Engineering Manager in City of Westminster

At Champion Data, our dedicated team are united by sport and driven by data.

We strive to revolutionise and transform sport data globally by leveraging our cutting-edge technology and expert team, ensuring we deliver the best possible outcomes for our partners and clients.

About the job

Champion Data has an exciting opportunity for an experienced and dedicated Engineering Manager to join our team!

The Engineering Manager is a senior people and technical leader within Champion Data's Technology function, accountable for leading, developing and supporting a group of engineers while providing strong technical guidance across the teams and client engagements they support.

The role combines people leadership and engineering leadership, with an equal split of (people leadership, capability development and organisational responsibilities), and (technical leadership, engineering oversight and selective hands-on contribution).

The Engineering Manager is accountable for

• The performance, wellbeing, development and effectiveness of the engineers they lead.
• Building strong engineering capability, leadership behaviours and succession within their teams.
• Providing visible technical leadership and ensuring engineering standards, practices and technical direction are understood and applied.
• Supporting high-quality technical decision-making and reducing technical and delivery risk.
• Creating a healthy, accountable, innovative and high-performing engineering culture.
• Acting as a senior technology representative across client engagements and the wider Champion Data organisation.

The role is expected to operate beyond the boundaries of an individual project or client engagement.

While Engineering Managers may contribute directly to client delivery, their people and organisational leadership responsibilities are a core and explicit part of the role.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide direct people leadership for an allocated group of engineers.
• Run regular 1:1s and lead performance, development and career conversations.
• Set clear expectations and provide timely, constructive feedback.
• Identify individual strengths, development needs and progression opportunities.
• Address performance or behavioural concerns early and constructively.
• Build trust, engagement, accountability and psychological safety across the team.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and retention of high-quality engineering talent.
• Capability Development & Coaching
• Coach and mentor engineers across technical, professional and leadership development.
• Develop greater autonomy, judgement and decision-making capability within the team.
• Identify and develop future technical and people leaders.
• Create opportunities for engineers to broaden their experience and increase their organisational impact.
• Promote continuous learning, knowledge sharing and deliberate capability uplift.
• Technical Leadership & Engineering Oversight
• Provide strong technical leadership across the teams, products and client engagements they support.
• Reinforce the architecture, engineering standards, practices and technical direction established by the Head of Engineering.
• Participate in solution design, architecture discussions, technical reviews and major engineering decisions.
• Challenge technical approaches where better solutions exist and encourage thoughtful innovation.
• Identify technical risk, quality concerns and capability gaps early and ensure they are addressed.
• Ensure engineering decisions balance immediate delivery needs with maintainability, scalability and long-term platform strategy.
• Engineering Culture & Innovation
• Model and reinforce a culture of engineering excellence, accountability, curiosity and continuous improvement.
• Actively champion modern engineering practices, automation and AI-enabled ways of working.
• Encourage teams to challenge existing approaches and continually improve how software is designed, developed and delivered.
• Share learning and effective practices across teams rather than allowing capability to remain isolated within individual projects.
• Act as a visible and positive technical leader within the regional engineering community.
• Delivery & Client Leadership
• Maintain sufficient proximity to client and product delivery to understand priorities, technical challenges and emerging risks.
• Work closely with Delivery, Product and Engineering leadership to ensure teams have clear technical direction and are capable of meeting their commitments.
• Represent Champion Data credibly in technical client conversations where required.
• Escalate material technical, capability, people or delivery risks early.
• Ensure client delivery pressures do not undermine sustainable engineering practices or team wellbeing.
• Maintain strong contemporary engineering capability and remain sufficiently hands-on to provide credible technical leadership.
• Contribute directly where it materially improves an outcome, unblocks a team, validates an approach or demonstrates a pattern.
• Participate in code and design reviews with an emphasis on quality, coaching and capability development.
• Avoid becoming the default owner of complex engineering work; enable and develop engineers to own and deliver that work.
• Measure technical contribution through team capability and engineering outcomes rather than individual coding volume.
• Regional & Organisational Leadership
• Operate as part of the regional Technology leadership structure and contribute to broader organisational decisions.
• Provide the CTO and Heads of Technology with visibility of team health, capability, performance and emerging risks.
• Support workforce and capability planning as the regional engineering organisation grows.
• Build strong relationships across Technology and the wider Champion Data business.
• Take ownership of organisational responsibilities beyond individual client or project boundaries where required.

