Backend Engineering Manager

GCS Recruitment; United States; Remote; USD 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

GCS Recruitment is seeking an Engineering Manager to lead back-end and AI-enabled product teams in a fully remote setting. You will shape engineering structure, mentor engineers, and align delivery with business objectives.

Ideal candidates bring strong software engineering roots in Java/Python, hands-on cloud-native experience, Kubernetes, and a proven track record of growing teams in fast-moving environments. Remote work flexibility offered.

Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership of engineering teams in fast-moving environments.
• Strong background in back-end software engineering and AI-enabled product delivery.
• Experience collaborating with product and business stakeholders to scale software solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop high-performing engineering teams, driving collaboration and accountability.
• Manage hiring, performance, and career development across multiple engineering functions.
• Partner with engineering, product, and business stakeholders to deliver scalable, high-quality software solutions.
• Support modern engineering practices including cloud-native architectures, micro-services, CI/CD, and AI-enabled technologies.
• Oversee team capacity, resource planning, and delivery performance across initiatives.
• Use data and metrics to improve engineering effectiveness and delivery outcomes.
• Demonstrate strong software engineering background with Java, Python, cloud platforms, Kubernetes.
• Proven experience leading teams in complex, fast-paced tech environments.
• Excellent stakeholder management and people leadership skills.
• Experience with AI, distributed teams, or large-scale customer-facing products is advantageous.

Skills

People leadership

Stakeholder management

Hiring & career development

Software engineering

Cloud-native architectures

Java

Python

Kubernetes

CI/CD

Data-driven decisions

Tools

Kubernetes

CI/CD pipelines

Cloud platforms

Job description

Engineering Manager (Back-end & AI)

Location: Fully Remote
Employment Type: Permanent

Overview

We are looking for an experienced Engineering Manager to lead and grow a high-performing engineering organisation spanning Back-end Engineering and AI-enabled product development.

This is a unique opportunity to join a business operating with the pace, autonomy, and innovation of a startup while benefiting from the backing and resources of a larger, established organisation. Rather than stepping into a mature structure and simply maintaining it, you'll play a key role in shaping engineering teams, influencing delivery practices, and helping build the foundations for the next phase of growth.

You will lead teams responsible for modern back-end platforms, micro-services, APIs, integration's, and AI-powered solutions that support a growing portfolio of digital products. Working alongside experienced technical leaders, you'll focus on people leadership, organisational development, team effectiveness, and delivery outcomes, while enabling engineers to solve complex technical challenges at scale.

This role would suit an Engineering Manager who enjoys building teams, developing talent, creating structure in fast-moving environments, and helping engineers deliver impactful products using modern cloud-native technologies.

The Technology Environment

The engineering organisation works across modern back-end and AI technologies, including cloud-native architectures, micro-services, containerised workloads, event-driven systems, APIs, data platforms, and AI-powered applications.

Teams build and operate highly scaleable services using technologies such as Java, Python, Kubernetes, cloud platforms, CI/CD pipelines, observability tooling, and modern engineering productivity tools. AI capabilities form an increasingly important part of the technology landscape, with teams delivering intelligent services, automation, and generative AI solutions that integrate into wider product ecosystems.

Key Responsibilities & Experience

• Lead and develop high-performing engineering teams, driving a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Manage hiring, performance, career development, and team growth across multiple engineering functions.
• Partner with engineering, product, and business stakeholders to deliver scaleable, high-quality software solutions and achieve business objectives.
• Support modern engineering practices, including cloud-native architectures, micro-services, CI/CD, and AI-enabled technologies.
• Oversee team capacity, resource planning, and delivery performance across multiple initiatives.
• Use data and metrics to improve engineering effectiveness, operational performance, and delivery outcomes.
• Strong software engineering background with experience in technologies such as Java, Python, cloud platforms, Kubernetes, and modern development ecosystems.
• Proven experience leading engineering teams within complex, fast-paced, or rapidly growing technology environments.
• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and people leadership skills, with the ability to balance strategic thinking and operational execution.
• Experience with AI, machine learning, distributed teams, platform engineering, or large-scale customer-facing products is advantageous.

Why This Opportunity?

This is an opportunity to join an organisation at an exciting stage of growth and transformation, where Engineering Managers have genuine influence over how teams are built, developed, and scaled.

You'll have the chance to shape engineering culture, develop exceptional talent, influence how modern back-end and AI capabilities are delivered, and make a tangible impact on the future direction of the technology organisation.

If you're passionate about building high-performing teams, developing engineers, and helping modern technology organisations scale successfully, we'd love to hear from you.