Engineering Manager in Belfast

Engineering Manager in Belfast

Belfast Full-Time 80000 - 100000 ÂŁ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
Cloudsmith

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead teams to build Cloudsmith 2.0, the future of software supply chains.
  • Company: Join a fast-growing tech company shaping the future of software delivery.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, equity, health benefits, and flexible working policies.
  • Other info: Opportunities for personal growth and professional development in a dynamic environment.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact in a role that blends technical leadership with team development.
  • Qualifications: Experience in engineering management and strong technical skills required.

The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 ÂŁ per year.

We’re seeking a deeply technical Engineering Manager to lead teams building Cloudsmith 2.0, the operating system for the modern software supply chain. You should have operated at senior, staff, or principal engineering depth, and be able to reason through complex production systems with strong engineers.

The Role

As a technical Engineering Manager, you’ll report to the VP of Engineering and lead one or more teams working on Cloudsmith’s core platform. This role is a management role with a high technical bar, requiring you to read production code, challenge technical designs, and manage distributed systems across services and data stores.

Key Responsibilities

  • Technical Leadership
    • Lead teams building systems for artifact record, policy control, and package delivery.
    • Shape technical direction with Principal Engineers, Product, Design, and Security.
    • Challenge weak designs, unclear ownership, hidden coupling, and over‑complexity.
    • Raise the bar on design review, planning, operational readiness, and incident learning.
    • Help teams balance customer value, delivery speed, architecture, and reliability.
  • Team Leadership
    • Hire, coach, and continuously develop strong engineers.
    • Develop a peer relationship with Principal Engineers and technical leaders.
    • Build teams with high trust, high standards, and clear ownership.
    • Create clear expectations, decision‑making guidelines, and technical judgment.
    • Maintain high standards through clear expectations and direct, honest feedback.
  • Execution & Delivery
    • Own delivery from discovery through implementation, release, and operation.
    • Break ambiguous work into clear milestones, risks, dependencies, and trade‑offs.
    • Right‑size team process to improve predictability without adding undue overhead.
    • Keep customer impact, reliability, and trust visible in engineering decisions.
    • Ensure teams build software that is secure, observable, performant, and maintainable.

Required Experience, Qualities & Skills

  • Technical Depth
    • Significant experience as an Engineering Manager, Technical Lead, Staff Engineer, Principal Engineer, or equivalent.
    • Strong background in backend, platform, infrastructure, distributed systems, cloud‑native SaaS, developer tools, or security infrastructure.
    • Experience designing or operating high‑throughput, database‑backed production systems, preferably distributed or at large scale.
    • Strong debugging and performance instincts for slow queries, hot paths, queue backlogs, cache behavior, network issues, deploy risk, and incidents.
    • Comfortable with API design, data modeling, async processing, relational databases, analytical stores, object storage, tenancy boundaries, and failure modes.
    • Able to read production code and challenge technical decisions.
  • Cloud‑Native Infrastructure
    • Experience with AWS, containers, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, and observability.
    • Familiarity with Python, Django, Postgres, ClickHouse, AWS, ECS, CloudFront, Kinesis, Lambda, Terraform, React, and Next.js.
    • Experience with Kafka, Kinesis, Flink, CDC pipelines, indexing systems, search infrastructure, analytics stores, or metadata enrichment is valuable.
    • Experience with package registries, artifact storage, object storage, caching, CDNs, proxying, edge delivery, or high‑volume HTTP systems is especially useful.
  • Software Supply Chain & Security
    • Experience in devtools, DevOps, CI/CD, artifact management, package management, platform engineering, or enterprise SaaS.
    • Security mindset around trust boundaries, policy enforcement, provenance, auditability, authentication, authorization, signing, tokens, and secrets.
    • Interest in package identity, upstream trust, metadata quality, policy decisions, malware risk, dependency control, and delivery at scale.
  • Management & Communication
    • Proven track record of hiring, coaching, and developing strong engineers.
    • Comfortable working with senior and principal engineers as peers.
    • Clear written and verbal communication in a remote‑first environment.
    • Good product sense.
    • Focus on customer outcomes and platform quality.

Cultural Values We're Looking For

  • Technical humility: strong opinions, loosely held, balanced with sound judgment.
  • Builder mindset: close to the work, even when not acting as an individual contributor.
  • High standards and low ego: raise the bar while respecting others' ideas.
  • Calm under pressure: good judgment for incidents, ambiguity, and hard conversations.
  • Clear thinking: turn messy problems into decisions and trade‑offs.
  • Ownership: care that the team is healthy and customers can trust what we ship.

Impact & Opportunity

This role helps shape the engineering organization behind Cloudsmith 2.0 and builds the infrastructure that records, governs, and delivers software artifacts at scale.

