Senior Engineering Manager - SaaS Applications (London, UK) [JOL-ENM-UK-101826]

Jolly Technologies Inc; Greater London; Remote; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Jolly seeks a highly technical Senior Engineering Manager to lead our distributed software development and QA teams, delivering high‑quality cloud SaaS and mobile applications. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role, not a traditional project management position.

You will own staffing decisions, run sprints and releases, and collaborate with the Senior Product Manager to translate priorities into technical designs, estimates, and delivery plans.

Qualifications

• Must have started career as a software engineer and progressed to hands-on engineering leadership.
• 10+ years of software industry experience, including 3+ years directly managing developers and/or QA engineers.
• Strong understanding of modern software architecture, development, testing, and deployment.

Responsibilities

• Directly manage software developers (C# .NET, MAUI, MS SQL Server, Azure) and QA testers, including hiring, performance management, coaching, and staffing decisions.
• Build and lead distributed engineering teams across multiple countries, ensuring effective collaboration and accountability.
• Work with the Senior Product Manager to turn product priorities and requirements into technical designs, estimates, and development plans.
• Plan and run sprints, including sprint planning, stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives.
• Configure and manage Jira workflows, scrum boards, projects, dashboards, and reporting directly.
• Own the release cycle end to end - scheduling, code freeze, QA sign-off, deployment, and post-release follow-up.
• Ensure releases are delivered on time and at high quality.
• Define and improve testing practices, test coverage, and QA processes in partnership with the QA team.
• Understand software architecture, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, and development workflows.
• Personally investigate, reproduce, and test product issues when necessary; do not rely solely on QA.
• Identify technical, resource, and delivery risks and drive them to resolution.
• Work directly with DevOps and support teams on deployments, production issues, and escalations.
• Improve engineering processes, code quality, development practices, and team productivity.

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a closely related technical field

Tools

C#

MAUI

MS SQL Server

Azure

Job description

Title: Senior Engineering Manager - SaaS Applications

Job ID: #JOL-ENM-UK-101826

Location: London, England, GB

Summary

Jolly is a Silicon Valley-based software company with more than 40,000 customers and millions of users, including many Fortune 500 companies and world-renowned organizations.

We are looking for a highly technical Senior Engineering Manager to lead our team of software developers and QA testers and deliver high-quality releases of our cloud-based SaaS and mobile applications. This is a hands-on technical leadership role, not a traditional project management position.

The ideal candidate began as a software engineer and progressed into hands-on engineering leadership. You must have direct people-management responsibility - including hiring, performance management, and making staffing decisions. You will work closely with our Senior Product Manager, who defines what should be built and why; you will own how it is built, tested, and delivered. We do not have a separate project manager, so you will also run sprints, scrum boards, and the release cycle yourself.

Working Hours

Fully remote, work-from-home contract position. Our engineering teams are distributed across North America, Europe, and Asia. Working hours are flexible, with a few core overlap hours for collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Directly manage software developers (C# .NET, MAUI, MS SQL Server, Azure) and QA testers, including hiring, performance management, coaching, and staffing decisions
• Build and lead distributed engineering teams across multiple countries, ensuring effective collaboration and accountability
• Work with the Senior Product Manager to turn product priorities and requirements into technical designs, estimates, and development plans
• Plan and run sprints, including sprint planning, stand-ups, reviews, and retrospectives
• Configure and manage Jira workflows, scrum boards, projects, dashboards, and reporting directly
• Own the release cycle end to end - scheduling, code freeze, QA sign-off, deployment, and post-release follow-up
• Ensure releases are delivered on time and at high quality
• Define and improve testing practices, test coverage, and QA processes in partnership with the QA team
• Understand software architecture, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, and development workflows
• Personally investigate, reproduce, and test product issues when necessary; do not rely solely on QA reports
• Identify technical, resource, and delivery risks and drive them to resolution
• Work directly with DevOps and support teams on deployments, production issues, and escalations
• Improve engineering processes, code quality, development practices, and team productivity

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science or a closely related technical field
• Must have started career as a software engineer/developer
• 10+ years of software industry experience, including 3+ years directly managing developers and/or QA engineers
• Proven record of excellent software development and technical problem-solving
• Strong understanding of modern software architecture, development, testing, and deployment
• Hands‑on experience running Agile/Scrum teams and managing release cycles without a dedicated project manager
• Able to personally test, troubleshoot, reproduce, and validate software—not simply rely on QA
• Able to configure and manage Jira independently without relying on IT or other administrators
• Proven ability to lead, organize, and develop software engineering and QA teams
• Excellent communication and execution skills in a distributed, international environment
• Solid hands‑on experience with C# .NET, MAUI, MS SQL Server, and Azure is strongly preferred

Compensation

£90,000 - £120,000 per year (approx. £7,500 - £10,000 per month as an independent contractor via your own limited company; commensurate with experience)