Engineering Manager

The role

We are looking for an experienced Engineering Manager to support the continued growth and development of our engineering organisation.

The role combines people leadership, delivery management, process improvement, and hands-on software engineering. You will help engineers and teams perform at their best, while remaining close enough to the work to understand the practical challenges they face.

We expect approximately 20% to 40% of your time to be spent coding and building. This may include contributing to product development, creating internal tools, improving technical foundations, producing prototypes, or working alongside engineers on particularly difficult problems.

This is not a role for someone who has moved entirely away from software development. You should have at least 10 years of hands-on engineering experience and still enjoy building useful things.

What success looks like in year one

Engineers you manage are receiving consistent, effective support and have greater clarity on expectations and their development. Performance concerns are being addressed fairly and promptly. Delivery is becoming more predictable without unnecessary process overhead. You are a visible, credible presence in the codebase, and the teams you work with trust your technical judgement as much as your management.

What you’ll own

• People leadership: line managing software engineers, supporting their development and progression, setting clear expectations, providing regular feedback, and handling performance concerns fairly and consistently
• Delivery and team health: working with engineering and product leaders to monitor capacity, surface risks early, help teams remove blockers, and improve predictability without introducing unnecessary bureaucracy
• Engineering management practice: developing and improving how engineering management works at Vestd, including onboarding, succession planning, retention and ways of working
• Hands-on engineering: contributing directly to software development for approximately 20% to 40% of your time, including production software, internal tools, prototypes or technical improvements that solve real problems
• Technical credibility: coaching engineers, contributing to technical decisions, and maintaining the standards you expect from others by staying close to the work

What we’re looking for

Essential elements of this role

We cannot provide an exhaustive list of duties; additional duties may arise, but these will be core elements of this role.

• At least 10 years of hands-on software engineering experience, with a strong track record of designing, building, shipping and maintaining production software.
• Recent, practical development experience and the ability to contribute effectively to a modern codebase today, not just historically.
• Proven experience managing software engineers in a growing technology organisation.
• Strong technical judgement and the credibility to coach engineers and challenge technical decisions constructively.
• Experience handling difficult conversations, performance concerns and career development.
• Pragmatic approach to process: introduces structure where it helps, avoids bureaucracy where it does not.
• Familiarity with PHP and Laravel, or experience with a comparable backend framework and a genuine willingness to work comfortably in that environment.
• Impeccable attention to detail and a high degree of accuracy
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• You must be comfortable with working in a remote-first environment

Nice to have

These will help you stand out from the pack:

• Recent hands-on PHP and Laravel experience
• Experience managing engineering managers or technical leads
• Experience working with distributed or remote engineering teams
• Background in fintech, SaaS or a regulated environment
• Experience helping an engineering organisation scale its management practices
• Experience building internal tooling, prototypes or early-stage product

Culture fit

What makes Vestd folk collaborative, adaptable, and eager to grow?

• Thrives in a startup environment, ready to tackle diverse challenges with enthusiasm
• Adaptable - open to taking on responsibilities beyond the defined role as needed
• Passionate about contributing to a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Embraces technology to improve processes and drive efficiency

While the above describes the core responsibilities, this role may from time to time involve tasks beyond this list — as needed to respond to evolving business needs.

Benefits

What you can expect

Our culture is our backbone (BreatheHR named us one of the ‘Top 3 Companies in the UK for Company Culture’), and we take team happiness seriously.

Vestd strives to be as principled as possible. We’re all about Goal 8 of the United Nations ‘Sustainable Development Goals. This goal is about ‘Decent work and economic growth,’ and we consider it both with our external activities and internal workings.

We’ll do everything we can to help you grow in your role. In return, you’ll want to learn all about our industry and do all you can to help us continue leading it.

Vestd is remote-first, so in return for your commitment, diligence, and productivity, you’ll have a lot of autonomy during your working day. Some roles demand office hours (to fit our customers’ schedules), but we are committed to offering flexibility where possible.

Happy employees make for happy customers, as demonstrated in our five-star reviews. Vestd’s excellence has also been recognised by The Europas, The Fintech Awards London, The Hustle Awards, TechRound, and BusinessCloud’s Fintech50. See more about our awards here.

This could be the perfect opportunity if you’re an autonomous, self-driven individual passionate about contributing to a meaningful mission and value being part of a supportive, close-knit team.

• This job is remote-first, although attendance is required twice yearly at our in-person get-togethers
• A flexible environment to help you achieve the best work/life balance
• An Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), of course! (After the qualifying period)
• Monthly recognition scheme, where we celebrate our folk
• Support with home working equipment*
• A personal training and development budget to keep your career and professional growth on track
• Private medical insurance (after the qualifying period)
• Team retreats are held twice a year. They can include an overnight stay and focus on fun and team cohesion
• Great team ethos, connect through regular team and company socials
• 25 days annual leave plus one extra day per year of service (up to five days)

*At Vestd we provide our folk with the hardware and software required to support them in their role. As a remote-first business, we expect anyone applying for a job to have a suitable, quiet working space. You must have an appropriate desk/table and chair, with a reliable internet connection.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at Vestd

At Vestd, we’re committed to building a respectful, inclusive, and diverse team. Trust is one of our core values; with that comes a commitment to fairness and transparency. We want to be open about our EDI efforts.

We wish to recruit people who are passionate about working in a diverse environment and who will support us to ensure that all colleagues are supported and included while working with us.

Research shows that while men are likely to apply when they meet 60% of a job’s requirements, women and individuals from underrepresented groups often apply only when they meet every criterion.

We understand the value of transferable skills and the unique perspectives that diversity brings. That’s why we encourage applications from candidates with unique strengths and experiences.