The Engineering Manager exists to lead the delivery performance and professional development of engineers within a designated product domain or problem area. The role is responsible for driving team health, engagement, and operational predictability across multiple cross-functional engineering squads. The position focuses purely on people leadership and delivery optimisation rather than hands-on coding, serving to connect engineering execution directly with an ambitious product roadmap. Ultimately, this role ensures the sustainable delivery of high-quality SaaS solutions that directly advance the organisation's mission to transform how schools work.
Dimensions
- Financials: No direct budget ownership; indirectly impacts infrastructure efficiency and resource allocation across assigned squads to ensure projects are delivered.
- Team: Direct line management, coaching, and career development of software engineers and Technical Leads within a designated domain, coordinating squads typically composed of a Tech Lead, QA Engineer, and multiple developers, alongside cross-team DevOps and Staff Engineers.
- Scope: Tactical and operational leadership across the Ecosystem engineering area, impacting distributed teams situated across the UK and Serbia.
Key Responsibilities
1. Delivery Leadership & Roadmap Execution
- Drive delivery performance and predictable execution across multiple product and engineering teams.
- Lead planning sessions, technical estimations, sprint reviews, and delivery tracking activities.
- Partner with Product Managers to define priorities, shape feature roadmaps, and ensure alignment between business objectives and engineering capabilities.
- Provide visibility into delivery progress, risks, dependencies, and mitigation plans.
- Ensure engineering outputs meet agreed quality standards and delivery commitments.
2. Performance Metrics & Flow Optimization
- Manage engineering workflow and optimize team throughput, efficiency, and software reliability.
- Establish, monitor, and improve operational engineering metrics using DORA and SPACE frameworks.
- Identify bottlenecks and implement data-driven improvements to delivery processes.
- Support and embed Agile delivery practices, including Scrum and Kanban methodologies.
- Promote sustainable delivery cadences while maintaining team autonomy.
3. People Leadership & Talent Development
- Coach, mentor, and develop engineers and Technical Leads.
- Create and support individual development and career progression plans.
- Conduct performance reviews and provide regular feedback and development guidance.
- Address performance concerns proactively and fairly.
- Foster a high-performing, inclusive culture based on accountability, ownership, and collaboration.
4. Team Wellbeing & Psychological Safety
- Champion psychological safety, employee engagement, and overall team wellbeing.
- Promote sustainable engineering practices that balance delivery speed with long-term maintainability.
- Resolve team conflicts and remove barriers that impact productivity and engagement.
- Encourage open communication and continuous feedback across teams.
5. Process Excellence & Engineering Governance
- Standardize delivery workflows, release management practices, and operational processes across teams.
- Ensure adherence to quality standards, deployment governance, documentation requirements, and testing best practices.
- Collaborate with Staff Engineers and Technical Leads to align delivery practices with the organization's technical strategy.
- Drive continuous improvement initiatives that enhance engineering effectiveness and quality.
6. Cross-Functional Collaboration & Dependency Management
- Manage technical dependencies and delivery risks across engineering teams and business functions.
- Partner with Portfolio, Product, and Engineering Leadership teams to track roadmap progress and resolve blockers.
- Facilitate transparency and alignment across stakeholders.
- Contribute to strategic planning and organizational prioritization activities.
7. Organizational Capability & Leadership
- Actively contribute to engineering leadership forums and organizational improvement initiatives.
- Promote a data-driven culture focused on continuous learning and operational excellence.
- Represent the engineering function in leadership meetings, presentations, and external professional communities.
- Support the maturation of engineering management practices across the organization.
8. Distributed Team Leadership
- Build and maintain a strong, unified culture across distributed engineering teams.
- Facilitate collaboration across multiple locations and time zones.
- Lead team offsites, workshops, and collaborative engagement initiatives.
- Ensure equitable access to development, mentorship, and growth opportunities for all team members.
Requirements
- Proven experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams comprising Software Engineering, QA, and DevOps professionals.
- Experience managing teams of at least 5+ engineers.
- Strong expertise in engineering performance frameworks such as DORA and SPACE metrics.
- Extensive experience with Agile delivery methodologies, including Scrum and Kanban.
- Deep understanding of CI/CD pipelines, continuous delivery, and modern software development practices.
- Strong people management experience, including coaching, mentoring, career development, and performance management.
- Experience working with distributed teams across multiple locations and time zones.
- Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and presentation skills.
- Strong systems-thinking mindset and understanding of software engineering principles.
Desirable
- Previous background in software engineering or technical leadership.
- Familiarity with PHP, Node.js, TypeScript, AWS, Kong API Gateway, or similar technologies.
- Experience delivering SaaS, platform, or API-driven products.
- Understanding of Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and platform performance management.
- Experience leading engineering transformations and scaling delivery practices within growing organizations.
- Exposure to DevOps culture, cloud-native technologies, and modern engineering operating models.
Benefits
What 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 every day.
We also offer:
- Flexible work environment (3 days work from office)
- Group Term Life Insurance paid out at 3x Annual CTC (Arbor India)
- 32 days holiday (plus Arbor Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra companywide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
- Work time: 9.30 am to 6 pm (8.5 hours only)
- Compensation - 100% fixed salary disbursement and no variable component.
Skills Required
- Minimum 5 years in the software industry with a proven track record as a Senior Engineer
- At least 1 year leading and managing teams of 5 or more engineers
- Experience with PHP
- Strong ability to design scalable systems and ensure global engineering standards are applied
- Proficiency in using data to continuously improve ways of working and quality
- Good understanding of how AI tools can be practically applied to software engineering
- Exceptional communication to bridge technical execution and portfolio-level product roadmaps
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.
