Engineering Manager | Dreams

GT was founded in 2019 by a former Apple, Nest, and Google executive. GT’s mission is to connect the world’s best talent with product careers offered by high-growth companies in the UK, USA, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. On behalf of Dreams, GT is looking for an Engineering Manager to lead front-end engineering and test teams through a major front-end modernisation programme while keeping a high-traffic ecommerce platform stable and performant.

Work format: hybrid, based in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire

About Dreams: Dreams is the UK’s most loved and most recommended bed retailer, helping people sleep better for almost 40 years. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in High Wycombe, the company operates at national scale with over 220 stores, 12 delivery centres, and its own manufacturing facility, supported by more than 2,500 colleagues across the UK. Behind the brand is a highly data-driven, end-to-end operation spanning procurement, manufacturing, logistics, retail, and direct-to-customer delivery, moving over 14,000 products every week. As part of the Composite family, a global $8bn group, Dreams is investing heavily in modern platforms and data capabilities—offering data engineers the opportunity to work with large, complex datasets and deliver solutions that have clear, real-world business impact.

About the Role: As Engineering Manager for Ecommerce Front-End & QA, you are the day-to-day technology deputy to the Head of Ecommerce. You lead the front-end engineering and test teams to deliver a stable, high-performing ecommerce experience while improving delivery predictability, release confidence, and quality. This role is central to steering Dreams' front-end modernisation / migration programme.

You are technically credible—able to guide engineering direction, challenge approaches, and make pragmatic trade-offs—and a strong people manager who builds a high-performing team and reduces reliance on the Head of Ecommerce for operational oversight.

What makes this project interesting:

• End-to-end ownership of a front-end migration / modernisation programme on a high-traffic trading platform
• Real authority to set FE standards, patterns, and engineering ways of working
• Combined leadership of both front-end engineering and QA, with clear visibility of business impact

Responsibilities:

• Engineering Leadership & Delivery Ownership: Own delivery outcomes for FE engineering and QA: predictable throughput, release readiness, incident/defect ownership, and continuous improvement. Establish and maintain strong engineering ways of working. Identify delivery risks early (dependencies, resourcing, technical constraints) and actively remove blockers. Balance "run the business" work with roadmap delivery and technical-debt reduction to protect site stability and future change velocity.
• Front-End Modernisation / Migration Leadership: Steer the front-end migration programme end-to-end: sequencing, approach, and delivery governance, ensuring progress without destabilising trading. Set and maintain FE standards and patterns: framework usage, TypeScript standards, state management, component structure/reuse, testing strategy, and performance best practices. Make key migration decisions visible: document major trade-offs and ensure alignment across stakeholders. Ensure the team maintains a sustainable architecture direction.
• Quality & Test Leadership (via Test Manager): Line-manage and support the Test Manager to create and execute effective test strategies, plans, and scripts across releases and change programmes. Ensure robust coverage across testing types: exploratory, feature, pre/post-release, integration, regression, and performance—primarily manual with pragmatic automation where it adds value. Drive strong defect management: triage, prioritisation, clear ownership, and fast resolution, especially for live issues impacting customers/trading. Maintain clear release sign-off processes and communication so stakeholders understand confidence and risk.
• Stakeholder & Partner Management: Actively question project briefs and help shape solutions to reduce delivery roadblocks. Translate business goals into engineering delivery plans and communicate clearly to non-technical stakeholders. Coordinate with third-party development and QA partners on standards, quality expectations, and delivery timelines.
• People Leadership & Team Development: Build a strong engineering and QA culture focused on ownership, quality, continuous improvement, and collaboration. Set clear expectations, coach performance, develop capability, and support hiring for the future platform. Create a team structure and operating rhythm that reduces day-to-day dependency on the Head of Ecommerce.

Essential knowledge, skills & experience:

• Proven experience leading and line-managing a team of front-end engineers (and/or a cross-functional delivery team), with strong people-management capability.
• Strong technical credibility in modern front-end development (JavaScript/TypeScript, component-based architecture, performance, testing), with the ability to guide decisions even if not coding daily.
• Demonstrable experience leading delivery of significant front-end change (migration, modernisation, replatform, major refactor) with clear sequencing and risk management.
• Strong understanding of software quality and testing practices; experience partnering closely with QA/Test roles and maintaining release confidence.
• Excellent stakeholder management: able to communicate trade-offs, progress, and risks clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong English communication skills.

Nice-to-have:

• Ecommerce and/or retail experience, especially within high-traffic trading environments.
• Experience working with third-party engineering partners and external QA providers.
• Familiarity with experimentation/CRO delivery environments and performance-focused delivery.

Interview Steps: GT interview with Recruiter, Technical interview, Final interview, Offer.