Engineering Manager

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.

Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

This is a dedicated people management role where you are responsible for building the conditions under which engineers perform their best work at scale. While you are not expected to be a daily individual contributor, you must provide the technical and organisational mentorship needed to scale a high-performing engineering culture.

• People Management: Own the day-to-day management of Morocco-based engineers — performance reviews, career development, skills ramp-up, and training. Build and maintain a structured performance review system.

• Recruitment: Lead local engineering recruitment as a priority from day one — own the process end-to-end in coordination with Talent Acquisition, and relieve pressure on senior technical leadership.

• Autonomy Building: Drive the transition from remote steering to local autonomy — establish the management infrastructure that allows the Morocco team to operate independently and at quality.

• Process Standardisation: Identify, design, and implement engineering processes that standardise ways of working across the company without harming execution speed; adapt approach for software and electrical engineering disciplines respectively.

• Tooling: Assess and address tooling needs for the local team — prioritise tool demands, evaluate off-the-shelf vs. custom solutions, and ensure tooling is generic enough to serve multiple needs across the organisation.

• Organisational Contribution: Contribute to org structure decisions — reorganise modules and initiate changes when needed; bring ideas and a transverse view, not just execution.

• Stakeholder Management: Act as the bridge between your engineering team and cross-functional leadership; ensure alignment on priorities, dependencies, and expectations across the organisation.

• Educational Background: A strong academic record in a technical field such as Engineering or Computer Science.

• Proven Leadership: 5+ years of engineering experience, with at least 2–3 years in an engineering management or team lead role. Demonstrated ability to manage and develop engineers — performance reviews, career frameworks, skills development.

• Complex Project Management: Avid learner with a demonstrated capacity to handle large-scale, complex projects — offering innovative solutions and leading teams to deliver outstanding results. Experience building or formalising engineering processes in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.

• Technical Profile Specialisation:

  • Core product support profile: Background in systems, embedded, or hardware-adjacent engineering; ability to support engineers working on product delivery.

  • Tooling and platform profile: Ability to focus on engineering infrastructure, developer tools, and cross-organisational platform utility.

• Adaptability & Mobility: Thrives under pressure in a fast-paced, dynamic environment; embraces a “no-task-is-too-small” mentality. Experience in a distributed, multi-site engineering organisation is a strong plus.

• Communication & Influence: Excellent written and verbal communication, capable of leading diverse principals – from junior members to senior executives. Strong cross-functional and organisational awareness — able to take a transverse view and drive standardisation without creating friction. Comfortable operating in a context where processes are still being built; brings structure without waiting for it.

• Language Skills: Proficiency in English is mandatory; French and Arabic are a plus.

• Commitment: 100% dedication to Harmattan AI’s mission, vision, and ambitious growth plans, ready to go the extra mile to ensure operational excellence.

We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.