Manager, Software Engineering

airasia; Kuala Lumpur; On-site; MYR 250,000 - 450,000; Full time

Job summary

AirAsia is seeking a Senior Software Engineering Manager to lead high-performing engineering teams, shaping scalable software solutions that power aviation and digital transformation. You will drive engineering excellence, people development, and delivery accountability across multiple business domains.

You will collaborate with Product, Digital, Data, Architecture, and Operations to translate strategic objectives into robust technology programs while maintaining high availability, security, and

Qualifications

• Leads multiple software engineering teams and delivers scalable software solutions.
• Drives engineering standards, practices, and modernization initiatives.
• Manages resource planning, performance, and career development across engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and develop multiple software engineering teams, including managers and engineers.
• Oversee end-to-end software development lifecycle across multiple projects and workstreams.
• Drive automation, testing, CI/CD, secure coding, and DevSecOps practices.
• Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, and resilient for aviation operations.
• Collaborate with Product, Digital, Data, Architecture, and Operations to align strategy with delivery.

Skills

Leadership

People management

Software architecture

CI/CD

DevSecOps

Cloud-native

AI-assisted development

Tools

CI/CD pipelines

DevSecOps

Microservices

Job description

ABOUT THE ROLE

Are you ready to be part of AirAsia's digital transformation and help shape the future of aviation technology?

We are looking for an experienced and forward-thinking Senior Software Engineering Manager to lead high-performing engineering teams in designing, developing, and delivering scalable, reliable, and innovative software solutions that power AirAsia's business and operational capabilities.

You will drive engineering excellence, develop strong technical teams, and ensure the successful delivery of complex software initiatives across multiple business domains. Working closely with Product, Digital, Data, Architecture, and Business Operations, you will translate strategic objectives into robust technology solutions.

This role combines technical leadership, people management, delivery accountability, and strategic thinking, with an appreciation of the reliability, scalability, and operational demands of aviation.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

Engineering Leadership & People Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop multiple software engineering teams, including Engineering Managers, Technical Leads, and Software Engineers.
• Build high-performing, accountable, and collaborative teams across locations and technology domains.
• Drive coaching, performance management, succession planning, and career development.
• Foster engineering ownership, continuous improvement, technical excellence, and innovation.
• Own engineering workforce planning, resource allocation, and capability development aligned with business priorities.
• Promote collaboration, knowledge sharing, and consistent engineering practices across teams.

Software Engineering Excellence

• Establish and continuously improve engineering standards, best practices, and development methodologies.
• Drive automated testing, CI/CD, secure coding, code review, and DevSecOps practices.
• Ensure solutions meet appropriate scalability, maintainability, security, performance, and resilience standards.
• Measure engineering performance using indicators such as delivery predictability, deployment frequency, lead time, defect rates, change failure rate, and recovery time.
• Champion automation, modern developer tooling, and AI-assisted software development.
• Reduce technical debt while balancing business delivery with long-term platform stability.

Delivery Management & Execution

• Oversee the end-to-end software development lifecycle across multiple concurrent projects and workstreams.
• Take accountability for delivering solutions within agreed scope, timelines, quality standards, and resource constraints.
• Translate requirements into executable engineering plans with Product Owners and stakeholders.
• Manage engineering capacity, dependencies, technical risks, and competing priorities.
• Remove delivery bottlenecks and establish transparent governance, reporting, and escalation.

Aviation Technology & Operational Reliability

• Lead the development and enhancement of business-critical platforms supporting aviation operations and commercial activities.
• Ensure solutions meet aviation operating demands for high availability, business continuity, performance, and data integrity.
• Collaborate with stakeholders in flight operations, crew management, scheduling, airport operations, passenger services, and operational recovery.
• Oversee integration with internal systems, external aviation platforms, and third-party service providers.
• Ensure adherence to applicable regulations, cybersecurity standards, data protection policies, and operational controls.
• Partner with Infrastructure, DevOps, and Operations on monitoring, incident response, disaster recovery, production support.
• Drive root-cause analysis, preventive actions, and improvements following production incidents.

Technology Strategy & Innovation

• Contribute to the engineering technology roadmap in support of AirAsia's digital transformation and business strategy.
• Evaluate custom-built, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), and third-party solutions based on business and technical fit.
• Guide adoption of cloud-native systems, microservices, event-driven architectures, APIs, and containerized deployments where appropriate.
• Identify opportunities to use AI, automation, and emerging technologies to improve engineering productivity and business capability.
• Support legacy modernization and technology transformation with enterprise and solution architecture teams.
• Assess architectural risks and opportunities for innovation, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage.

Stakeholder & Vendor Management

• Build trusted relationships with senior business stakeholders, technology leaders, Product teams, and Operations.
• Communicate delivery status, risks, dependencies, and technical trade-offs clearly to management.
• Manage technology vendors, outsourced engineering teams, contractors, and external delivery partners.
• Hold external resources accountable to engineering standards, performance expectations, delivery commitments, and contractua