Engineering Manager

Morgan McKinley; Manchester; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

Morgan McKinley is partnering with a global technology and e-commerce leader to recruit a Senior Engineering Manager for their Manchester tech hub. You will lead multiple cross-functional, agile delivery teams through a critical roadmap phase, ensuring high-traffic features are delivered on time while upholding reliability and engineering excellence.

You will collaborate with Product, UX, and global tech leaders to define technical strategy, manage dependencies, and drive delivery; you will also

Qualifications

• Proven at-scale leadership in high-traffic B2C platforms or marketplaces.
• Strong technical grounding to guide architecture decisions.
• Experience building and mentoring engineering teams and managers.

Responsibilities

• Direct and mentor multiple engineering pods to deliver key objectives.
• Collaborate with product, UX, and global tech leaders to set technical strategy.
• Balance feature delivery with technical debt and high-availability standards.
• Serve as the strategic link between the Manchester hub and global engineering leadership.
• Champion agile practices to improve velocity and reliability.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Agile delivery

People leadership

Technical credibility

Tools

Microservices

Cloud infrastructure

Java/Node ecosystems

Job description

About Our Client

Our client is a global technology and e-commerce leader operating one of the world’s most heavily trafficked digital marketplaces. Millions of consumers rely on their platform daily to seamlessly discover, compare, and secure services. Their Manchester tech hub is a cornerstone of their global engineering efforts, focusing on high-scale distributed systems, data-driven personalisation, and frictionless consumer journeys.

They operate in a highly dynamic, matrixed environment where speed, scale, and customer impact are paramount.

The Role

We are partnering with this industry leader to find a seasoned Senior Engineering Manager to join their Manchester technology leadership team on a 6-month Fixed-Term Contract.

In this role, you will step in to provide immediate leadership and stability to multiple cross-functional, agile delivery teams during a critical roadmap phase. You will partner closely with Product, UX, and global technical leaders to ensure complex, high-traffic consumer features are delivered on time while maintaining our client's rigorous standards for system reliability and engineering excellence.

Key Responsibilities

• Leadership & People Management: Direct, mentor, and support multiple engineering pods (consisting of Software Engineers, QA, and Tech Leads). Foster a culture of high performance, psychological safety, and continuous learning.
• Delivery & Execution: Partner closely with Senior Product Managers to define technical strategy, manage dependencies, and unblock teams to ensure the successful delivery of key commercial objectives.
• Engineering Excellence: Oversee the health of critical services. Ensure the teams balance the delivery of new commercial features with the management of technical debt and adherence to high-availability architectural standards.
• Stakeholder Management: Act as the strategic anchor between the Manchester tech hub and global technology leadership. Navigate a complex matrix to align local delivery with global architectural standards.
• Agile Optimisation: Champion agile best practices, refining processes to improve velocity and deployment frequency without compromising quality.

What They Are Looking For

• Experience at Scale: Proven track record as an Engineering Manager, Head of Engineering, or similar leadership role within a high-traffic B2C e-commerce, marketplace, or global digital platform environment.
• Technical Credibility: While this is not a hands-on coding role, you must possess a strong foundational background in modern software engineering (e.g., Microservices, Cloud infrastructure, Java/Node ecosystems) to guide architectural decisions and challenge technical assumptions.
• People Leadership: Demonstrated ability to manage, inspire, and assess technical teams, including experience managing other managers or team leads.
• Adaptability: The ability to parachute into a fast‑paced environment, quickly build relationships, assess team dynamics, and drive immediate impact.
• Communication: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to translate complex technical constraints into clear business impacts for non-technical stakeholders.