Technical Programme Manager

Thought Machine; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension plan

Life insurance

Parental leave

Shared parental leave

25 days holiday

Flexible working hours

Cycle-to-work

Electric car scheme

Season ticket loan

Learning resources

Hobby clubs

Fresh fruit

Job summary

Thought Machine is seeking an Engineering Programme Manager to lead complex multi-team tech programmes. You will plan milestones, coordinate schedules, and drive continuous improvement across fast-paced engineering groups.

You’ll translate product goals into actionable roadmaps, manage stakeholder expectations, and ensure high quality delivery in a modern microservices stack. Join a fast-growing fintech with a strong engineering culture, competitive pay, and a comprehensive benefits package

Qualifications

• Proven track record managing cross-functional technical initiatives within a top tier technology company.
• Understand a modern microservice-based technology stack (Kubernetes, Kafka, AWS/GCP) built on a CI/CD pipeline.
• Good understanding of the full software development lifecycle (product management, engineering, testing, operations).
• Self-starter, able to operate autonomously to lead large multi-disciplinary efforts.
• Excellent organisational, written, and presentation skills building strong relationships with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Manage technical programmes: planning, setting milestones and success criteria and coordination of complex multi-team, multi-month engineering programmes.
• Communicate schedules, priorities and updates to all levels in the company.
• Support engineering departments to identify alignment gaps and reduce overhead.
• Have a good understanding of the product and the technical skills to be able to dive into details to drive programmes forward.
• Be outcome focussed and ensure everything we do supports the intended programme objectives.
• Collaborate with large cross-functional teams.
• Be engaged and energetic, helping to drive continuous improvement across the engineering organisation in a very fast paced and dynamic environment.
• Develop tools and optimise processes to improve productivity and efficiency.

Skills

Cross-functional collaboration

Programme management

Technical leadership

Self-starter

Stakeholder management

Tools

Kubernetes

Kafka

AWS

GCP

CI/CD

Job description

Thought Machine’s mission is bold – to properly and permanently rid the world’s banks of legacy technology. To achieve this, we have developed the foundations of modern banking through core and payments technology which run natively in the cloud. What we are attempting is hard and means we need great people working together to build great technology.

We have grown rapidly in the past few years – growing our team to more than 550 individuals across offices in London, New York, Singapore and Sydney. We have raised more than $500m in funding and are now valued at $2.7bn. Our investors include Molten Ventures, Eurazeo, Intesa Sanpaolo, Temasek, Nyca Partners, JPMorgan Chase Strategic Investments, Standard Chartered Ventures, and more.

We have created a culture that enables our team to produce the best work in the industry while ensuring we have fun along the way. We're regularly cited as having a fantastic workplace culture and have been recognised by Sifted magazine as having one of the highest Glassdoor ratings for a UK fintech company and the industry's most generous employee share package. Named one of the world’s most innovative fintechs by Global Finance Magazine, we were also recognised by the Financial Times as one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies for two consecutive years—and a UK Best Employer for 2026.

Engineering Programme Managers at Thought Machine are responsible for the delivery of complex technical programmes within the engineering division. We take a leading role in forming and planning each programme and support engineering departments that contribute to the programme’s success.

Duties

• Manage technical programmes: planning, setting milestones and success criteria and coordination of complex multi-team, multi-month engineering programmes.
• Communicate schedules, priorities and updates to all levels in the company.
• Support engineering departments to identify alignment gaps and reduce overhead.
• Have a good understanding of the product and the technical skills to be able to dive into details to drive programmes forward.
• Be outcome focussed and ensure everything we do supports the intended programme objectives.
• Collaborate with large cross-functional teams.
• Be engaged and energetic, helping to drive continuous improvement across the engineering organisation in a very fast paced and dynamic environment.
• Develop tools and optimise processes to improve productivity and efficiency.

Essential

• Proven track record managing cross-functional technical initiatives within a top tier technology company.
• Timely delivery is not your only objective: you obsess over quality, reliability and product value.
• Understand a modern microservice-based technology stack (Kubernetes, Kafka, AWS/GCP) built on a CI/CD pipeline.
• Good understanding of the full software development lifecycle (product management, engineering, testing, operations).
• Inquisitive mind and is motivated by solving problems.
• Self-starter, able to operate autonomously to lead large multi-disciplinary efforts.
• Excellent organisational, written, and presentation skills building strong relationships with stakeholders.

Desirable

• Knowledge or experience in the retail banking industry.
• Experience as a software engineer, an infrastructure engineer or some other technical role.

Benefits

• Highly competitive salary
• Pension plan (match up to 5%)
• Life insurance - three times annual salary
• Competitive maternity (six months fully paid) and paternity leave (four weeks fully paid)
• Shared parental leave (matched to our maternity leave for the same point in time)
• 25 days holiday and bank holidays
• Flexible working hours
• Cycle-to-work scheme
• Electric car scheme
• Season ticket loan
• Access to outstanding learning materials and courses
• Sports and hobby clubs, subsidised by Thought Machine
• All the latest tech you need
• Start the day properly with fresh fruit and cereals
• Huge range of healthy (and not-so-healthy) snacks, smoothies and drinks
• A talented and experienced team as your colleagues
• An environment where we encourage learning and progress
• Two charity days a year
• Weekly food pop-up

We actively hire candidates who demonstrate technical excellence in their field and welcome people of all ages and backgrounds, providing everyone with equal access to professional development. You are encouraged to apply even if your experience doesn't accurately match the job description. We also encourage applications from those with different abilities, including candidates with ADHD, autism, dyslexia or dyspraxia.