Engineering Manager (12 Month FTC)

Engineering Manager (12 Month FTC)

Temporary 70000 - 90000 £ / year (est.) No working from home possible
Trainline

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead a dynamic engineering team to create innovative customer experiences in rail travel.
  • Company: Join Trainline, Europe's number 1 downloaded rail app, committed to sustainable travel.
  • Benefits: Enjoy private healthcare, generous leave, and clear career growth paths.
  • Other info: Hybrid working model with a focus on diversity and inclusion.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on travel while fostering a culture of growth and innovation.
  • Qualifications: Proven experience in engineering management and strong people skills required.

The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.

About us

We are champions of rail, inspired to build a greener, more sustainable future of travel. Trainline enables millions of travellers to find and book the best value tickets across carriers, fares, and journey options through our highly rated mobile app, website, and B2B partner channels. Great journeys start with Trainline. Now Europe’s number 1 downloaded rail app, with over 135 million monthly visits and £6.3 billion in annual ticket sales, we collaborate with 270+ rail and coach companies in over 40 countries. We want to create a world where travel is as simple, seamless, eco-friendly and affordable as it should be.

Introducing the Trainline Customer Growth Engineering Team

Trainline's Customer Growth engineering team sits at the heart of how we attract, engage, and retain the millions of people who book with us every day. We build the customer-facing features and experiences that make Trainline the go-to choice for rail travel across the UK and Europe, and our work is deeply tied to real commercial outcomes. This is a team where engineering, product, and data work in close partnership, and where the things you ship are seen, used, and felt by customers immediately.

As Engineering Manager, you will lead a cross-functional team of engineers, helping them do their best work while building a culture of quality, psychological safety, and continuous growth. You will co‑own the team roadmap alongside your product and data partners, bringing an engineering perspective to prioritisation and ensuring the team has the clarity and space to deliver with confidence. Our ways of working are rooted in data – A/B testing and data‑driven decision making are central to how we validate and iterate on everything we build, and you will play a key role in upholding that rigour.

In this role as the Engineering Manager, Customer Growth, you will:

  • Lead and develop a cross‑functional engineering team, building an inclusive and high‑performing environment where people are supported to grow, take ownership, and do meaningful work.
  • Partner closely with product managers and data colleagues to co‑own the team roadmap, balancing commercial priorities with engineering quality and long‑term sustainability.
  • Champion a high quality bar across both the end product and the codebase, fostering a culture of thoughtful engineering and continuous improvement.
  • Drive a data‑driven approach to delivery, embedding A/B testing, experimentation, and insight‑led decision making into the team's everyday ways of working.
  • Manage a mixed team of permanent employees and contractors, building cohesion and ensuring consistent standards, expectations, and ways of working across the full team.
  • Advocate for and integrate AI tooling into engineering workflows, identifying opportunities to improve the team's speed, quality, and day‑to‑day experience.
  • Remove blockers, manage dependencies across teams, and represent your team clearly and credibly with senior stakeholders across engineering, product, and the wider business.
  • Build strong hiring, onboarding, and career development practices that reflect Trainline's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and growing great engineering talent.

We'd love to hear from you if you have:

  • Proven experience as an engineering manager, with a track record of leading software engineering teams and genuinely investing in their growth and development.
  • Strong people management skills, with the ability to build trust, create psychological safety, and support engineers across a range of experience levels and backgrounds.
  • Experience working closely with product managers to shape and deliver a roadmap, bringing an engineering lens to commercial and customer decisions.
  • A solid understanding of data‑driven product development, including A/B testing and experimentation, and the ability to guide a team in applying these practices consistently.
  • A high quality bar for both engineering standards and customer‑facing output, with the confidence to advocate for the right technical approach in a fast‑moving environment.
  • Experience working with AI productivity tools and a genuine enthusiasm for helping teams adopt them effectively.
  • Experience managing teams that include both permanent staff and contractors, with an understanding of how to build a cohesive culture across different working arrangements – ideally gained in a product‑led, customer‑facing engineering environment.
  • Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate clearly and build effective relationships across product, data, and senior leadership.

More information:

Enjoy fantastic perks like private healthcare & dental insurance, a generous work from abroad policy, 2‑for‑1 share purchase plans, an EV Scheme to further reduce carbon emissions, extra festive time off, and excellent family‑friendly benefits. We prioritise career growth with clear career paths, transparent pay bands, personal learning budgets, and regular learning days. Jump on board and supercharge your career from day one!

We're operating a hybrid model and ask that Trainliners work from the office a minimum of 60% of their time over a 12‑week period. We also have a 28‑day Work from Abroad policy.

