Engineering Manager - Motors

Trade Me; Auckland; On-site; NZD 170,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

AI skilling

Home office setup

Utilities allowance

In-person team days

Wellness leave

Sick leave from day 1

Company lunches on payday

Friday drinks and nibbles

Annual company awards

Internal mobility

Job summary

Trade Me Motors in Auckland seeks an Engineering Manager to own delivery, platform and people leadership across product portfolios. You will work with product leaders to ensure platforms are fit for purpose and capable of growth, applying platform-as-product practices to prioritise capabilities for great product experiences.

You will spend a meaningful portion of time hands-on, building prototypes with your team and delivering high-value initiatives to production while coaching leaders and

Qualifications

• 10+ years of engineering experience with architecture focus.
• 5+ years leading technical teams.
• Strong technical background for high-impact architecture.
• Excellent leadership, coaching, and decision‑making.
• Strategic thinker with commercial acumen.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering leads and Lead Software Engineers from our Auckland office.
• Work with product and delivery managers to establish technical oversight and governance.
• Formulate upskilling, recruitment, and retention plans with people leaders to serve team skill needs.
• Align technical direction across a large-scale business or technical domain.
• Maintain a productive, diverse, and psychologically safe environment for development teams.
• Coach and mentor technical leaders from both people and technical perspectives.
• Ensure teams balance new product development with system health and technical debt.
• Establish clear roadmaps to strengthen technical platforms, tools, and engineering practices.

Skills

Engineering leadership

People leadership

Architecture design

Technical communication

Strategic mindset

Job description

Jora New Zealand will close on 16th September 2026. Thank you for being with us, we are cheering you on as you continue your career journey.

At Trade Me, we're about connecting Kiwi to create the life they want. Whether it's the big things like finding a home, a job, a car or growing their business, or the smaller things, like finding that right bedside table or parting ways with some old stuff. At Trade Me our vision is to be the place where Kiwi look first.

Trade Me Motors is on a mission to be New Zealand's most trusted and easiest place to buy and sell vehicles. As an Engineering Manager, you own delivery, platform, and people leadership of one or more product portfolios. You work closely with product leaders to make sure the platforms in your portfolio are fit for purpose and capable of the growth we are envisioning. You employ platform-as-product practices to make sure the right platforms capabilities are prioritised to enable desirable product experiences.

Your main areas of focus will be developing the next generation of technical engineers and leaders, streamlining cross-functional delivery, and evolving engineering practices to increase speed-to-value. You spend a meaningful portion of your time hands-on, working with your team building prototypes, and ship high-value initiatives to production.

Here is what you can expect from this role:

• Lead engineering leads and Lead Software Engineers from our Auckland office.
• Work alongside product and delivery managers to establish technical oversight and governance.
• Formulate upskilling, recruitment, and retention plans with people leaders to serve team skill needs.
• Align technical direction across a large-scale business or technical domain.
• Maintain a productive, diverse, and psychologically safe environment for development teams.
• Coach and mentor technical leaders from both people and technical perspectives.
• Ensure teams effectively balance new product development with system health and technical debt.
• Establish clear roadmaps to strengthen technical platforms, tools, and engineering practices.

What you will bring to our team:

• 10+ years of experience in engineering practices with a deep understanding of architecture.
• 5+ years of people leadership experience managing technical teams.
• Strong technical background with the ability to formulate high-impact architecture.
• Excellent leadership, coaching, communication, and decision-making qualities.
• Strategic mindset with commercial acumen and a drive for organizational improvements.

#AI and Tech: We live and breathe AI in our daily tasks. We value curiosity and an open mind towards new tech, offering dedicated AI skilling to help you grow and thrive in a fast-changing landscape.

#Flexibility: Flexibility means different things to different people and we support you to find what works, including a home office set up and utilities allowance. We value team connection and come together in person on Monday and at least one other day a week.

#Wellness: Being your best self means caring for your physical and mental wellbeing, we offer lots of resources to help you along the way.

#Leave: We support you with leave when you need it, including 5 days of wellness leave each year and 10 days of sick leave from day 1.

#Social: Nothing beats getting together to have some fun and celebrate our success. Join us in the office on payday for company paid lunches. Regular Friday drinks and nibbles, annual Trade Me company awards, celebrations and more.

#Learning: Whether it's on the job, formal training, or mentoring, you'll grow with us from Day 1. We're big on internal mobility and look to our own talent first for new opportunities.

We know some candidates can be reluctant to apply for roles if they feel they don't 'tick all the boxes'. If you're excited about this opportunity, we'd still really like to hear from you.

Trade Me is an INZ accredited employer. We truly value diversity and embrace a flexible workplace where people are encouraged to achieve their potential.