Engineering Manager

PAIR; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 94,000 - 140,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Holiday 25 days + bank holidays

Learning opportunities with AI tools

Job summary

PAIR is hiring 2 Engineering Managers in London to lead product engineering teams, help engineers grow, and deliver ambitious work at pace.

You will own people development, coaching, and performance feedback, and partner with Product and Design to prioritise work, manage risk, and balance customer needs, quality and commercial commitments; strong technical judgement and AI awareness are valued.

Qualifications

• Proven track record in senior software roles or engineering management.
• Ownership of team delivery incl prioritisation, forecasting, risk and stakeholder communication.
• Coaching people, giving clear feedback and handling conflict or performance concerns.
• Technical depth to discuss system design and engineering risk with senior engineers.
• Strong product and commercial judgement, clear written and verbal communication, and comfort with ambiguity.
• Experience using AI to improve work with sensible boundaries around human judgement.
• Curiosity about AI and how it changes organisational work.

Responsibilities

• Develop people and maintain team health through 1:1s, development planning and performance management.
• Drive predictable product delivery with clear priorities, forecasts and risk communication.
• Provide technical judgement, improve processes and balance delivery with human judgement.

Skills

Senior software engineer or equivalent

Delivery ownership

Coaching & feedback

System design depth

Product & communication

AI experience

Curiosity about AI

Tools

Vue 3

TypeScript

Python

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

Azure

Terraform

GitHub Actions

OpenTelemetry

Job description

Description

We're hiring 2 Engineering Managers to help our product engineering teams deliver ambitious work while supporting engineers to grow and perform at their best.

Department: Engineering

Location: London

Compensation: £94,000 - £140,000 / year

What you'll own

• People development and team health: Line manage engineers through useful 1:1s, clear expectations, timely feedback, development planning and fair performance management. Coach engineers into broader project and technical leadership, and support hiring and onboarding.
• Predictable product delivery: Create clear priorities and ownership, make realistic forecasts and communicate risks early. Manage scope, dependencies, capacity and trade-offs, partnering with Product and Design to balance customer needs, quality and commercial commitments.
• Technical judgement and ways of working: Challenge plans and understand system risk with senior engineers, the Director of Engineering and CTO. Improve processes where they slow delivery, keep them lightweight, and help teams use AI thoughtfully while retaining human judgement and trust.

What we're looking for

We hire for aptitude, hunger and a bias to action over years of experience. This role works best for someone who wants to help people and teams succeed, combining clear expectations and thoughtful coaching with ownership of delivery.

We're open to experienced Engineering Managers and senior engineers ready to move into management. A previous EM title is not required; clear evidence of helping people and teams perform consistently is.

You'll bring evidence of:

• A strong track record as a senior software engineer, Engineering Manager or equivalent in product engineering.
• Sustained ownership of team delivery, including prioritisation, forecasting, risk and stakeholder communication.
• Coaching people, giving clear feedback and handling conflict or performance concerns, with good judgement about when to direct, coach or delegate.
• Technical depth to challenge plans, discuss system design and engineering risk, and work credibly with senior engineers.
• Strong product and commercial judgement, clear written and verbal communication, and comfort with ambiguity, changing priorities and high expectations.
• Personal experience using AI to improve your work, with sensible boundaries around human judgement.
• Curiosity about AI and how it changes the way organisations work - you don't need to be an expert when you join, but you'll want to form your own point of view quickly.

Useful but not essential:

• Formal line-management experience, supporting multiple teams, hiring engineers or scaling headcount.
• Experience in a startup, scale-up or fast-moving product environment.
• Experience in B2B SaaS, enterprise software, AI or learning products.

Our stack

Vue 3 and TypeScript; Python, FastAPI and Postgres; Azure with a small number of GCP services; Terraform, GitHub Actions and OpenTelemetry. You don't need this exact stack, but do need enough technical depth to make sound judgements about engineering risk.

What you'll get

• You'll work closely with Product, Design, Senior Engineers, the Director of Engineering and CTO, with experienced leadership support and real responsibility for people and delivery.
• Equity: Everyone at PAIR is offered equity, because we want everyone to share in what we build together.
• Holiday: 25 days, plus bank holidays
• Learning: access to the best AI tools and PAIR's own masterclasses

The fine print

• This role is hybrid, with 2 days per week in our central London office
• We also come together for 7 company-wide Anchor Weeks each year (in person, Monday to Thursday).
• Visa sponsorship is available for exceptional candidates; applicants normally have the right to work in the UK.

Inclusion and adjustments

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds. Every candidate for this role is assessed against the same published criteria, by interviewers using the same core questions. If you need any reasonable adjustments at any stage - a different format, more time, or flexible scheduling - just let us know.