At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and mentor a dynamic engineering team while driving innovative AI-enabled software development.
- Company: Join a fast-growing tech company focused on building a modern customer data platform.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work environment, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Exciting opportunity to influence engineering culture and practices from the ground up.
- Why this job: Shape the future of engineering in an AI-native world and make a real impact.
- Qualifications: Strong background in software engineering and experience leading teams.
The predicted salary is between 80000 - 100000 £ per year.
XCM is building Horizon, a modern customer data platform focused on scalable, integration-heavy data handling. We are looking for an Engineering Manager to help build and scale a high-performing engineering team capable of delivering ambitious platform capabilities with speed, quality, and operational excellence.
This is a highly hands-on leadership role for someone who combines strong engineering judgement with the ability to lead a team of 10-12 directly, improve delivery capability, and contribute meaningfully to the technical execution of the platform. The role will report to the CTO and work closely alongside them. The CTO retains ownership of overall technical vision, platform architecture, and R&D direction, while the Engineering Manager will play a key role in driving day-to-day engineering execution, supporting the development team, and taking operational and delivery responsibilities off the CTO’s plate.
We are not looking for a traditional people manager removed from engineering. This role is for a player-manager who enjoys staying close to the technology, contributing to technical discussions, supporting engineers directly, and helping build a lean, highly capable engineering organisation designed for the next generation of AI-enabled software development.
What You’ll Be Responsible For
- Engineering Leadership & Team Development
- Lead, mentor, and support a team of Software Engineers
- Recruit, mentor, and develop exceptional engineers
- Create a high-performance engineering culture focused on ownership, quality, pragmatism, and continuous improvement
- Provide hands-on technical leadership and guidance to engineers
- Support recruitment, onboarding, and development of engineering talent
- Establish clear engineering standards, expectations, and accountability
- Help engineers grow through coaching, feedback, and technical mentorship
- Lead by example through strong technical judgement and delivery focus
- Stay close to the day-to-day engineering work and contribute directly where needed
- Act as a force multiplier for the CTO by helping manage operational engineering responsibilities
- Delivery & Execution
- Improve engineering execution, predictability, and delivery capability
- Help the team ship high-quality software rapidly and safely
- Build scalable engineering processes appropriate for a fast-growing technology company
- Improve development workflows, testing practices, release processes, and operational maturity
- Work closely with Product and the CTO to align engineering priorities with business goals
- Remove blockers and improve collaboration across teams
- Drive continuous improvements in engineering effectiveness and developer productivity
- Support sprint planning, prioritisation, and execution without introducing unnecessary process or bureaucracy
- AI-Enabled Engineering
- Driving adoption of AI-assisted engineering workflows
- Improving developer productivity through tooling and automation
- Exploring AI-assisted approaches to testing, debugging, documentation, operations, and software delivery
- Encouraging experimentation with modern engineering tooling and workflows
- Maintaining strong engineering quality and discipline in AI-assisted development environments
- Helping evolve engineering practices that maximise the effectiveness of small, highly capable teams
- Technical Contribution & Collaboration
- Contribute actively to technical and architectural discussions
- Collaborate closely with the CTO on platform evolution and technical direction
- Support engineering delivery across cloud-native systems, APIs, integrations, distributed systems, and data-intensive applications
- Help ensure systems are scalable, reliable, maintainable, and operationally mature
- Support strong engineering decision-making across the team
- Help evolve technical standards and engineering practices over time
- Remain close to implementation details and engineering challenges rather than operating purely at a management layer
What We’re Looking For
Essential Experience
- Significant experience leading software engineering teams in a product or platform environment
- Strong software engineering background with high technical credibility
- Experience managing and mentoring individual engineers directly
- Experience improving engineering delivery, operational maturity, and team effectiveness
- Strong understanding of modern cloud-native engineering practices
- Experience with distributed systems, APIs, integrations, and data-intensive platforms
- Comfortable operating in a fast-moving startup or scale-up environment
- Strong communication and leadership skills
- Willingness to remain hands-on and close to technical delivery
- Strong interest in AI-enabled software engineering and developer productivity
Ideal Characteristics
- Prefer building over bureaucracy
- Care deeply about engineering quality and execution
- Still enjoy being close to technology and delivery
- Want to lead engineers directly rather than manage layers of management
- Lead through judgement and technical credibility rather than process alone
- Believe small, highly capable teams can outperform much larger organisations
- Have strong opinions on how AI will change software engineering
- Enjoy improving systems, teams, and ways of working
- Balance pragmatism with high standards
- Are excited by ownership, ambiguity, and helping scale engineering capability from the ground up
Technology Environment
Our environment includes areas such as:
- Cloud-native distributed systems
- Event-driven architecture
- APIs and integrations
- Data platforms and analytics systems
- Containerised infrastructure and orchestration
- Modern developer tooling and automation
Technology exposure should include: .NET / C#, Kubernetes, Kafka and streaming systems, Clickhouse and analytical platforms, Python, React / Typescript and modern frontend tooling, Infrastructure automation and observability tooling, Azure. Breadth of engineering judgement is more important than experience with every specific technology.
