Engineering Manager

BBC Maestro; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading online course provider in Greater London is seeking a senior hands-on engineering leader to take ownership of core technology platforms and lead a high-performing engineering team. The role involves significant development work, particularly with Ruby on Rails, alongside mentoring team members and ensuring delivery of quality software. The salary ranges from £90,000 to £110,000 based on experience and location, with additional perks such as flexible working hours and generous holiday leave.

Benefits

28 days holiday plus public holidays

Flexible Benefits via Happl

Private Healthcare Plan or Wellbeing Allowance

Salary Sacrifice Pension

Flexible working including remote options

Training & Development

Enhanced Maternity and Paternity leave

Qualifications

• 7+ years building and operating production systems with leadership experience.
• Strong backend skills with Ruby on Rails.
• Experience in managing team delivery and incident response.

Responsibilities

• Lead a small engineering team focused on delivery pace and wellbeing.
• Hands-on development with Ruby on Rails and React Native.
• Mentor engineers and ensure technical quality.

Skills

Building and operating production systems

Leadership experience

Strong backend experience with Ruby on Rails

Confidence with PostgreSQL

Knowledge of CI/CD best practices

Communication skills

Ability to mentor others

Tools

Ruby on Rails

PostgreSQL

Redis or Memcached

Sidekiq

Job description

About BBC Maestro

BBC Maestro is an independent company within the BBC Studios group, offering inspiring online courses from world-class experts in their fields; from filmmaking and writing to cooking, music and beyond.

We’rea small, collaborative team doingbig thingsat pace.It’sa place where creative ideas move fast, where everyone rolls up their sleeves, and where we take real pride in delivering high-quality learning experiences for our global audience.

About the role

As a high-performing SME with a global customer base, we’re looking for a senior, hands-on engineering leader to take full ownership of our core technology platforms and lead a small, high-performing team to deliver simple, scalable software that delights our customers.

You’ll spend about 70% of your time building and maintaining our core Rails platform and mobile app infrastructure, with the remainder focused on delivery, coaching, and cross-functional collaboration. You’ll be the most senior engineer on the team; setting technical direction, leading by example, and helping shape how we grow.

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to build product-centric systems with purpose, and who leads with heart, loves innovation, and is excited to grow others while growing themselves.

You will report into our Managing Director Lily Smith, a technical product leader.

The salary for this role is £90,000 - £110,000 - this will be determined by factors that include relevant experience and location.

🧭 What you'll do

As our most senior engineer, you’ll be responsible for the team’s technical output, delivery pace, and wellbeing, and help us keep our customer promise at the centre of everything we ship.

You will:

• Lead and support a small engineering team, balancing delivery, technical quality, and team health
• Spend significant time hands-on with Ruby on Rails, and occasionally contribute to our React Native mobile app
• Mentor engineers through active coaching, clear feedback, and meaningful growth plans
• Help engineers make sound technical decisions, acting as a sounding board and guide
• Ensure the team delivers iteratively and reliably, with a customer-first mindset
• Collaborate deeply with Product and Design to shape realistic roadmaps and well-scoped solutions
• Proactively spot blockers and own delivery outcomes, technical health, and production stability
• Contribute to hiring and onboarding as we grow the team
• Champion documentation, code quality, and sustainable development practices
• Foster a positive, inclusive, and learning-focused team culture
• Encourage a mindset of continuous improvement; in systems, tools, and ourselves

🛠 Your Skills & Experience

We’re looking for a strong engineer first, with leadership experience and a deep sense of responsibility for the customer, the code, and the team.

You’ll likely bring:

• 7+ years building and operating production systems (Rails a big plus), and 2+ years leading or line managing engineers
• Strong backend experience, ideally with Ruby on Rails and Hotwire, and enough breadth to support others across the stack
• Confidence working with PostgreSQL, caching layers like Redis or Memcached, and background jobs (e.g. Sidekiq)
• Strong grasp of software best practices, including CI/CD, testing, and system observability
• Experience supporting live production environments and contributing to incident response
• Proven ability to manage team delivery, navigate trade-offs, and deliver against customer needs
• Great communication skills; you work well with designers, product managers, and execs alike
• Passion for growing people, and helping others own their craft and impact

Above all, you care about how we build, not just what we ship, and you're excited to shape the technical foundations of a customer-centric company.

🧡 How We Work – Our Values in Action

We don’t just want you to deliver great software, we want you to do it in a way that reflects who we are and how we work. You’ll thrive in this role if you:

• Love Innovation – You experiment, simplify, and use good judgment to drive progress. You're not afraid to challenge outdated assumptions or modernise legacy thinking.
• Lead With Heart – You coach engineers to problem-solve, lead with empathy, and show care for your team, your peers, and our customers.
• Yearn to Learn – You’re curious, proactive, and always levelling up; both yourself and those around you.
• Own It – You take responsibility for outcomes. You are known for following through on your commitments to others.
• Be The Greatest – You pursue excellence and set a high bar without ego. You lift the team by raising your own game.

• 28 days holiday + public holidays
• Flexible Benefits via Happl
• Choice between Private Healthcare Plan or Wellbeing Allowance
• Salary Sacrifice Pension
• Salary Sacrifice Childcare Scheme
• Modern Employee Assistance Programme / Counselling via Spill. Unlimited structured sessions.
• Flexible working including ability to work from home regularly
• Training & Development
• Engaging off-sites and fun socials
• Enhanced Maternity and Paternity incl. enhanced neonatal care pay