Location: Remote
Salary: £100,000 - £110,000
About us
At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better.
We believe in a future of work in schools where being challenged doesn’t mean being burnt out and overworked. Where data guides progress without overwhelming staff. And where everyone working in a school is reminded why they got into education every day.
Our MIS and school management tools are already making a difference in over 7,000 schools and trusts. Giving time and power back to staff, turning data into clear, actionable insights, and supporting happier working days.
At the heart of our brand is a recognition that the challenges schools face today aren’t just about efficiency, outputs and productivity - but about creating happier working lives for the people who drive education everyday: the staff. We want to make schools more joyful places to work, as well as learn.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced and communicative Engineering Manager (Data & Analytics) to join our Engineering team and help us drive high performance, alignment, and a culture of continuous improvement across teams. The remit and focus of the role is to lead 2 teams of engineers who are operating AI/agentic first to deliver value for a core product domain. This includes ownership of delivery outcomes, people development, and continuous improvement of engineering practices. It’s a broad and exciting role, so we’re looking for someone up for a challenge - if you're delivery focused and a strong collaborator, this is the role for you.
Core responsibilities
- Line management of 8-12 engineers, including mentoring, performance management, and career development
- Lead the people, delivery and processes of our data teams.
- Partner with internal and external customers, in addition to Senior Engineering Managers and Staff Engineers, to align our data capabilities across product and technical roadmaps
- End-to-end delivery ownership for programmes across teams, ensuring delivery is aligned to business priorities and quality expectations
- Champion, measure and refine your team’s AI-first practices
- Partner with Engineering Managers and leadership to refine engineering processes, tooling, and team structures
- Work directly with Product and commercial teams to ensure delivery goals are aligned, collaborative, and efficient
- Use metrics to identify opportunities for improving delivery velocity, team health, developer experience, and system reliability
- Promote and uphold engineering best practices across teams, including documentation, technical standards, and quality assurance
- Set clear goals and measurable targets for your teams aligned with engineering and business outcomes
- Actively support recruitment and onboarding, including interviewing and process improvement.
- Represent engineering in broader organisational contexts, including cross-functional meetings, leadership forums, and internal/external presentations
Requirements
About you
- Proven leadership of high-performing engineering teams across multiple levels of experience, including effective performance management
- Previous line management and delivery responsibility within a commercially focused data function (warehousing, analytics, integrations, etc).
- Outcome focussed with an ability to drive high quality delivery; preferably within AI-first environment (or one transitioning to this model)
- Good technical and engineering background, with a solid understanding of software engineering fundamentals
- Strong experience working in agile environments using various methodologies
- Hands-on experience using and interpreting metrics to guide delivery and team improvements
- Great communication skills with the ability to influence across engineering, product, and other stakeholders
- Comfortable with disagree/commit and advocating for engineering practices
- Strong collaborative mindset with a focus on alignment, outcomes, and continuous improvement
- Experience managing complex, cross-team programme delivery involving multiple workstreams and dependencies
Bonus Skills
- Hands-on experience in a related data field: data engineering, analytics engineering or data science
BenefitsWhat we offer
The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you’ll see the impact of your work everyday. We also offer:
- A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more!
- 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
- Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary
- Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks
- Private Dental Insurance with Bupa
- Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows
- Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay
- 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life!
- Access to services such as Calm and Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching)
- All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you
- Social committees that plan team, office and company wide events to bring people together and celebrate success
- Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc)
- Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year
- Dog friendly offices!
Interview process
- Phone screen
- 1st stage
- 2nd stage
We are committed to a fair and comfortable recruitment process, so if you require any reasonable adjustments during your application or interview process, please reach out to a member of the team at [email protected].
Our commitment is also backed by our partnership with Neurodiversity Consultancy, Lexxic who provide us with training, support and advice.
Arbor Education is an equal opportunities organisation
Our goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive - whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.
Refer a friend
Know someone else who would be good for this role? You can refer a friend, family member or colleague, if they are offered a role with Arbor, we will say thank you with a voucher valued up to £200! Simply email: [email protected]
Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.
Skills Required
- Proven leadership of high-performing engineering teams
- Previous line management in data functions
- Experience in AI-first environments
- Strong understanding of software engineering fundamentals
- Experience working in agile environments
- Experience using metrics for delivery improvements
- Strong communication skills
- Experience managing complex programme delivery
What We Do
At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better. You’ve probably seen the headlines. Heavy workloads, constant change, admin pressure on teachers and staff at every level… sometimes it feels like this is just part and parcel of school life today. But it doesn’t have to be this way. At Arbor, we passionately believe that there’s a better way to work. And it starts by giving everyone the right tools and technology for the job. Arbor is the fastest-growing MIS today. Over 3,800 schools and MATs use our tools to work more collaboratively, free staff from busywork and drive their schools forward. We know any technology is an investment, in both time and cost, so everything we do is designed with schools to make a real difference. Each year, we measure our impact on the metrics that matter most - like saving staff time and getting greater insight into your data - to hold ourselves accountable. We’re building a platform and products we believe in - as well as strong, diverse team of experienced specialists, ex-teachers and Edtech engineers passionate about making a difference to the sector. Ultimately, we’re here to help make our schools and trusts stress a little less, and focus on what matters most - improving the lives of teachers and outcomes of students everywhere.
