Principal Full Stack Engineer (Engineering Manager) in London

This role will close 23rd August at 23:59 UK Time.

The Incubator for AI (i.AI) builds AI products inside the UK government that change how public services work across education, health, planning, and parliament. Small teams, startup pace, national-scale impact. We are based in London, Bristol and Manchester, with hybrid working.

We have a growing team of Full Stack Engineers building transformative AI products and infrastructure for the public good from consultation analysis in policymaking, to accelerating planning decisions, to enabling safe, effective AI tutoring in schools. As the team grows, we're creating a dedicated engineering management role so that people leadership gets the focus it deserves. Your job is to manage a group of Full Stack Engineers across one or more product teams owning their growth, performance and careers, hiring well, and building the engineering culture that helps talented people do their best work together.

This is a new role with real scope to shape it. You'll help define what engineering management looks like at i.AI, how we run progression, how we hire and onboard, the practices and rituals that make us work well together. We want someone who's seen what good looks like elsewhere and is willing to adapt it thoughtfully and collaboratively with the people here. You will report to the Head of Software Engineering.

What you'll do:

• Line manage a group of engineers of varying seniority and skillsets across one or more product teams.
• Coach and develop engineers at all levels from helping senior engineers navigate influence and ambiguity, to helping earlier-career engineers build confidence and technical judgement.
• Own performance and progression through clear expectations, honest feedback, and supporting people through career transitions.
• Hire well. Own the end-to-end hiring process for your roles from defining what good looks like, through sourcing and interviewing, to onboarding new joiners effectively.
• Create the conditions for engineers to do their best work. Remove blockers, address team health issues early, and ensure people have the clarity, autonomy and support they need.
• Shape engineering culture by introducing, iterating on and championing practices that help the team work well together.
• Raise the bar for operational excellence across the engineering organisation, contributing to org-wide standards around quality, reliability, and how we work.
• Partner with senior leadership to align on priorities, represent engineering concerns, contribute to decisions about team structure and hiring plans, and bring organisational context back to your reports.

Who you are:

• You have significant experience managing engineers, with a track record of helping people grow, perform, and navigate their careers.
• You've managed across seniority levels from earlier-career engineers through to senior or lead engineers and you adapt your approach accordingly.
• You know how you like to manage and why. You can talk concretely about how you approach performance, feedback, difficult conversations, and team health.
• You're a strong hiring manager. You've designed or significantly improved hiring processes and you know how to assess for qualities that predict success.
• You're technically credible and can understand what your reports are working on, ask the right questions, and coach engineers through technical decisions.
• You communicate clearly and build trust with people at all levels.
• You're comfortable operating in ambiguity. You're energised by shaping things rather than inheriting a playbook.
• You don't need to meet every criterion to apply. If this role excites you, we'd love to hear from you.

What we offer:

• Career-defining scope.
• Backing from the Prime Minister and No10 to build AI products that transform public services.
• A new role at a pivotal moment.
• Support engineers working at the cutting edge of AI in production.
• A team of talented, mission-driven engineers who care about the work.
• A leadership team that values people management as much as technical delivery.
• Flexible team structures and tooling, with room to experiment and innovate into new setups with full support.
• 5 days learning and development leave, annual L&D stipend, and funding for conferences and external collaborations.

Life & family:

• Opportunity to work from London, Manchester or Bristol offices.
• Hybrid working, flexibility for occasional remote work abroad and stipends for work-from-home equipment.
• Generous annual leave - 25 days plus one additional day for each year of service.
• Generous paid parental leave (up to 39 weeks full pay + option for additional unpaid time).
• On top of your salary, we contribute 28.97% of your base salary to your pension.
• Discounts and benefits for cycling to work, dental insurance, donations and retail/gyms.

Salary: £77,425–£105,460. Salary is dependent on location and skills assessed at interview.

Selection Process: Appointment is conditional on successfully completing UK Government SC clearance. Prior clearance is not required—we will sponsor and support you. You should normally have been resident in the UK for 2 of the past 5 years.

Diversity and Inclusion: The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found.