Engineering Manager

Hi 👋 we’re Glean. We make study software that makes learning quicker and easier for everyone.

• We’re a SaaS scale up and one of the fastest growing tech companies in the North. 
• There’s 100+ of us around the UK with our HQ in Leeds. 
• Our software is award-winning and used by 100,000s of students at over 800 universities & colleges worldwide. 
• We’re growing so we can achieve our mission to support 1 million students to become better learners by 2026. 

 The role of Engineering Manager: 

Career Track and level: Management Level 3

As an Engineering Manager at Glean, you'll be at the core of our Product Squads' success. You'll work closely with Commercial, Product, and Engineering teams to keep everyone aligned on our business goals, objectives, and technical vision, while helping the wider organisation understand how our engineers deliver our products. You'll lead, mentor, and inspire high performing engineers, fostering a culture of innovation, excellence, and continuous improvement. With your strategic mindset and problem-solving skills, you'll drive the team towards hitting our product roadmap and company growth objectives, while also influencing key stakeholders to support and champion our initiatives.

 Meet the team: 

🤝 Technology at Glean is a cross-functional function made of Engineering, Product, Product Marketing, User Experience, Customer Support and Data.  This filters down to our product squads where we have at least one team member from each department working together (or inputting, in the case of Customer Support) to build the best product for our users and customers.  We currently have four stream-aligned squads, supported by a platform team and an enablement team.

🧑‍💻 Reporting into Mala, Head of Engineering, you’ll be working closely with a Product Trio, made up of a Product Manager, Tech Lead and UX Designer across one of two squads; Learners: Learning (referred to as LEggs internally) with the Trio being Fia (Product), Blair (UX) and Matt K (Tech Lead) or Learners: Note-taking (referred to internally as GOAT) with a Trio of David (Product Manager), Ambrose (Tech Lead) and Flora (UX).

📝 Hear more about Mala's first month at Glean here!

 What you’ll be doing: 

• Contributing to the development and execution of the technical strategy, aligning it with Glean's overall goals and objectives.
• You will line manage a maximum of 6 mixed specialty Engineers, you will have a passion to actively develop Engineers, be able to set meaningful development goals and align the growth of your reports to the success of the team.
• Identifying team challenges and being the voice of the Engineering function to key stakeholders, helping to influence decisions to deliver solutions.
• Driving a culture of innovation and fast feedback, emphasising outcome driven development whilst building a culture of collaboration and inclusiveness, creating space for all squad members to be heard.
• Assisting in communicating and creating an understanding of the company goals, visions and key messages to provide clear direction and purpose for squad members and stakeholders.
• Driving sustainable engineering practices with a focus on quality, maintainable solutions.
• Creating a nurturing culture where squad members feel motivated and empowered to deliver impactful products including fostering a fun, safe environment for engineering based upon trust, collaboration and respect.
• Coaching squad members on quality, communication and best practices as well as mentoring team members on domain expertise yet to be acquired.
• Identifying and addressing skill gaps to ensure optimal squad performance whether through recruitment or training.
• Encouraging a continuous learning culture by identifying training opportunities through conferences, books and courses and supporting squad members’ attendance.
• Taking an active role in all recruitment activities for the squad including working with the wider team to establish effective interview processes that will identify talented candidates.
• Staying abreast of industry trends and emerging technologies, providing insights for strategic decision-making.
• Taking the stance of passionate views, loosely held - argue your point of view passionately but be willing to accept that the needs of others or the group or the business may mean that other approaches are adopted.

 About you: 

• You have a deep knowledge of Software Development Methodologies and can tailor different approaches that best align with squad dynamics and organisational goals.  
• You will deliver measurable results by influencing and driving strategic decision-making with key stakeholders. 
• You’re passionate about continuous improvement and through this, work together with team members to ensure everyone’s voices are heard.  
• You love to build team environments that foster collaboration, innovation and individual growth.  
• You enjoy championing the squad’s achievements and you have strong communication skills which work to bridge the gap between technical and non-technical stakeholders. 

💰Salary and benefits:

£70,000 - £85,000 dependent upon experience 

🏖️ 33 days annual leave (Inclusive of bank holidays)

🎄 3 gifted days off at Christmas

💰 EMI Share Options Scheme

🎓 Generous individual learning and training allowance 

⌚ Truly flexible hours to suit when you work best 

💻 Full home working set up and beautiful collaborative office space 

🚗 Free Leeds City Centre office parking

🌴 Nomad working policy with family travel insurance 

🍼 Enhanced 26 weeks maternity and 4 weeks paternity (fully paid)

🤍 Health cash plan (from glasses to massages) 

💸 6% employer pension contribution

Location: 

We have a beautiful office space in Leeds and we love it when we get together to collaborate in person. We typically operate a hybrid way of working, however some of our roles support remote working within the UK, if you live more than 50 miles from the office. 

We will discuss ways of working with you at interview however if you have any questions before you apply please reach out to [email protected] 

💡 What to expect next: 

We’ll review your application and provide a response within 1 week. Even if it’s not the news you’d hoped for, we appreciate it’s good to know either way. 

If we invite you to meet with us for interview, here’s an overview of what the process will look like: 

1. Screening interview with someone in our Recruitment team (30 minutes). 
2. First stage interview, talking through your experience with the hiring manager and another Glean colleague (30 minutes) plus a 40 minute task. Further details on the task will be shared with you when we arrange your interview. 
3. Third stage interview is a 1 hour competency  interview. You will be meeting with the hiring manager and Josh, the CTO.  You can find out more about Josh on the Culture Corner Podcast where he speaks about creating strong cultures and high performing teams.  
4. Final stage interview which includes a 1 hour culture and values interview. You will meet with the hiring manager and the Executive Team.

Ahead of your interview you will receive a confirmation email outlining who you’ll be meeting and when, anything you’ll need to prepare in advance and any resources we think you might find helpful.  

👀 Interested in learning more about a career at Glean? 

Here are a few further resources:

About Glean

Working at Glean Blog

The Glean Study Tool 

💌 Not quite the right role for you however you’d love to be a part of Glean’s journey? 

Let’s connect! Reach out to [email protected] and we’ll add you to our network, to keep you updated with any future opportunities we think you might be interested in.

📄 Applicant Privacy Notice 

We think it’s important that you understand how we use and handle your personal information, so here’s a link to our privacy notice. By submitting your application, you’re confirming that you’ve read and understood this notice.