Engineering Manager - Local Payments

PPRO; Berlin; Hybrid; EUR 110,000 - 165,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Learning budget

Insurance

Gym membership

Enhanced family leave

Mental health platform

Pet-friendly office

Job summary

PPRO, a Berlin-based payments platform, seeks a senior leader to own two product engineering teams, driving strategy, delivery and growth with autonomy. You’ll mentor engineers, align with Product and Commercial partners, and shape scalable, reliable payment methods in a microservices architecture.

You will stay close to code, review designs, and manage cross-functional collaboration. English fluency and a proven track record in leadership are essential for success.

Qualifications

• Must have a strong ownership mindset with accountability for results and people.
• Excellent stakeholder management; balance priorities and deliver outcomes.
• Product thinking: focus on customer problem and outcomes, not outputs.
• Track record of hiring, developing and growing high-performing, diverse teams.
• Proven ability to deliver across multiple impactful projects and guide strategy beyond teams.
• Strong communication, humble, inclusive leadership, empathetic decision-making.

Responsibilities

• Own the strategy and roadmap for your teams’ payment methods with Product and Commercial partners, 6–12 months ahead.
• Hire, coach and grow engineers, building a high-trust team that develops future leaders.
• Build trust with Product, Commercial, Compliance, Partnerships and external providers; influence without authority.
• Take full accountability for delivery: realistic plans, blockers removed early, risks raised fast.
• Negotiate scope, priorities and dependencies with stakeholders; shape domain vision and boundaries.
• Shape the architecture for better conversion and reliability; stay close to code through design/reviews.
• Lead your team like a startup; foster growth through successes and failures.

Skills

Ownership mindset

Stakeholder management

Product thinking

Hiring and leadership

Multi-project delivery

Strong communication

Tools

Java

Spring Boot

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS

Terraform

Job description

At PPRO, we simplify access to local payments - providing a local payments platform that empowers giants like PayPal, Stripe, and Microsoft to connect with billions of consumers worldwide. We are on an ambitious, fast-paced mission to 3x our growth by 2028 - and we’re just getting started.
Our magic lies in our team of proud payments nerds. Spanning over 50 nationalities across 10+ global locations, our diverse cultures aren't a checklist; they are the competitive advantage driving our innovation. This is a people-first, high trust environment where you’ll have the autonomy to make a massive impact, own your work end-to-end, and grow through broad exposure, meaningful challenges, and continuous learning. We get things done, challenge respectfully, put the customer first, and recognise that our biggest successes are those we create as a team. If you’re ready to leave your footprint on global commerce, join us.

The Purpose:

Local payments are how the world really pays, and we make them work beautifully. Our standard is simple: beat going direct. Now we’re going deeper, raising every payment method we offer and building one standardised platform behind them.

You’ll own two product engineering teams of around four engineers each: the strategy, the delivery and the results. Think of yourself as the hands-on “mini-CTO” of a small startup inside PPRO, with real autonomy and the chance to grow your impact beyond your own teams.

Responsibilities include:

• Own the strategy and roadmap for your teams’ payment methods with Product and Commercial partners, looking six-to-twelve months ahead
• Hire, coach and grow engineers, and build a high-trust team that produces future leaders
• Build trust with Product, Commercial, Compliance, Payment Partnerships and external providers, and influence without authority
• Take full accountability for delivery and outcomes: realistic plans, blockers cleared early, risks raised fast
• Negotiate scope, priorities and dependencies with internal and external stakeholders, and help shape the vision and boundaries of the domain
• Shape the architecture behind better conversion and reliability, and stay close to the code through design and code reviews
• Lead your team like a startup - succeed, fail and learn together

What would make you a great fit:

• A very strong ownership mindset: you’re accountable for results, quality and people
• Stakeholder management and negotiation skills: you build trust, balance competing priorities and reach outcomes that work for everyone
• Product thinking: you start from the customer problem and judge success by outcomes, not output
• A track record of hiring, developing and growing high-performing, diverse teams
• A track record of delivering across multiple impactful projects, with the ambition to guide strategy beyond your own teams
• Strong communication skills, a humble and inclusive leadership style and the ability to hold difficult conversations with empathy and objectivity
• Experience designing and building scalable products using Java, Spring Boot and a microservices architecture
• Desire to stay close to the code: you review designs and pull requests and dive in when it counts
• Working proficiency in English

Tech stack:

• Java and Spring Boot
• Cloud-native microservice architecture on AWS
• Docker and Kubernetes
• Event-driven architectures
• Infrastructure-as-Code, e.g., Terraform

What's in it for you?

• Hybrid working - We offer a hybrid structure with a 3 days / week on site expectation, so you can strike the balance between office and home working. In addition to our 30-day holiday allowance, we also provide a work from abroad policy, enabling employees to work remotely for up to another 30 days per year.
• Learning and Development - We offer a €1,000 annual budget to support your professional growth—because investing in your development benefits us all. In addition, we provide leadership cafés, on-the-job training, and other opportunities to help you grow your skills and thrive in your role.
• Insurance - Because better safe than sorry - we want our employees to benefit from various insurances including accident insurance, disability insurance, direct insurance (bAV) and travel insurance.
• Gym membership - PPRO helps contribute towards the costs of your gym membership, supporting your physical fitness journey while easing the burden on your wallet.
• Enhance Family Leave - We understand the importance of family - that's why we offer enhanced family leave to support you during key life moments.
• Mental Health Platform - We’ve teamed up with a top well-being platform to provide one‑on‑one therapy, chat therapy, therapist‑led courses, guided meditations, and more.
• Pet‑friendly office - Because work is better with your paw-tners by your side.

Our Principles:

We get things done: We are courageous; we take ownership, make decisions and get things done.

We act with trust and integrity: We listen first and challenge respectfully. We seek out and leverage diverse perspectives. We welcome and offer honest and open feedback, always assuming positive intent

We put the customer first: We are laser focused on delivering outstanding outcomes for our customers. We put the customer at the heart of what we do.

We make things better: We boldly explore new ideas and have an unwavering commitment to continuous improvement.

We work as a team: We collaborate closely and value team success over individual achievement.

Our commitment to Diversity and Inclusion:

Payments only work when they reflect how different people actually pay, and we build teams the same way: our people span more than 50 nationalities, and that mix is exactly what makes us good at this. So if you're reading this and wondering whether you tick every box, apply anyway. We're far more interested in what you'll bring than a perfect match on paper.

We welcome applicants of every background, identity, and experience, and we make sure our hiring process is accessible to everyone. If you need an adjustment at any stage, just let us know: we're happy to help.

A few more things:

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please refer to our Candidate Privacy Policy.