Software Engineering Manager

JR United Kingdom; Southampton; Remote; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A high-growth fintech company based in Manchester seeks a Software Engineering Manager to lead a dynamic engineering team in Southampton. You will be responsible for cultivating a high-performing culture, managing technical strategies, and driving the delivery of products and infrastructure initiatives. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in software engineering and strong leadership skills to thrive in a startup environment. Join a team committed to innovating the future of payments.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Equity options

Strong benefits

Autonomy and trust in a flat structure

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading software engineering teams (3–10+ engineers).
• Strong technical background in backend languages such as Java, C#, or Node.js.
• Hands-on experience with cloud services, preferably AWS.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a cross-functional engineering team.
• Collaborate with products and comply to scope and prioritize projects.
• Establish and maintain high standards for code quality and documentation.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Stakeholder Management

Problem Solving

Agile Methodologies

Tools

AWS

Java

C#

Node.js

TypeScript

Job description

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Software Engineering Manager, southampton

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Client:

Ryft

Location:

southampton, United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Views:

4

Posted:

31.05.2025

Expiry Date:

15.07.2025

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Job Description:

Software Engineering Manager

Location: Remote

Reporting to: CTO

Type: Full-time

About Ryft

Ryft is a high-growth, FCA-regulated fintech platform based in Manchester. We’re transforming how platforms and marketplaces handle payments, with a proprietary system that enables seamless split settlements, compliance, and reporting. Backed by a successful Series A, we’re scaling rapidly and looking for exceptional leaders to join us on that journey.

The Role

As Software Engineering Manager at Ryft, you’ll be responsible for structuring, leading, and nurturing a high-performing, cross-functional engineering team. You’ll be helping structure, onboard, people manage the tech department, ensuring smooth delivery of product and infrastructure initiatives, while maintaining high standards in engineering, scalability, and security.

You’ll work closely with the founders, product team, and other stakeholders to translate business objectives into engineering outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Structure and lead a team of exceptional software engineers across frontend, backend, and DevOps disciplines.
• Create a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Mentor a team of senior engineers
• Help with recruitment, on-boarding, and performance reviews in collaboration with leadership.
• Set and maintain high standards for code quality, testing, documentation, and reliability.
• Establish and evolve engineering best practices, development workflows, and team rituals.
• Support architectural decisions and participate in technical planning.

Project & Delivery Management

• Collaborate with Product, Ops, and Compliance teams to scope and prioritise projects.
• Own delivery timelines, technical resourcing, and risk management across multiple work streams.
• Lead sprint planning, retrospectives, and release coordination.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Act as a key link between engineering and the rest of the business, including Product, Sales, and Compliance.
• Communicate complex technical topics to non-technical stakeholders.

Technical Oversight

• Contribute to system architecture and technical strategy alongside senior engineers and the CTO.
• Support incident response and postmortems.
• Stay close to the codebase and remain hands-on where needed (though this is primarily a management role).

Key Requirements

• Proven experience leading and growing high-performing software engineering teams (3–10+ engineers) and cross discipline teams.
• Strong technical background (ideally in Java/C# Node.js, TypeScript, or similar backend languages).
• Deep understanding of software development life cycle, CI/CD, testing, and agile methodologies.
• Excellent organisational, leadership, and people management skills.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Ability to balance strategic planning with execution and delivery.
• Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities.
• Hands-on cloud experience (AWS preferred).
• Experience hiring and scaling engineering teams in a startup environment.

Why Join Ryft?

• Be part of a fast-growing, founder-led business changing the future of platform payments.
• Work on technically interesting challenges with real-world impact.
• Flat structure with autonomy, trust, and a chance to shape the future of the company.
• Competitive salary, equity options, and strong benefits.