Engineering Manager

Sumup; Greater London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A tech company focused on local businesses is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead and support a backend engineering team. The role involves defining product goals, promoting cross-functional collaboration, and driving operational excellence. Candidates should have extensive backend experience, familiarity with distributed systems, and a record of managing teams. Expected attributes include strong communication skills, empathy in leadership, and an ability to adapt to changing priorities. Here is a unique opportunity to make an impact within a global, multicultural team.

Benefits

Enrolment onto VSOP program

28 days of paid leave

Vitality health cover

Salary-sacrifice commuter benefits

Retirement scheme

Life insurance

1-month sabbatical after 3 years

Referral Bonus

Qualifications

• Deep backend engineering experience and hands-on work with distributed systems.
• Managed engineering teams with at least 2+ years of experience as an Engineering Manager.
• Product-oriented engineering leader.

Responsibilities

• Define short- and long-term goals with Product.
• Provide coaching and feedback to team members.
• Build strong collaboration across teams.
• Maintain highly available, complex backend systems.
• Review designs and code as needed.

Skills

Backend engineering experience

Distributed systems

APIs

Databases

Experience with Go, Kotlin, Python, or Swift

AWS, Docker, Kubernetes

Team management

Effective communication

Empathy and clarity in leadership

Flexibility and adaptability

Tools

Go

Kotlin

Python

Swift

AWS

Docker

Kubernetes

Job description

At SumUp, we’re on a mission to bring merchants and consumers closer together and help local communities thrive. We’re building a rewarding loyalty experience that connects people to the small businesses they love while enabling free transactions for our merchants.

SumUp Local puts loyalty and merchant discovery on every checkout screen, helping businesses acquire consumers at scale while building our consumer network.

This role is a high-impact, key position that will challenge you to work at a quick pace and tackle a wide variety of topics and opportunities on a global scale. You will use your strategic thinking and original mindset, as well as immense drive, to help strategise and innovate within the Consumer Tribe, which is responsible for building and growing SumUp Local and closing the loop between consumers and merchants while collaborating with the rest of the organisation.

If you're excited about consumer-facing products, loyalty platforms, and helping small businesses thrive, we'd love to meet you.

What you’ll do

• Co‑own product delivery: Define short‑ and long‑term goals with Product, drive technical design and architecture discussions, and ensure timely, high‑quality execution.
• Grow and support your team: provide coaching, feedback, and structured performance development while fostering a collaborative, high‑performing culture.
• Promote cross‑functional alignment: build strong collaboration across engineering, product, and business teams in a dynamic environment with multiple stakeholders.
• Drive operational excellence: maintain highly available, complex backend systems while accelerating development velocity.
• Contribute hands‑on: review designs and code when needed, and help solve complex backend challenges.

What we’re looking for

• You have deep backend engineering experience and hands‑on work with distributed systems, APIs, and databases. Experience with Go, Kotlin, Python, or Swift and cloud‑native environments (preferably AWS, Docker, Kubernetes) is a plus.
• You’ve managed engineering teams in complex environments involving multiple technologies, priorities, and cross‑functional collaboration – with at least 2+ years of experience as an Engineering Manager.
• You’re a product‑oriented engineering leader – comfortable working with a startup mindset and making pragmatic product and engineering trade‑offs to drive impact.
• You’re a clear, effective communicator – able to simplify technical topics and build alignment and trust across diverse stakeholders.
• You lead with empathy and clarity, giving constructive feedback, developing people, and guiding teams through scale or change.
• You’re self‑driven, flexible, and adaptable – comfortable shifting context and priorities with ease.
• You prioritise team success over individual silos, working to break down barriers and foster a culture of collaboration and shared ownership.

Why you should join SumUp

Opportunity to work with a truly global, multicultural team from our central Covent Garden location, wrapped in historic charm and modern flair. This involves an office‑first setup.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion: be part of a workplace that values and promotes diversity, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone's perspectives are respected and embraced.

Benefits

• Enrolment onto our VSOP program: you will own a stake in SumUp’s future success.
• Generous time off: 28 days of paid leave, plus bank holidays and special leaves.
• Health matters: Vitality health cover, including optical and dental.
• Life made easier: salary‑sacrifice commuter benefits via Gogeta.
• Financial security: retirement scheme (SumUp matches 7% when you contribute 5%).
• Peace of mind: life insurance from MetLife for 2× your salary.
• Break4me: 1‑month sabbatical after 3 years of service.
• Referral Bonus: earn additional rewards by referring talented individuals to join the SumUp team.

Job Application Tip

We recognise that candidates feel they need to meet % of the job criteria in order to apply for a job. Please note that this is only a guide. If you don’t tick every box, it’s ok too because it means you have room to learn and develop your career at SumUp.