Engineering Manager

Upteam; Sydney; Hybrid; AUD 180,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

Upteam is seeking an Engineering Manager in Sydney, NSW, to lead a 20+ person engineering organisation across 3 squads plus QA, including offshore. This hands-on technical leadership role combines architecture work with people leadership, mentoring Squad Leads toward strong leadership while contributing code.

In the first 6–12 months, you will drive delivery, architecture decisions, and team development, operating in a cloud-native environment with modern tooling and AI-first approaches.

Qualifications

• Experience leading 10-20 engineers across multiple squads in complex products.
• Strong architecture depth with credibility in system design and trade-offs.
• Hands-on Java and MySQL proficiency.
• Hands-on AWS and data warehouse technology fluency.
• Experience leading distributed/offshore teams.
• Vendor management experience.
• Track record of developing leaders, not just managing individuals.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop Squad Leads, building leadership capability across the team.
• Actively contribute at code level (Java, MySQL).
• Own delivery execution: sequencing, resourcing, and trade-offs across initiatives.
• Manage vendor and third-party delivery partner relationships.
• Drive infrastructure and cost optimisation (cloud spend, tooling).
• Hire, develop and performance‑manage your team; shape productivity and AI-first practices.

Skills

Java

MySQL

AWS

Data warehouse

Distributed team leadership

Vendor management

Databricks

Tools

Databricks

Job description

Engineering Manager

Sydney, NSW | Hybrid (3 days in office)

$200,000 Base + Super

The Role

A technology company is recruiting an Engineering Manager to lead engineering operations of an automotive platform. You'll take full ownership of a 20+ person engineering organisation (3 squads + QA, including offshore) during a major technology transformation.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role. In the first 6-12 months, you'll combine architecture and solutioning with people leadership, actively contributing at code level while developing your Squad Leads into strong leaders.

What You'll Own

• Lead and develop Squad Leads - building lasting leadership capability across the team
• Actively contribute at code level (Java, MySQL)
• Own delivery execution: sequencing, resourcing, and trade-offs across initiatives
• Manage vendor and third-party delivery partner relationships
• Drive infrastructure and cost optimisation (cloud spend, tooling)
• Hire, develop and performance‑manage your team
• Shape team productivity—agile rituals, tooling, and AI‑first ways of working

About You

• Experience managing 10-20 engineers across multiple teams in complex, long‑live products
• Genuine architecture‑level technical depth, credible on system design and trade‑offs
• Hands‑on Java and MySQL proficiency
• Hands‑on AWS and data warehouse technology fluency
• Distributed/offshore team leadership experience
• Vendor management experience
• Track record of developing leaders, not just managing individuals

Strongly Preferred

• Rapid domain expertise building in customised product environments
• AI tooling adoption leadership
• Operated as the most senior technical voice in your team
• B2B data product experience
• Databricks experience

Why Join?

• Full ownership of a strategic engineering organisation during transformation
• Hands‑on technical leadership paired with people development
• Lead distributed teams across multiple locations
• Partnership‑based decision‑making with senior leadership
• Build and develop strong leaders
• Work with modern cloud‑native architecture