Growth & Development

Strong fit for someone who wants to grow into executive engineering leadership while leading teams and influencing company strategy, architecture, product direction, and operational excellence from startup scale to public company.

Benefits, Location & Work Environment

  • Position based in Ireland or the United Kingdom.
  • Competitive compensation package, including equity.
  • Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.
  • Generous annual leave and flexible working policies.
  • Professional development budget for conferences and training.
  • Opportunities to shape a fast‑growing company building critical infrastructure.
  • Regular travel may be required for team meetings, planning, customers, and events.

Health and Wellness

We care about the health and wellness of our people and their families, offering generous annual leave, health and wellbeing benefits, and flexible family‑friendly working policies.

Personal Growth

Opportunities to grow alongside strong colleagues with support for equipment, training, books, conferences, travel, and certifications.

Facilities

Headquartered in Belfast, Northern Ireland, with fully equipped office space for sessions, planning, meetups, and team activities. We rely on Slack, Google Docs, Linear, and other tools to collaborate across locations.

About Equal Opportunity

Cloudsmith is an equal‑opportunity employer that welcomes applications from individuals of all races, genders, and ethnicities. We do not discriminate on the basis of age, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship status, military service, or health conditions.

The Final Word

We’re looking for someone who can lead people and still speak engineering fluently. This highly technical leadership role is for someone who moved into management without losing their engineering edge and can build healthy teams, raise technical standards, and help strong engineers do their best work.

Engineering Manager in Belfast employer: Cloudsmith

Cloudsmith is an exceptional employer that fosters a culture of technical excellence and collaboration, making it an ideal place for an Engineering Manager to thrive. With a competitive compensation package, comprehensive health benefits, and a strong emphasis on professional development, employees are empowered to grow alongside talented colleagues in a supportive environment. Located in the vibrant tech hub of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Cloudsmith offers unique opportunities to shape the future of software supply chains while enjoying flexible working policies and a commitment to employee wellness.
Cloudsmith

Contact Detail:

Cloudsmith Recruiting Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫

We think this is how you could land Engineering Manager in Belfast

✨Tip Number 1

Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage in online forums. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can refer you directly.

✨Tip Number 2

Prepare for those interviews by brushing up on your technical skills and leadership experiences. Be ready to discuss how you've tackled complex problems and led teams effectively. Practice makes perfect!

✨Tip Number 3

Showcase your passion for the role! When you get the chance to chat with potential employers, let your enthusiasm for engineering and team leadership shine through. It’s all about making that personal connection.

✨Tip Number 4

Don’t forget to apply through our website! We love seeing candidates who are genuinely interested in joining us at Cloudsmith. Plus, it gives you a better shot at getting noticed by our hiring team.

We think you need these skills to ace Engineering Manager in Belfast

Technical Leadership
Backend Development
Distributed Systems
Cloud-Native SaaS
API Design
Data Modelling
Performance Optimisation
Debugging Skills
AWS
CI/CD
Infrastructure as Code
Python
Django
Postgres
Team Management

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show Your Technical Depth: When writing your application, make sure to highlight your technical experience. We want to see how you've tackled complex production systems and your familiarity with cloud-native infrastructure. Don't hold back on showcasing your skills in backend development and distributed systems!

Tailor Your Application: Take the time to customise your application for this role. Use the job description as a guide and align your experiences with the key responsibilities and required skills. This shows us that you understand what we're looking for and that you're genuinely interested in the position.

Be Clear and Concise: We appreciate clarity! Make sure your application is well-structured and easy to read. Use bullet points where necessary and avoid jargon unless it's relevant. This helps us quickly grasp your qualifications and makes a great first impression.

Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way for us to receive your application and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it gives you a chance to explore more about our company and culture!

How to prepare for a job interview at Cloudsmith

✨Know Your Tech Inside Out

As an Engineering Manager, you’ll need to demonstrate a deep understanding of complex production systems. Brush up on your knowledge of backend technologies, distributed systems, and cloud-native infrastructure. Be ready to discuss specific projects where you've tackled technical challenges head-on.

✨Showcase Your Leadership Style

Prepare to talk about your approach to team leadership and development. Think of examples where you've successfully hired, coached, or mentored engineers. Highlight how you create high-trust environments and set clear expectations for your teams.

✨Be Ready to Challenge Designs

Expect to be asked about your ability to critique technical designs. Prepare examples where you've identified weak points in a design or process and how you addressed them. This will show your potential employer that you can raise the bar on design reviews and operational readiness.

✨Communicate Clearly and Confidently

In a remote-first environment, clear communication is key. Practice articulating your thoughts on technical decisions and team dynamics. Be prepared to discuss how you ensure everyone is aligned and understands their roles, especially when working across distributed teams.

Engineering Manager in Belfast
Cloudsmith
Location: Belfast

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