Senior Engineering Manager

Senior Engineering Manager

Full-Time 80000 - 100000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
Fonoa

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead a product engineering team to innovate and improve our API solutions.
  • Company: Join Fonoa, a high-growth startup revolutionising tax automation.
  • Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work environment, and opportunities for professional growth.
  • Other info: Dynamic team environment with a focus on continuous learning and improvement.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact in a collaborative culture focused on innovation and quality.
  • Qualifications: Proficient in English, strong leadership skills, and experience with Go and TypeScript.

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

Engineering plays a very central part in the business. As a company with a world‑class API solution for all things tax, we prioritise quality over quantity in our development. We care about creating scalable, easy‑to‑operate, easy‑to‑expand, and easy‑to‑maintain software that our customers and daily users can rely on.

Engineering Culture

Engineers are given customer problems to solve rather than features to build. We understand the customer's needs before considering implementation details. Engineers are owners of their past, present, and future, encompassing architecture, tools, coding, testing, deployment, operations, and scaling. We work in lean, small teams and co‑own the product roadmap with product managers. We choose collaboration, compassion, and trust over individualism and politics. We prefer innovation through constant iteration and trust over competition and perfect solutions. We support one another, are naturally kind, and provide constructive feedback to continually improve as professionals. We boil down complex problems and consistently seek the most straightforward solutions. We take quality and security seriously and factor it into everything we do. We are comfortable with change in terms of priorities, goals and deadlines. We see this more as an opportunity than a hurdle. We are never satisfied with the status‑quo and push for improvements. We seek those looking to make a severe impact and are excited about working in a high‑growth startup. We ship fast, continuously, and iteratively multiple times per day, learning with each step. We embrace mistakes as a conduit for learning. We don’t blame and consider every failure an opportunity to improve. We measure everything, use the data to make decisions, and influence the direction. We don’t allow blockers to prevent us from delivering. We step out of our comfort zone to find solutions and collaborate with other teams to advance initiatives. We say things as they are, we don’t beat around the bush, we don’t waste time. We ship.

Products

We have a suite of standalone API products that automate tax‑related workflows for any internet company: Lookup, Tax, Returns, Data sharing and E‑Invoicing. We may discover new customer needs as we learn and develop new products as needed.

API Documentation

Please visit our API documentation to learn more about our API endpoints and their usage: https://docs.fonoa.com/.

Tech Stack

  • Backend: Node and Go
  • Frontend: ReactJS, htmx and TypeScript
  • Persistence: PostgreSQL
  • Cloud: GCP
  • Infrastructure: Terraform, Kubernetes CRDs, ArgoCD, Prometheus, and DataDog

Job Responsibilities

  • Learn about how painful it is for companies to manually handle the tax lifecycle, and think about how our systems change the status‑quo.
  • Run a product engineering team, aligning business objectives with technical delivery.
  • Partner with the Product Manager, co‑own the product roadmap.
  • Guide on day‑to‑day tactical work, hiring, onboarding, developing and mentoring.
  • Your success is your team’s success.
  • Contribute to the broader engineering culture and goals by collaborating on high‑level strategy with other Engineering Managers and our CTO.
  • Continuously strive to build the best API product, leveraging the best experience and capabilities.

Job Requirements

  • You are fully proficient in English, written and spoken, as we are a team from around the world.
  • You optimise for distributed and asynchronous work, favouring documentation and notes over ad‑hoc face‑to‑face meetings.
  • You have a strong sense of ownership and care about what you build.
  • You focus on people; you can hire the right people, organise, develop your team through constant feedback, keep them healthy and focus on retention.
  • You like to optimise processes to speed up product development without sacrificing quality.
  • You’re a builder at heart, enjoy the opportunity of extensive exposure, and have an entrepreneurial attitude.
  • You are either eager to learn or comfortable scaling and operating large‑scale microservices in high‑load and growth environments.
  • You are knowledgeable in several languages, most of our current codebase being in Go and TypeScript.
  • You enjoy removing unused features more than shipping new things that no one cares about.
  • You ship small things fast, continuously, and iteratively, learning on each step.
  • You like to use data over opinions to make decisions and are okay with finding the data yourself when it’s missing.
  • You are comfortable with change, whether it involves adjusting priorities, setting new goals, or meeting deadlines.
  • You see this more as an opportunity than a hurdle.
  • You are also comfortable with challenging the status‑quo and pushing for change.
  • You’re looking to make a serious impact and are excited about working in a high‑growth startup.

Legal

As part of the recruitment process at Fonoa, we process your personal data in accordance with our Privacy Notice for Job Applicants. This notice explains how and why your data is collected and used, and how you can contact us if you have any concerns.

Location

London, England, United Kingdom

Senior Engineering Manager employer: Fonoa

Fonoa is an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative engineering culture, where employees are empowered to solve real customer problems and take ownership of their work. Located in London, we offer a dynamic environment that prioritises continuous learning and professional growth, alongside a commitment to quality and security in our API solutions. With a focus on teamwork, constructive feedback, and a fast-paced startup atmosphere, Fonoa is the ideal place for those looking to make a significant impact in the tech industry.

Fonoa

Contact Details:

Fonoa Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Senior Engineering Manager

Join Local Tech Meetups

Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Fonoa or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!

Contribute to Open Source Projects

Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Fonoa.

Tap into Online Developer Communities

Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Fonoa.

Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles

Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Fonoa that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!

We think you need these skills to ace Senior Engineering Manager

Leadership
Team Development
Product Management
API Development
Microservices Architecture
Go Programming
TypeScript

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Fonoa.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Fonoa and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at Fonoa

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Fonoa uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.