Software Engineering Manager

Twinkl Ltd.; Sheffield; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible remote/hybrid options

33 days annual leave

Me Day

Charity day

Westfield Health

Learning & Development

Internal mobility

Death in service life assurance

Quarterly awards

Free Twinkl Subscription

Job summary

Twinkl Ltd. is seeking an Engineering Manager to steer a product-centric team, owning the delivery and technical strategy. This role blends technical stewardship with people leadership in a remote-first setting with Sheffield HQ visits a few times per year.

You will collaborate closely with Design, Product and Education, mentor engineers, ensure code quality, automate testing and maintain production health. A strategic, inclusive leader is essential.

Qualifications

• Proven engineering expertise at senior level with delivery focus.
• Experience with AWS-based systems and production health monitoring.
• Strong leadership and mentorship, with performance development.
• Excellent communication to translate technical decisions to stakeholders.
• Commitment to diverse and inclusive team culture.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical roadmap and drive delivery across your team.
• Drive quality and operational excellence, monitor production health.
• Lead and mentor, manage performance reviews and promotions.
• Collaborate with Design, Product, and Education teams.

Skills

Senior Engineer level

Technical leadership

Team leadership

AWS

Communication

Mentoring

Tools

AWS

Job description

Location: Remote with Sheffield HQ visits 6 times a year

At Twinkl, we're not just building software - we're transforming how millions of educators and learners interact with educational content and resources worldwide. By creating adaptable, comprehensive learning tools, we're breaking down educational barriers and building a global learning community. As we scale our platform to serve parents, teachers, and students across the globe, we're seeking a visionary Engineering Manager to drive our technical evolution, lead a high-performing team, and ensure strategic delivery.

We’re in the midst of an exciting transformation, completely rebuilding our experience from the ground up. You will lead one autonomous, product-centric engineering team, empowered to make the right technical decisions and own your solutions. This role is a dynamic blend of technical stewardship, people leadership, and delivery ownership, placing you deep within the day-to-day technical execution and planning.1

What will you be doing?

You’ll be building brilliant tech that makes a real difference by owning the delivery, growth, and operational health of your team.

• Own the Technical Roadmap: Be fully accountable for the agreed roadmap delivery for your team, ensuring consistent productivity and execution across defined development cycles.1
• Drive Quality and Operational Excellence: Ensure the team delivers high-quality, sustainable software. This includes establishing best practices, defining code quality metrics, managing technical debt, and ensuring production systems health through incident management and well-calibrated monitoring.
• Lead and Mentor: Own the professional development of your team by actively mentoring and providing clear, actionable feedback. You will be responsible for performance reviews, managing the promotion process, and strategically structuring your team through recruitment to meet business needs.
• Strategic Collaboration: Partner closely with tightly coupled functions like Design, Product, and Education. Use your tailored communication style to translate complex technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders and build a strong business network to anticipate future challenges for your team.

What do we need from you?

• Proven engineering expertise equivalent to a Senior Engineer, coupled with a strong technical background and a pragmatic approach to delivery.
• Demonstrated experience in ensuring high standards for software quality, technical documentation, and best practices within an engineering team.
• Expertise in managing operational excellence, including accountability for the team’s approach to automated testing, defining metrics for Production health, and handling incident actions.
• Demonstrated success in team leadership, including owning professional development plans and directly line managing engineers.
• Experience leading engineering teams working with AWS based systems and infrastructure
• A commitment to building an inclusive and diverse team culture that encourages self-reflection and fosters a psychologically safe environment for giving and receiving feedback.
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to advocate for others' perspectives and effectively convey complex technical details to a wide range of stakeholders.

What’s in it for you?

• A friendly, welcoming and supportive culture. We believe work should be fun and always put people before process
• Flexible working with fully remote and hybrid working options
• 33 days annual leave per year, pro rata. You decide which public holidays to recognise.
• An additional day of annual leave, a Me Day, to take time for yourself
• Charity day to volunteer and support a registered charity of your choice
• Westfield Health (including Health Club discount and Westfield Rewards discount and cashback)
• Learning and Development opportunities, with opportunities for internal mobility across various departments / areas of the business
• 4 x annual salary death in service life assurance
• Quarterly awards designed to reward and recognise our wonderful Twinkl employees
• Free Twinkl Subscription

At Twinkl, we encourage diversity, and our doors are open to everyone. We're committed to creating an inclusive workplace for all. If you need any adjustments during the application process to showcase your abilities, please let us know. We're here to support you on your journey.