About You

• 10+ years of professional software engineering experience, including significant experience in senior or technical leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience directly leading, coaching and developing engineers.
• Strong track record of building effective, high-performing engineering teams.
• Deep understanding of modern software engineering, cloud platforms, distributed systems and scalable architectural patterns.
• Experience designing, reviewing and guiding complex technical solutions.
• Experience operating across multiple teams, products or client engagements.
• Demonstrated ability to balance people leadership, technical leadership and delivery priorities.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills across technical, commercial and non-technical audiences.
• Experience working directly with customers and senior stakeholders is desirable
• Strong people leadership, coaching and performance management capability.
• Strong contemporary engineering and architectural capability.
• Ability to lead through influence, clarity and trust rather than becoming the technical bottleneck.
• Strong judgement and decision-making capability.
• Ability to identify and develop capability in others.
• Strong customer and stakeholder communication.
• Curiosity and enthusiasm for emerging technology and AI-enabled engineering.
• Ability to operate effectively across both organisational and client-facing responsibilities.
• Tell me more about Champion Data

For over 20 years, Champion data has been at the forefront of delivering sports stats globally.

With a global presence in Australia, the USA, the UK, and Asia, we specialise in real-time data collection, storage, analysis, distribution, and visualisation.

We track every play and movement, delivering unbeatable game intel through seamless integration systems.

Our unrivalled visual packages, in partnership with leading media outlets, ensure a sensational sports broadcast experience.

We work across numerous major sports, including AFL, Football, Horse Racing, World Netball, Golf, Tennis, and Lacrosse.

As we continue to expand globally, we aim to solidify our position as the leading sports data company.

At Champion Data, our people are at the core of our success, driving the innovation and passion that underpin our company culture.

By joining our team, you will be part of a motivated group with a ‘can-do’ attitude, eager to embrace challenges and committed to personal and professional growth.

At Champion Data we will enable you to be your own champion.

Our Core Values

To challenge the Playbook / To be an Elite Partner / To Champion Team

Why Join Champion Data?

We offer flexible hybrid working arrangements, financial support for setting up a remote workspace and a strong focus on health and wellbeing.

Our team culture is vibrant and supportive, including regular social events, team lunches, and more.

We also provide extensive employee benefits, including access to our wellness program and additional leave through Mindful Me Days.

What benefits does Champion Data offer the team in the UK?

Mindful Me Days : Four days per year dedicated to your wellbeing

Flexible Working : Our team works globally in a hybrid environment, which includes two weeks per year, during which you can work remotely from anywhere worldwide.

UK Office : Access to a co-working space in Soho, London.

Our spaces : all of our offices have great end-of-journey facilities; including showers, wellness/prayer room & games

Employee Assistance Programs

24/7 Access to financial support and counselling

Wellness Incentive

To help support your home office setup or contribute towards a wellness activity/service of your choosing

Get to the Game

Funds towards tickets for you and your family/friends to attend sporting events globally.

Advance You Learning and Development

Annual budget to spend on learning and development activities plus

Brain Block Time , this is time set aside monthly to learn or study.

Linked In Learning : Access to an external learning platform Linked In Learning

Social Events

Including an annual Family Day & Volunteer Day

When you join Champion Data, you will have the opportunity to step into a fast-growing, dynamic business during an exciting period of expansion.

Each day brings new challenges and opportunities to collaborate with diverse clients across the sports, technology, and broadcast media industries.

We look forward to hearing from you and welcoming you to Champion Data.

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