Engineering Manager I

The Engineering Manager will lead a cross-functional software engineering team within the Application Engineering organization, driving the delivery of scalable, reliable, and high-quality software for our Employee Communications (EC) platform. This role combines hands-on technical leadership with people management, working closely with Product, Architecture, UX, and DevOps to evolve applications in line with business needs and modern SaaS architecture principles. The manager will shape technical direction, manage execution, and foster a culture of learning and continuous improvement.

Must Have

• Oversee design, development, testing, and deployment of high-quality, cloud-native software features in an Agile environment.
• Ensure technical solutions are scalable, performant, and aligned with architectural guidelines.
• Lead and mentor a team of software engineers, fostering clean code, test automation, continuous integration, and iterative delivery.
• Partner with Product Management to translate product strategy into technical deliverables.
• Work closely with architects and senior developers to influence design decisions and promote modular architectures.
• Champion high standards in code quality, system observability, and operational readiness.
• Continuously refine development workflows, improving team velocity, reliability, and developer experience.
• Identify, prioritize, and drive initiatives to reduce technical debt and improve long-term scalability.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development planning.
• Coordinate with other engineering teams to ensure cohesive delivery pipelines and consistent engineering practices.
• 10+ years SW development experience; minimum 3 years’ experience leading engineers.
• Background in software development (Java, Kotlin, or similar modern languages) and front-end frameworks (React, Angular).
• Solid understanding of microservices architectures, RESTful APIs, and cloud-native development (AWS/GCP/Azure).
• Experience managing teams working with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Proven ability to guide teams through architecture evolution, system refactoring, and technical debt reduction.
• Working knowledge of DevOps principles, observability tooling, and performance optimization.
• Excellent communication skills.

Perks & Benefits

• Values-driven organization
• Encourages employees to bring their authentic selves to work
• Empowers everyone to make a tangible impact on products, clients, and culture
• Dynamic environment with driven, fun, and flexible individuals
• Named a Great Place to Work in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021
• Fosters an environment where there is a diversity of perspectives

Introduction:

Are you searching for an opportunity to play a key role in driving the dramatic growth of a highly successful software company?

At Poppulo, we’re working on what’s next in communications and workplace technology. As a pioneer in this industry, we understand that meaningfully reaching every employee is hard. And so is managing office space in a hybrid world. And so is improving the customer and guest experience. We exist to make each of these things easier. We exist to bring harmony to our customers.

And we do that at enterprise scale. Our omnichannel employee communications, customer communications, and workplace experience platform is trusted by over 6,000 organizations today, reaching more than 35M employees and delivering content to 500,000+ digital signs.

We know there’s no such thing as a “perfect" candidate - we’re all a work in progress and are growing new skills and capabilities all the time. We encourage you to apply for a position with Poppulo even if you don’t meet 100% of the requirements. We believe in fostering an environment where there is a diversity of perspectives, in hopes that we can all thrive.

The Opportunity

The Engineering Manager will lead a cross-functional software engineering team within the Application Engineering organization, driving the delivery of scalable, reliable, and high-quality software for our Employee Communications (EC) platform.

Reporting to the Senior Engineering Manager, this role combines hands-on technical leadership with people management. You’ll work closely with Product, Architecture, UX and DevOps to ensure our applications evolve in line with business needs, engineering best practices, and modern SaaS architecture principles.

You will play a key role in shaping the technical direction of your teams, managing execution excellence, and nurturing a culture of learning, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the design, development, testing, and deployment of high-quality, cloud-native software features within your teams in an Agile environment.
• Ensure technical solutions are scalable, performant, and aligned with architectural guidelines.
• Lead and mentor a team of software engineers, fostering an environment that values clean code, test automation, continuous integration, and iterative delivery.
• Partner with Product Management to translate product strategy into technical deliverables, balancing feature delivery with platform sustainability and technical debt reduction.
• Work closely with architects and senior developers to influence design decisions, promote modular and maintainable architectures, and ensure alignment with the broader platform vision.
• Champion high standards in code quality, system observability, and operational readiness. Encourage practices such as code reviews, pair programming, automated testing, and continuous delivery.
• Continuously refine development workflows, improving team velocity, reliability, and developer experience through data-driven insights and retrospectives.
• Identify, prioritize, and drive initiatives to reduce technical debt, improve system maintainability, and enhance long-term scalability.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development planning. Identify skill gaps and create learning opportunities to upskill engineers and build technical depth within the team.
• Coordinate with other engineering teams to ensure cohesive delivery pipelines, shared platform capabilities, and consistent engineering practices.

Role Requirements:

Must-Haves

• 10+ years SW development experience; minimum 3 years’ experience leading engineers across backend and frontend projects
• Background in software development, ideally with hands-on experience in Java, Kotlin, or similar modern languages, and working knowledge of front-end frameworks (e.g., React, Angular).
• Solid understanding of microservices architectures, RESTful APIs, and cloud-native development (AWS/GCP/Azure).
• Experience managing teams working with CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure-as-code.
• Proven ability to guide teams through architecture evolution, system refactoring, and technical debt reduction.
• Working knowledge of DevOps principles, observability tooling, and performance optimization.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to articulate technical trade-offs and decisions to non-technical stakeholders.
• A continuous learner who stays abreast of emerging technologies and fosters technical curiosity within the team.
• Active participation or interest in the engineering community (e.g., conferences, blogs, open-source, meetups)

Leadership Competencies

• Translate strategic objectives into clear technical direction and actionable team goals.
• Create a psychologically safe, inclusive environment that promotes collaboration and innovation.
• Establish metrics and dashboards to measure delivery performance and code quality.
• Provide timely feedback, recognize achievements, and intervene early to address performance challenges.
• Champion continuous improvement, agile values, and a delivery mindset.
• Inspire accountability, ownership, and pride in the team’s technical output and impact.

Who We Are

We are a values-driven organization that encourages our employees to bring their authentic selves to work every day and empowers everyone to make a tangible impact on our products, clients, and culture. We offer a dynamic environment with driven, fun, and flexible individuals who thrive on challenge and responsibility. This is an opportunity to contribute to our culture and join a company that’s on the move.

We live the Poppulo values each day, as they are key to everything we do.

• Bring Your Best Self

We show up authentically, are self-aware and always strive to be better.

• See it. Own it. Solve it.

We proactively innovate and solve for our customers and each other. We set an example with high standards for our work. We foster a culture of learning, acknowledging our successes and our failures.

• Together We’re Better

We value and celebrate our diversity. We learn from others, respecting their expertise, and focus on building trust. That's what makes us a team.

Named a Great Place to Work in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, we are a fast-growing global technology company, with offices in Ireland, the US, and the UK.

Poppulo is an equal opportunity employer.