We are looking for extensive experience in building AI/data-related products and managing multiple teams in mature data and product engineering environments.