Sr Engineering Manager

Randstad Digital UK; Manchester; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Randstad Digital UK in Manchester is seeking a contract Engineering Manager to lead and coach multiple software teams, focusing on high engagement, performance, and operational excellence.

You will oversee project execution, drive architectural quality, manage production operations, and partner with product and design teams to meet business goals. Initially, you will manage contractor teams with emphasis on delivery and collaboration.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Minimum 5+ years of hands-on experience managing software development teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead 1–3 engineering teams (5–8 engineers per team) and track health, roadmap progress, and KPIs.
• Coach engineers, set expectations, and address underperformance with HR.
• Own system architecture, drive deployments and operations, reduce risks with documentation.
• Oversee incident response, postmortems, and maintain high code quality; participate in on-call.
• Identify bottlenecks, improve development workflows, and communicate updates to stakeholders.

Skills

Team leadership

People coaching

System architecture

Incident management

Continuous improvement

Stakeholder communication

CI/CD

Cloud technologies

Production monitoring

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud platforms

Production monitoring

Job description

Location: Manchester, UK

Duration: 6 Months (37.5 hrs/week)

About the Role

We are looking for a contract Engineering Manager to lead, coach, and support engineering teams in delivering high-quality, scalable software. You will oversee project execution, drive architectural quality, manage production operations, and partner with product and design teams to meet business goals. In this role, you will initially manage contractor teams with a focus on high engagement, performance, and operational excellence.

Key Responsibilities

• Team Leadership: Manage 1–3 engineering teams (5–8 engineers per team plus Product and Design partners). Track team health, roadmap progress, and KPIs while removing delivery blockers.
• People Coaching: Guide and motivate team members, set clear expectations, and address underperformance alongside HR.
• System Ownership & Architecture: Maintain end-to-end service health, lead deployment/operations, reduce system risks via clear documentation, and guide technical architecture.
• Incident Management & Quality: Oversee live production incident response, conduct postmortems, maintain high code standards, and participate in on-call rotations as needed.
• Continuous Improvement: Identify process bottlenecks, refine development workflows, and communicate technical updates clearly to stakeholders.

Qualifications

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.
• Experience: Minimum 5+ years of hands-on experience managing software development teams.

Technical Skills: Experience with system architecture, CI/CD, production monitoring, and cloud technologies.