Software Engineering Manager in Reading

Office choice - London, Cheshire, Hampshire (all travel paid if you live outside of 50 mile radius of any office) Hybrid (2 days per week) £120,000 + benefits

We are supporting one of our longstanding FinTech clients on the search for a Software Engineering Manager to join their growing tech function. This role is for someone who's as passionate about building high-performing engineering teams as they are about building great software. Note: You are unlikely going to be coding but we need someone who has been close to the code recently and hasn't been too far removed.

You’ll lead a talented product engineering team, helping them deliver technology that is secure, scalable, reliable and thoughtfully designed. Acting as the bridge between vision and delivery. You’ll translate strategy into software that genuinely improves customer outcomes and supports the business to move faster, smarter and more safely.

This isn’t just a delivery role. It’s about people, purpose and progress. You’ll coach and mentor a team of around five engineers, creating an environment where people feel supported to grow, challenge ideas and do their best work.

You’ll champion engineering best practice, encourage curiosity, and help embed a culture that’s collaborative, commercially aware and outcome-focused. Working closely with product, design and third-party partners, you’ll tackle complex technical challenges, reduce technical debt and raise the bar for engineering quality.

From contributing to architectural discussions to embedding automation, testing and quality standards, your leadership will ensure systems are built with performance, resilience and security at their core. You’ll also play a key role in improving how engineering works day-to-day driving initiatives that make processes more efficient, systems more resilient, and teams more empowered.

Above all, you’ll help build technology that serves customers better, manages risk responsibly, and delivers against business goals with integrity and innovation.

What you’ll bring:

• You’re an engineering leader with strong technical foundations and a genuine passion for people. You know how to get the best from engineers and how to guide teams through complex, regulated environments in a way that’s sustainable, motivating and effective.
• You’ll likely have:

• Proven experience leading software engineering teams, ideally within financial services or a regulated environment
• A strong understanding of cloud-native architectures, modern SDLC, CI/CD and software design principles
• Experience working across software, data, quality and platform engineering
• A pragmatic approach to risk and compliance, balancing innovation with appropriate controls
• A genuine interest in new technologies, automation and improving how teams work

Why this role?

This is a genuine opportunity to shape a growing engineering function, influence product direction and lead initiatives that have a real, visible impact across the business. It’s a role for someone who thrives in a fast-moving environment, enjoys solving meaningful problems, and wants to leave a lasting mark on how technology is built and delivered.

They have three offices across the UK. Your nearest office will be your main hub, though some travel is expected. You will be in your office hub 2 days per week, once a month you will be required in London for a day and the next month in Hampshire – the other times you can work from home.

Interview process: 3 stages. This is an urgent requirement and we will be looking to interview asap and hire before the end of January if possible.