Engineering manager

Seccl; City of Edinburgh; Hybrid; GBP 95,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

MacBook provided

£750 learning budget

Public pension contribution 6%

Life assurance

Annual leave 27 days + bank holidays

Volunteer days

Work abroad up to 6 weeks

Job summary

Seccl is seeking an engineering manager to lead one of our product engineering squads. You will report to an engineering director, coach engineers, and help the squad deliver scalable platform capabilities while maintaining high standards and security.

You will work closely with product managers and engineering leaders to define priorities, balance delivery pace with quality, and drive long-term maintainability across Seccl’s fintech platform.

Qualifications

• Led teams in complex product or technology domains.
• Proven track record hiring, onboarding and developing engineers.
• Ability to balance people leadership with delivery accountability and stay technically hands-on.
• Strong communication with product managers, engineers and senior stakeholders.
• Practical experience with a modern JavaScript stack and cloud-based tech.
• Familiarity with AI-assisted engineering tools and responsible usage.

Responsibilities

• Build, lead and develop an inclusive, high-performing engineering squad.
• Own delivery health from priorities to production readiness, reliability and maintainability.
• Partner with product managers to align work with customer, commercial and platform priorities.
• Guide technical decisions to create scalable, secure, resilient solutions.
• Recruit and onboard engineers and contribute to shared engineering practices.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Hiring & onboarding

Technical guidance

JavaScript/Node.js/TypeScript

Cloud/AWS

AI-assisted engineering tools

Tools

Node.js

JavaScript

TypeScript

MongoDB

AWS

Serverless Framework

Job description

Hybrid, based in our London, Bath or Edinburgh office. We are flexible but would like you to be in the office at least once per week.

Seccl is the Octopus-owned embedded investment platform, on a mission to help more people invest, and invest well.

We’re building the infrastructure behind the next generation of investing. Our technology already powers some of the UK’s most ambitious fintechs, banks, financial advisers and wealth firms, with close to a million investors relying on Seccl-powered platforms. And we’re now expanding into Europe.

We’ve got a proven product, strong momentum and big ambitions for what comes next: helping more household-name brands launch and scale investment propositions, entering new markets and replacing outdated investment infrastructure with technology that’s faster, simpler and built for scale.

We’re proud to be part of Octopus, one of the UK’s most successful privately held investment and technology groups. That gives us the backing and long-term perspective to build something substantial, while keeping the pace and energy of a high-growth business. Seccl and Octopus are both B Corp certified and share a belief that profit and purpose should go hand in hand.

If you want to help shape the future of investing in the UK and across Europe, you’ll be in good company.

Check out the Seccl website to see what we’re building and read more about our mission to shape the future of investments.

The role

We’re looking for an engineering manager to lead one of our product engineering squads, reporting to an engineering director. As Seccl grows and our platform supports more customer firms and investors, you’ll help your squad deliver the scalable platform capability we need for what comes next.

You’ll build a strong, psychologically safe engineering team where people feel trusted, supported and able to do their best work. You’ll coach and develop engineers, create clarity and help the team maintain high standards while delivering valuable outcomes.

Working closely with your product manager, engineering leaders and teams across Seccl, you’ll help define priorities and keep the squad focused on the right outcomes. You’ll balance delivery pace with engineering quality, security, operational resilience and long‑term maintainability.

This role brings together people leadership, delivery and engineering accountability. You’ll stay close enough to the technology to guide and challenge decisions, while giving engineers the ownership and support they need to develop effective solutions.

What you’ll own

• Building, leading and developing an inclusive, high‑performing engineering squad
• Creating an environment of trust, psychological safety, continual learning and constructive challenge
• Owning the delivery health of your squad, from priorities and planning through to production readiness, reliability and ongoing maintainability
• Partnering with product managers to align the squad’s work with customer, commercial, regulatory and platform priorities
• Guiding technical decisions and helping the team build solutions that are scalable, secure, resilient and well integrated with the wider platform
• Using metrics, feedback and team insight to improve delivery predictability, system reliability and team effectivenessRecruiting and onboarding engineers while contributing to shared engineering practices and collaboration across Seccl

This role’s for you if...

• You’re an experienced engineering manager who has led teams working within complex product or technology domains
• You have a strong track record of hiring, onboarding, coaching and developing engineers
• You can balance people leadership with delivery accountability and remain close enough to the technology to offer meaningful guidance
• You have experience with a modern JavaScript and cloud-based technology stack. Our stack includes Node.js, JavaScript and TypeScript, MongoDB, AWS, Lambda and Serverless Framework
• You communicate clearly and can work effectively with product managers, engineering leaders and senior stakeholders
• You have recent, practical experience with AI-assisted engineering tools and can help teams use them responsibly to improve delivery, quality and developer effectiveness
• You care about building secure, scalable and resilient systems. Experience in financial services, fintech, investment platforms or another regulated environment would be valuable

This role isn’t for you if...

• You’re looking for a purely people-management role. You’ll need enough technical credibility to guide decisions and challenge constructively
• You want to be the primary technical decision-maker. You’ll create the environment for engineers to own solutions and grow their capability
• You need priorities to remain fixed. You’ll be leading delivery in a fast-moving environment where plans and business needs can change
• You prioritise speed at the expense of quality. Delivery pace matters, alongside security, resilience and long‑term maintainability

What’s in it for you

• £95,000 to £110,000 depending on experience, reviewed annually, plus a 6% employer pension contribution and life assurance
• 27 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, your birthday off and paid dependant leave
• Two volunteering days each year
• The option to work abroad for up to six weeks a year
• Secclbrate, our recognition programme offering flexible rewards including extra pay, additional holiday and increased learning budget
• One-month paid sabbatical after eight years
• Private medical insurance with AXA Health
• Enhanced parental leave
• MacBook and up to £500 towards your home office set-up
• £750 annual learning budget
• Health and wellbeing support, including free therapy through Wellness Cloud and mental health support through Headspace
• Financial wellbeing benefits, including Octopus Money, the Octopus Share Incentive Plan and will writing through Octopus Legacy
• Perkbox, with flexible points and a range of discounts and perks
• Access to Cycle to Work and Octopus Electric Vehicle Leasing

Our culture

We put people first and try hard to create an environment where people feel trusted, heard and able to do their best work.

We value openness, curiosity and different perspectives. You’ll have the freedom to challenge how things are done, experiment with better ways of working and take real ownership of your impact.

Check out our Glassdoor page for the latest reviews or our LinkedIn for company updates and insights from the team.

Interview process

Interviewing is a two-way process. Our interviews are conversational, with plenty of time for you to get to know us and ask questions too.

• Initial conversation: a chat with someone from our Talent team about your experience, what you’re looking for and the role
• System design interview: a 60-minute technical conversation exploring how you approach architecture, trade-offs and complex engineering decisions
• Leadership interview: a 45-minute conversation focused on people leadership, delivery and cross‑functional collaboration
• Bar raiser: a 45-minute conversation with colleagues from outside the immediate team, focused on our operating principles and how you approach your work

We review applications as they come in and may close the role once we have enough candidates to move forward. We’ll keep you updated throughout.

Everyone’s welcome

We want to build a diverse and inclusive company full of brilliant people with different skills, experiences and perspectives. All applicants will be considered without regard to age, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, veteran status, neurodiversity or disability.

Compensation Range: £95K - £110K