Engineering Manager - Apps Team

ENGINEERINGUK; London; Hybrid; GBP 55,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a forward-thinking organization as a Senior Engineer (People Manager) in the Apps team, where your passion for mobile development and people management will thrive. This role focuses on fostering collaboration and building high-performing teams in a dynamic environment. You will lead hiring efforts, mentor engineers in iOS and Android development, and contribute to technical discussions. With a commitment to diversity and inclusion, this organization offers a supportive culture that values your unique perspective. Embrace the opportunity to shape the future of mobile applications while growing your career in an innovative setting.

Benefits

Generous annual leave

Medical cover

Inclusive parental leave packages

Subsidised gym memberships

Flexible working arrangements

Qualifications

• Proven experience in leading and mentoring engineering teams.
• Strong background in native mobile app development.

Responsibilities

• Manage and mentor a diverse team of engineers.
• Lead hiring efforts and ensure team growth.

Skills

People Management

iOS Development (Swift)

Android Development (Kotlin)

Full-stack JavaScript

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Kotlin Multiplatform

Job description

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View more categories View less categories Sector Engineering Role Manager Contract Type Permanent Hours Full Time

About us

The Financial Times is one of the world's leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide.

At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Together, we help audiences stay better informed and deepen their understanding of the world around them.

Our Product & Tech teams drive us forward in an ever-evolving digital landscape, delivering cutting-edge products to over one million digital subscribers daily. Our growth relies on a diverse, dedicated and dynamic group of product, tech, delivery and data specialists.

With a supportive culture, entrepreneurial spirit and opportunities at every turn, there are no limits to where your FT career can take you.

Build a newsworthy career at the FT.

Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion

We believe in the power of unique perspectives and want all voices in our organisation to be heard, respected and valued. A supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves and operate to their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers for everyone, with a focus on addressing those faced by underrepresented groups.
Department Context
The Customer Products group works on our award-winning website (https://www.ft.com) and our iOS and Android apps. We are a multi-disciplinary, co-located team with around 75 engineers and 100 people total. We value transparency, accountability, shared responsibility, and teamwork. We deploy multiple times a day, and we're focused on our users and the FT's mission to provide engaging world-class journalism.

Customer Products sits within FT's Product & Technology function and brings together people from Product, Delivery, and Technology.
FT Apps Team
The Customer Products Apps teams are responsible for the FT's native/web hybrid apps for iOS and Android. We develop new features and improvements, with the aim to drive incremental subscription growth, habit formation and engagement on the apps. We also maintain and enhance the app platforms, and support other teams and groups to implement their work on the FT Apps. The Apps teams (divided into "Architecture" and "Experience" squads) are currently 20 people strong, including 15 engineers.
About the Role
We are looking for a Senior Engineer (People Manager) - Apps who is passionate about growing people, fostering collaboration, and building high-performing engineering teams. While a strong background in native app development and mobile ecosystems is a must, this role is primarily focused on people management: developing and supporting iOS and Android engineers, building a thriving team environment, and leading hiring efforts to strengthen the team's technical expertise in these areas. It will also involve contributing to technical discussions and collaborating across teams, ensuring a high-performing and supportive engineering culture.

Key responsibilities include:

• People Management & Mentorship: Provide line management and mentorship to a diverse team of permanent and contract engineers across web and native specialisms, ensuring their professional growth and fostering collaboration.
• Native Mobile Development Support: Nurture engineers to grow their skills in iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin/KMP) while staying up-to-date with platform changes and best practices.
• Hiring & Team Growth: Lead hiring efforts for new engineers, particularly in iOS, Android, and Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP). This will include defining job specifications, shaping the interview process, identifying career paths, and sourcing strong candidates.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with engineers, product managers, and stakeholders to align priorities and evolve the app ecosystem effectively, and to support collaboration with other FT product teams.
• Pragmatic Decision-Making: Balance technical trade-offs with immediate engineering needs while ensuring long-term sustainability.

