Engineering Manager, Channels & Platform

About the role

You own the end-to-end execution and health of our Channels and Analytics stack as we scale from pilot to production. You are responsible for approximately 30% of the current Engineering Manager's operational load so they can elevate to strategy, fundraising, and long-term product vision. You run 1:1s that drive clarity, own the weekly cadence for Channels and Analytics, and act as a direct thought partner on delivery trade-offs. You will surface and sequence priorities that are not yet documented, unblock engineers proactively, and maintain technical debt plans in partnership with the team. You safeguard the integrity of our shared intelligence layer across channels and ensure operational realities inform product decisions. You are the primary driver of execution clarity in a distributed, fast-moving environment where process is built only when it accelerates outcomes.

Key facts

What you'll do

Own the weekly delivery cadence for Channels and Analytics, surfacing risks and priorities that engineering leadership cannot see day-to-day.

Partner with product managers and engineering leadership to sequence work, including undocumented priorities that keep the team moving.

Organize and refine backlogs to bring structure to teams operating in a fast-moving, low-process environment.

Unblock engineers proactively by identifying constraints before they escalate into delivery failures.

Write and maintain technical debt plans directly with engineers, not on their behalf, to sustain long-term velocity.

Act as a second thinker on integration strategy and capacity planning to protect the roadmap and shared infrastructure.

Drive developer experience improvements that remove friction for good engineers without adding process for its own sake.

Run 1:1s that leave engineers with clearer thinking and actionable outcomes, not just status updates.

Deliver hard feedback that lands constructively and helps senior engineers grow into management if they choose.

Coach and develop senior engineers who aspire to grow, including preparing them for future management roles.

Act as a hands-on backup hiring partner by running interview loops, holding the bar, and partnering with recruiting.

Own the operational outcomes for Channels and Analytics so the broader leadership team can focus on strategy and customers.

Ensure security, compliance, and SOC-adjacent considerations are embedded in execution and tooling decisions.

Balance autonomy and structure by introducing guardrails only when they measurably increase speed and reliability.

Be a thought partner on scope changes and any initiative that reshapes the team, treating these as joint calls with product leadership.

Requirements

You have 3+ years managing engineers in a product-delivery capacity, owning outcomes rather than just people.

You are based in a European timezone (UTC to UTC+3) because this role exists to reach engineers our current Engineering Manager cannot cover.

You have startup or scale-up experience where you operated without process and without a safety net.

You possess technical credibility that allows senior engineers to route hard problems to you, not around you.

You are fluent with AI and LLM systems, understanding agentic architectures, evals, and model reliability beyond generic commentary.

You have experience with security, compliance, or SOC-adjacent work in a product-driven setting.

You have worked in a product company without a dedicated TPM or staff engineer as a crutch.

You manage senior engineers who need a thought partner, not a process owner, and you respect their autonomy.

You are comfortable making decisions with incomplete information while maintaining accountability for results.

You communicate with directness and write clearly to align distributed stakeholders.

You are aligned with a high-cadence, low-ego environment where speed and execution are valued.

You understand the difference between owning outcomes and owning org charts or headcount.

You are committed to building processes only when they demonstrably remove friction and accelerate delivery.

You are based in the United Kingdom and eligible to work without sponsorship requirements.

Nice to have

Experience contributing to or building internal platforms or tooling for developer workflows.

Background working with agentic systems, evals frameworks, or LLM observability tools.

Exposure to consumer brands, commerce, or personalization at scale.

Experience with data pipelines, analytics tooling, or metrics-driven decision-making.

Familiarity with remote-first collaboration and async communication best practices.

Practical notes

This is a full-time role based in the United Kingdom under standard employment terms.

The position is expected to work within European business hours, primarily UTC to UTC+3, to align with the distributed team.

No sponsorship is provided for this role; candidates must be eligible to work in the United Kingdom without sponsorship.

The role is focused on execution within the current team structure and does not include headcount growth or organizational redesign in the first 90 days.