What Success Looks Like
Over the first 12–24 months, success in this role is likely to include:
- Establishing a strong and scalable engineering organisation
- Recruiting and retaining exceptional engineers
- Delivery of immediate product priorities
- Introducing high-quality engineering standards without excessive process overhead
- Improving operational maturity and platform reliability
- Establishing AI-enabled engineering workflows and tooling
- Building a high-trust, high-performance engineering culture
- Helping XCM scale platform delivery capability without scaling bureaucracy
Why This Role Is Exciting
This is an opportunity to help shape what a modern engineering organisation looks like in an AI-native world and within an exciting and fast-growing business. You’ll join at a stage where foundational platform capabilities are still being built, meaning there is significant opportunity to shape engineering culture, practices, tooling, and team evolution from the ground up. The role offers substantial scope for growth and increasing technical leadership responsibility over time as the platform and organisation mature.
Engineering Manager in Derby employer: XCM
XCM is an exceptional employer that fosters a dynamic and innovative work culture, perfect for those passionate about engineering and AI. With a strong emphasis on mentorship and professional development, employees are encouraged to take ownership of their work while contributing to cutting-edge technology in a fast-paced environment. Located in a vibrant area, XCM offers unique opportunities for growth and collaboration, making it an ideal place for ambitious engineers looking to make a meaningful impact.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Engineering Manager in Derby
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Get out there and connect with folks in the industry. Attend meetups, webinars, or even just grab a coffee with someone who’s already in the role you want. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can put in a good word for you.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! If you’ve got a portfolio or any projects that highlight your engineering prowess, make sure to share them. Whether it’s GitHub repos or personal projects, having tangible evidence of your capabilities can really set you apart from the crowd.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for those interviews! Research common questions for Engineering Managers and practice your responses. Think about how you can demonstrate your hands-on leadership style and technical judgement. We want to see how you can lead a team while staying close to the tech!
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, we love seeing candidates who are proactive and engaged with our company. So, hit that apply button and let’s get the conversation started!
We think you need these skills to ace Engineering Manager in Derby
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show Your Passion for Engineering:When writing your application, let your enthusiasm for engineering shine through! We want to see how excited you are about building and leading a high-performing team. Share specific examples of your hands-on experience and how you've contributed to technical discussions in the past.
Tailor Your Application:Make sure to customise your application to reflect the job description. Highlight your experience with cloud-native systems, distributed architectures, and AI-enabled workflows. We love seeing candidates who can connect their skills directly to what we’re looking for!
Be Clear and Concise:Keep your application straightforward and to the point. Use clear language to describe your achievements and how they relate to the role. We appreciate a well-structured application that makes it easy for us to see your qualifications at a glance.
Apply Through Our Website:Don’t forget to submit your application through our website! It’s the best way for us to receive your details and ensures you’re considered for the role. Plus, it shows you’re serious about joining our team at StudySmarter!
How to prepare for a job interview at XCM
✨Know Your Tech Inside Out
As an Engineering Manager, you'll need to demonstrate a solid understanding of cloud-native systems, APIs, and data platforms. Brush up on your technical knowledge and be ready to discuss how you've applied it in previous roles. This will show that you're not just a manager but also a hands-on leader who can contribute to technical discussions.
✨Showcase Your Leadership Style
Prepare to talk about your approach to leading and mentoring engineers. Think of specific examples where you've built high-performance teams or improved delivery capabilities. Highlight how you balance being a player-manager while still driving results and fostering a culture of ownership and quality.
✨Align with Their Vision
Familiarise yourself with the company's focus on AI-enabled engineering. Be ready to share your thoughts on how AI can reshape software development and how you've previously integrated modern tooling and workflows into your teams. This will demonstrate your alignment with their goals and your forward-thinking mindset.
✨Prepare for Scenario Questions
Expect questions that assess your problem-solving skills and decision-making abilities. Think through scenarios related to improving engineering execution or removing blockers in a fast-paced environment. Practising these responses will help you convey your strategic thinking and operational maturity during the interview.