In addition to these key responsibilities, we expect all Senior Engineer (People Managers) at S2 level to:

• Complement the work of technical leads by contributing to architectural discussions and decision-making, and by promoting knowledge sharing across the team.
• Encourage a culture of engineering excellence by supporting best practices in development, testing, and maintainability through coaching, mentoring and team-wide collaboration.
• Collaborate with tech leads and other senior engineers to develop strategic goals, ensuring the team is supported and resourced to deliver them.

About You
This is a people-focused engineering leadership role. You will be a line manager for engineers within the team, responsible for supporting their career development, facilitating one-to-one conversations, managing performance and well-being, and helping grow the team through inclusive hiring practices. You will also have a strong technical foundation in native mobile development and full-stack JavaScript.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Extensive experience in people leadership, with a proven ability to mentor and support engineers, manage growth and performance, and foster a collaborative, high-performing team culture.
• A keen understanding of hiring and career development in mobile engineering teams, particularly in iOS and Android development.
• Extensive experience with Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android), with a deep understanding of native and hybrid mobile applications. Experience with Kotlin Multiplatform would also be advantageous.
• Solid full-stack JavaScript knowledge, particularly in the way that APIs interact with web and native applications.
• A strategic mindset, balancing long-term goals with the immediate needs of a fast-paced development environment.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a team that is modernising and shaping the future of mobile applications at FT.
• Work in an organisation that values engineering excellence, continuous improvement, and innovation.
• Contribute to a high-impact product with a large and engaged audience.
• Benefit from a supportive and inclusive team culture that promotes learning and career growth.

If this sounds like a role that aligns with your expertise and ambitions, we'd love to hear from you!
What's in it for you? Our benefits
Our benefits vary by location, but we are committed to providing best-in-class perks across all our offices. These include generous annual leave, medical cover, inclusive parental leave packages, subsidised gym memberships and opportunities to give back to the community. Full details of our benefits are available here.

We've embraced a 50% hybrid working model (averaging two to three days onsite) that fosters trust and remote adaptability while encouraging in-person camaraderie and peer learning. Additionally, we are open to accommodating specific flexible working pattern requests for all roles where feasible.
Accessibility
We are a disability confident employer and Valuable 500 signatory.

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments/personalisation as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements or have any questions, email [e-mail] and a member of our team will be happy to help.



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Company

The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. It is part of Nikkei Inc., which provides a broad range of information, news and services for the global business community.

At the FT, we aim for employees across all regions to have a voice so that diverse perspectives are heard and valued. We believe that a supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves at work and have the flexibility they need to meet their personal needs. We’ll continue to remove barriers for all, and in particular barriers facing employees from underrepresented groups.

Discover what makes the FT a great place to work

We value all our people, and offer:

We offer confidential career coaching, mentoring and a range of training courses, including a development programme designed for women.

Communities

We support employee-led networks to connect and empower individuals across the organisation.

FT Access aims to transform attitudes and provide a positive working environment for people with disabilities. FT Access works with external organisations and charities creating supported internships, work experience projects and events.

The FT is proud to be a [Disability Confident Employer] We are committed to ensuring our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible by offering interviews to disabled people, anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required and supporting employees who acquire a disability or long term health condition.

Accessibility

We aim to provide an accessible website for all our employees and customers. Our website is accredited by the Digital Accessibility Centre.

We offer flexible working arrangements, including flexi leave, parenting leave and paid volunteer leave.

Recruitment and selection

We require 50/50 male/female shortlists for all roles to ensure inclusive recruitment practices.

Volunteering opportunities

We offer a range of volunteering opportunities for employees, including a Volunteering Matters reading programme for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Returning to work

We provide structured coaching support before, during and after family leave so our people can return to work with confidence.

We provide training for our leaders and senior managers to help embed good practices around equality, diversity and inclusion.

See an example of one of our talented disabled employees here

Get to know more about the FT from our Meet the Employer event

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