Engineering Manager

SAC is the number one in its field, it’s an innovative and technology-driven business which values its employees. SAC is on a journey and we are looking for the best talent to join us to contribute to our success as a business and in doing so provide you with some amazing challenges and career development opportunities.

About the Role

We are seeking a technically strong and strategic Engineering Manager to lead a skilled cross-functional team. You will partner closely with executive leadership to drive timely product delivery, guide the architectural transition from a Monolith to Microservices, and maintain the stability of our core platform while enabling the rapid launch of high-impact features.

Key Responsibilities

1. Technical Strategy and Stakeholder Alignment

• The Bridge Between Vision and Execution: You will act as the primary link between Product and Engineering. You’ll translate high-level product goals into scalable technical designs and break down complex business requirements into clear, actionable tasks for the development team.

  
  

• Strategic Decision Support: Act as the principal engineering advocate, communicate trade-offs (e.g., scalability vs speed-to-market) to stakeholders to facilitate data-driven and informed decision-making.

  
  

• Collaboration & Influence: Build strong relationships across teams and influence senior leadership to align engineering efforts with organizational strategy.

  
  

2. Engineering Process Management

• SDLC Ownership: Define, implement, and rigorously enforce a Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) designed to optimize development flow and minimize process friction.

  
  

• Delivery Predictability and Optimization: Establish predictable release pipelines from ad-hoc processes through the establishment of standardized estimation practices and the utilization of DORA metrics to systematically identify and eliminate systemic bottlenecks.

  
  

• Quality Assurance and Governance: Establish and uphold the well-defined criteria for feature readiness. This includes mandatory, rigorous code reviews, comprehensive automated testing protocols, and meticulous documentation standards.

  
  

3. Architectural Oversight and Technology Governance 

• System Design: Guide architectural decisions, especially around Microservices and AI integrations, ensuring cohesive and maintainable systems.

• Technology Selection: Decide whether to retain existing tools or adopt new technologies (e.g., Go, Python) based on long-term viability and strategic alignment.

  
  

• Stability & Performance: Implement reliability patterns (caching, load balancing, asynchronous processing) to ensure platform stability.

  
  

4. Team Development and Leadership 

• Technical Leadership (Player-Coach Model): The Manager holds responsibility for daily sprint deliverables and must maintain a hands-on technical role.. This involvement includes participating in high-level code reviews, architecting complex Proofs-of-Concept (POCs), and providing technical expertise to unblock the team on mission-critical, high-risk challenges.

  
  

• Talent Cultivation: Proactively enhance the team's collective capabilities through active mentorship, transforming top-tier performers into future technical and organizational leaders.

  
  

• People & Performance Management: Lead hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career development for engineers.

  
  

• Run regular 1:1s with team to support growth and resolve blockers

  
  

5. Operationalizing Artificial Intelligence 

• AI Production Readiness: Oversee the engineering process required to deploy reliable, production-grade AI features. Possess a clear understanding of the unique challenges inherent in AI systems (e.g., latency management, handling non-determinism, and optimizing API cost-efficiency) to ensure seamless and stable product integration.

  
  

We value engineering principles over specific syntax:

• Backend: PHP Ecosystem (Legacy & Modern), Node.js.

  
  

• Frontend & Mobile: React.js, React Native, and Legacy AngularJS.

  
  

• Data Layer: Relational & NoSQL architectures (MySQL, DynamoDB, Redis).

  
  

• Messaging & Async: Distributed systems powered by RabbitMQ and ActiveMQ.

  
  

• Cloud: AWS (Modern Cloud-Native & Serverless patterns).

  
  

• Innovation: Integration with LLMs and Generative AI workflows.

  
  

Must-Have Skills / Qualifications

• BSc in Computer Science or equivalent experience.

  
  

• Minimum of 12+ years experience in software engineering, including technical leadership.

  
  

• 2+ years managing engineers in product teams

  
  

• Proven success leading delivery on live customer-facing products

  
  

• Strong instincts around quality, velocity, and team health

  
  

• Passion, energy, and hands-on technical excellence.

  
  

• Excellent written and verbal communication in English.

  
  

• Strong attention to detail and quality.

  
  

Why Consider This Opportunity?

• High Authority: Lead the definition of engineering processes, quality standards, and team culture.

  
  

• Direct Impact: Shape the organization’s engineering strategy and future.

  
  

• Technical Challenge: Balance legacy system stability, drive microservices adoption, and lead AI integration.