Senior Engineering Manager

RWS Gruppe; Sheffield; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

RWS Gruppe is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager to lead a new engineering team within 'RWS Protect'. This role focuses on modern software development, embracing AI tools, and fostering a DevSecOps culture.

The successful candidate will establish engineering practices, collaborate closely with business stakeholders, and ensure alignment with commercial goals. A strong technical background and leadership experience are essential for driving innovation and enhancing the team's capabilities.

Qualifications

• Significant experience in software engineering, with a progression into engineering management.
• Strong technical background, with the ability and willingness to stay close to the code and architecture.
• Experience leading and growing engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Leading and growing a new Protect engineering team.
• Driving adoption of AI development tools across the team.
• Setting technical direction for the platform in collaboration with your team.

Skills

Software engineering

Engineering management

Technical background

AI development tools

AWS and cloud-native architectures

Job description

Job Purpose

We are looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to lead one of our engineering teams within "RWS Protect".

RWS Protect serves some of the world's largest patent filers, helping them manage the full intellectual property lifecycle, from filing and translation through to renewals, recordals and portfolio management. We are in the middle of a significant platform evolution: moving from a services‑led model to a modern SaaS product suite and open collaboration platform, with AI‑enabled capabilities woven throughout.

The way software gets built is changing fast. AI‑assisted development, agentic tooling and new engineering workflows are reshaping what a small, skilled team can achieve. We are looking for someone who is not just aware of this shift but is actively driving it in their own work. You should be using AI development tools daily, forming opinions about what works and pushing the boundaries of how engineering teams operate with these capabilities. This role is as much about harnessing that change as it is about traditional engineering leadership.

You will be spinning up a new team with modern ways of working, modern tooling and a clear DevSecOps mindset. The team will build new systems while also maintaining, upgrading, and retiring legacy ones. You should be comfortable with a "you build it, you run it" culture where engineers own their services end to end, from design through to production operations.

You will work closely with product, design, and business stakeholders to ensure engineering is well aligned with commercial and strategic goals.

About Product & Technology

Product & Technology plays a pivotal role in aligning the organization with its strategic objectives and enhancing shareholder value. It is responsible for establishing unified standards and governance practices throughout the company and oversees the development and maintenance of core applications essential for the seamless operation of various functions across the organization. With a global reach, Product & Technology provides support services to over 7500 end users worldwide, manages the information security operation and safeguards all assets, and covers Enterprise & Technical Architecture, Network & Voice, Infrastructure, Service Delivery, Service Operations, Data & Analytics, Security & Quality Compliance, Transformation, Application Development, Enterprise Platforms, and more.

Key Responsibilities

• Leading and growing a new Protect engineering team, establishing ways of working, tooling, and culture from the ground up
• Driving adoption of AI development tools and agentic workflows across the team, and staying at the leading edge of how these tools change engineering practice
• Setting technical direction for the platform in collaboration with your team, balancing modernisation ambitions with pragmatic delivery
• Remaining hands‑on: contributing to architecture decisions, design reviews, and code where it adds the most value
• Owning engineering delivery for your team, including planning, prioritisation, and execution
• Embedding a DevSecOps culture with full production ownership, where engineers are responsible for the security, reliability, and operation of what they build
• Building strong partnerships with product managers, designers, domain experts, and senior business stakeholders
• Establishing engineering practices: CI/CD, automated testing, observability, security scanning, and deployment workflows
• Creating an environment where engineers can do their best work, with clear expectations, regular feedback, and genuine development opportunities
• Helping the team navigate domain complexity, including patent lifecycle workflows and IP data structures, and building enough context to make sound technical decisions
• Representing Protect engineering within the wider engineering organisation, contributing to cross‑cutting initiatives and standards

Skills & Experience

We do not expect candidates to match every item below. We value leadership quality, technical credibility, and the ability to build high‑performing teams.

• Significant experience in software engineering, with a progression into engineering management
• A strong technical background, with the ability and willingness to stay close to the code and architecture
• Comfort working across multiple technology stacks (e.g. TypeScript, Java, .NET) rather than being tied to one
• Hands‑on experience with AI development tools and a genuine interest in how agentic tooling is changing software engineering
• Experience with AWS and cloud‑native architectures
• Strong understanding of containers and modern deployment practices
• A DevSecOps mindset with experience embedding security, observability, and operational ownership into engineering culture
• Experience leading and growing engineering teams
• Track record of delivering complex software products or platforms
• Ability to balance strategic thinking with day‑to‑day execution
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate between technical and business contexts
• Experience building engineering culture: hiring, onboarding, mentoring, and developing engineers

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

RWS embraces DEI and promotes equal opportunity. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind. RWS is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees and to providing a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at RWS are based on business needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, religion, nationality, ethnicity, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation. RWS will not tolerate discrimination based on any of these characteristics.