Our values represent the things that matter most to us and what we live and breathe every day, in everything we do:

  • Think Big – We're building the future of rail.
  • Own It – We focus on every customer, partner and journey.
  • Travel Together – We're one team.
  • Do Good – We make a positive impact.

We know that having a diverse team makes us better and helps us succeed. And we mean all forms of diversity – gender, ethnicity, sexuality, disability, nationality and diversity of thought. That's why we're committed to creating inclusive places to work, where everyone belongs and differences are valued and celebrated.

Interested in finding out more about what it's like to work at Trainline? Why not check us out on LinkedIn, Instagram and Glassdoor!

Engineering Manager (12 Month FTC) employer: Trainline

At Trainline, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer, offering a vibrant work culture that champions collaboration and continuous improvement. Our commitment to employee growth is evident through clear career paths, personal learning budgets, and generous benefits like private healthcare and a flexible work-from-abroad policy. Join us in Edinburgh, where you can make a meaningful impact on customer experiences while enjoying a supportive environment that values your contributions.

Trainline

Contact Details:

Trainline Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Engineering Manager (12 Month FTC)

Get Involved in Open-Source Projects

Diving into open-source projects is a brilliant way to showcase your skills and connect with other developers in the community. Not only will you beef up your GitHub profile but you might also catch the eye of someone at Trainline who values hands-on experience over just theory.

Attend Local Tech Meetups

Tech meetups are gold mines for networking and discovering job opportunities, especially in the fast-paced world of software engineering. Check out local listings for events in your area and don’t shy away from introducing yourself. This could lead directly to a temporary position at Trainline!

Showcase Your Work Online

With temporary roles, it’s all about standing out in a short space of time. Create a portfolio website where you highlight your projects and skills. Talk about your code, and provide links to your GitHub repositories. This will not only demonstrate your abilities but will also make it easier for recruiters at Trainline to see what you bring to the table.

Leverage Temporary Job Boards

Don’t forget to check specialised job boards for temporary software development roles. Websites like We Work Remotely or Remote OK often list short-term gigs that can be a perfect fit. Apply directly through our website as well, making sure your application is sharp—temporary roles can move fast!

We think you need these skills to ace Engineering Manager (12 Month FTC)

Engineering Management
People Management
Cross-Functional Team Leadership
Data-Driven Decision Making
A/B Testing
Experimentation
Stakeholder Management

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show Off Your Tech Skills:Make sure your CV highlights your tech stack and any programming languages you’re proficient in. Include specifics about any frameworks or technologies you’ve worked with; they can make you stand out in the sea of applicants. It’s all about showing that you have the chops we need at Trainline!

Portfolio 2.0:Since you’re applying for a temporary gig, it’s super important to showcase a portfolio that highlights your best projects. Include links to GitHub or any personal projects that demonstrate what you can do in a real-world environment. This gives us a taste of your style and your problem-solving approach!

Keep It Brief and Relevant:With a temporary position, we want to see your ability to hit the ground running. Be concise in your CV and cover letter; stick to experiences that directly relate to the role. Highlight any previous temporary roles or freelance gigs that show your adaptability and quick learning!

Tailor Your Cover Letter:Don’t just send a generic cover letter. Personalise it for Engineering Manager (12 Month FTC) at Trainline! Mention why this temporary role excites you and how you see yourself contributing in the short run. Show us what you've got and why you're the one for this quick turn-around!

How to prepare for a job interview at Trainline

Nail the Technical Skills

For a software engineering role, you'll likely face technical questions or coding tasks during your interview. Brush up on the relevant programming languages and frameworks that Trainline uses, and don’t forget to practice some coding challenges on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank. Showing your coding prowess can really make you stand out!

Prepare for System Design Questions

Even for a temporary role, having a grasp of system design principles can be crucial. Be ready to discuss how you would architect a software solution, including discussing trade-offs, scalability, and performance considerations. Having examples from previous projects can really show off your analytical thinking.

Demonstrate Your Adaptability

Since this is a temporary role, you'll want to emphasise your ability to hit the ground running. Highlight experiences where you quickly adapted to new technologies or teams. Let’s make it clear to the interviewers at Trainline that you can learn on the job and deliver results in a short timeframe!

Show Off Your Portfolio

Make sure to have a portfolio or GitHub ready showcasing your projects. Having tangible evidence of what you've done—be it personal projects, contributions to open-source, or previous work—can convey how capable you are. Tailor this for what might interest Trainline, so it's relevant and sparks conversation during your interview.