Engineering Manager (UK Based)

Engineering Managers… As well as being engineer leaders and technical experts, they are really the ‘glue’ that keeps engineering teams aligned and performing...

They wear so many hats; leader, teacher, problem-solver, confidant, expert, planner…the list goes on! A true Engineering Manager encompasses years of knowledge, skills and expertise into one being.

But at Gecko, we’re not looking for just any old Engineering Manager; we don’t just employ skills or qualifications - although, often they are handy, albeit even necessary. Instead, our hiring approach is always centred around finding our next ‘Gecko’.

What’s a ‘Gecko’?

Although we’re massively into automation, we are humans - not Bots! Each Gecko brings a different perspective, a solution-orientated mindset and not to mention their own “je ne sais quoi”. It's ambition, drive and curiosity all rolled into an individual who doesn’t just have the ability, but also the personality and the potential (but no egos allowed).

You won't only be part of the Engineering team but the whole Gecko team; Product Managers, Designers, Customer Success people... Working with the whole Gecko team across a pretty flat hierarchy means that every Gecko is empowered to input ideas on how we can improve anything and everything – from our products, systems and processes to large-scale company-wide decisions (including the important ones like where we used to order lunch).

In our Engineering team, we’re on that path of constantly trying to get better at what we do and love to share whatever we learn along the way; whether it's quirky resources, the latest tools, new languages (or even a new cooking recipe). We love to geek out over great code and can appreciate awesome craftmanship. We love our tech stack – from Node.js, Angular, and React, to PHP, Laravel, and Lumen – or even AWS – we love it all (and we love coming across new tech too)! Our projects also include a bit of something for everyone; from legacy code to greenfield, spread across two main product suites incorporating a diverse tech stack. We like to experiment; failing fast and learning faster mean that, in our Agile world, making mistakes isn’t a bad thing. We are also big advocates of paired programming and nothing is released until we have a code review and it is properly tested (we value working software over comprehensive documentation).

Who ‘are’ Gecko?

We’re not just any tech start-up (actually, 8 years down the line, we’re more of a scale-up now). At Gecko, we’re the proud creators of a meaningful SaaS solution that has allowed today's Higher Ed institutions to connect with over 9 million students worldwide.

And the exciting thing is, we’re growing...!

So we’re looking for a ‘leader of engineers’ to help create a high-performing engineering culture…

That’s someone who exemplifies the highest standard in software engineering, leadership and technical expertise and the potential to do great things with this. Someone who ensures that the team’s decisions and output consistently help empower our customers and strengthen our engineering capability.

Reporting to the CTO, you will:

• Handle the day-to-day line management of our agile engineering teams, creating a supportive and creative environment that ensures development can happen at pace.
• Ensure team priorities’ run smoothly by taking the reins at Sprint Planning, breaking down Sprint work as well as organising workflows and also managing backlog refinements.
• Resolve complex issues brought forth by the engineering team, preventing dysfunctions and raising problems rapidly, whilst continuously improving the engineering processes.
• Support the growth of the business and our Geckos by assisting with the recruitment of new team members, facilitating their onboarding and training, as well as developing and mentoring existing team members.
• Challenge and innovate our tech stack, culture and ways of working, collaborating with other engineers, product managers, and designers to develop new product features and improve existing ones across a variety of projects, ultimately delivering an amazing product experience for our customers.

So, we’re looking for someone who truly is excited by all of this and feels passionate about the thought of building the best student engagement platform using the best technologies.

Success in this role will lead to potential opportunities for growth across the entire engineering team with significant scope for future development.

But enough about us, more about you...