Software Engineering Manager

Our client is scaling their engineering organisation and is creating this new role. Until now every engineer has reported to the Head of Engineering; as the team grows, people need more focused support. The successful candidate will line-manage a group of engineers across software, machine learning and other disciplines, reporting to the Head of Engineering. This is a people-focused role. Teams own delivery and Product Engineers set technical direction, so the focus is on coaching, hiring, progression and making sure everyone knows where they stand. They will design and run a performance framework that measures value delivered (not hours or lines of code). Key responsibilities include: Regular 1-1s with documented goals for every direct report Coaching and mentoring on growth, working practices and careers Setting and running the progression framework and making documented, defensible promotion cases Designing the performance framework with the Head of Engineering and assessing every engineer against it Raising underperformance early and running formal processes with HR when required End-to-end hiring for their engineers and building an onboarding programme (including 90-day check-ins) Watching morale and acting on flight risks; working with teams to standardise DORA metrics What they are looking for: Someone who values honest, early conversations over comfortable ones Experience designing and running engineering progression and performance frameworks Strong people-management instincts and a track record of raising the bar on hiring and onboarding What they offer: Competitive salary (£110k) Best-in-class share options 25 days PTO + statutory holidays (plus birthday off)