Senior Engineering Manager

Apolitical is the world’s largest online network of public servants, with a mission to make governments smarter. It is used by half a million public servants and policymakers across 170 countries, providing governments with the tools, skills and networks they need to become more effective and tech-enabled organisations.

Role

Apolitical's engineering org runs in cross-functional product squads, each with a PM and a Technical Lead. Technical leadership is strong; what the org needs now is a dedicated, experienced people manager who can own IC development, performance management, and team health across multiple squads at the scale of ~10 direct reports from day one. This is a people-first role, but you need to have been a software engineer in a past life so you can credibly assess, coach, and advocate for the engineers you manage.

Tasks and remit

1) People management and development

• Line manage approximately 10 engineers across multiple squads. Run regular 1:1s focused on growth, blockers, and honest two-way feedback.
• Own progression conversations. Help reports understand their current level, what strong performance looks like at the next level, and co-create concrete development plans.
• Iterate on individual contributor progression frameworks, primarily for software engineering and secondarily for data roles, in partnership with the Director of Engineering, ensuring fair calibration and real-world applicability.
• Provide tailored, specific guidance on professional development based on each individual’s strengths, gaps, and ambitions rather than generic advice.

2) Performance management and feedback

• Deliver difficult feedback clearly, specifically, and constructively. Set measurable expectations and follow through consistently.
• Build and execute structured, time-bound, and fair performance improvement plans when needed, with the goal of supporting individuals to succeed.
• Use quantitative team and individual performance reports provided by the Director of Engineering to ground feedback discussions. Explain both where metrics indicate strong performance and where improvement is needed, while adding qualitative context.
• Provide the Director of Engineering with regular, actionable assessments of team and individual performance, including identified issues and proposed solutions without waiting to be asked.

3) Squad embedding and delivery support

• Actively participate in squad ceremonies including stand-ups, refinements, retrospectives, and planning sessions. Contribute directly by supporting Product Managers and Tech Leads, including facilitating sessions where appropriate.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the day-to-day work of your reports to ensure your coaching is relevant and your feedback is credible.
• Identify delivery risks, team dynamic challenges, and process inefficiencies early, and surface them alongside concrete, actionable solutions.

4) Organisational context and communication

• Help reports understand the broader business context behind engineering decisions, including product changes, commercial pressures, and strategic shifts. Clearly communicate the rationale behind decisions.
• Respond to concerns from individual contributors with balanced, informed perspectives. Acknowledge challenges while providing context on external market dynamics and business realities.
• Act as a bridge between engineering leadership and individual contributors, ensuring accurate and transparent communication in both directions.

Onboarding milestones

Within 30 days

• Complete onboarding by understanding team structure, meeting all individual contributors, and learning the product and tech stack at a contextual level.
• Observe squad ceremonies across all relevant teams.
• Begin a 1:1 cadence with initial reports while ramping towards a full caseload.
• Review progression frameworks and performance data with the Director of Engineering.

Within 60 days

• Manage a full caseload of approximately 10 direct reports with regular 1:1s in place.
• Be embedded in squad ceremonies and establish strong working relationships with Product Managers and Tech Leads.
• Deliver initial progression and development conversations for all reports using the current framework.
• Identify and communicate any performance concerns, including proposed approaches for each case.

Within 90 days

• Ship at least one iteration of the individual contributor progression framework in partnership with the Director of Engineering.
• Build a reputation for providing honest, actionable, and useful feedback.
• Initiate and manage performance improvement plans where required, ensuring they are structured and progressing.
• Provide regular, clear assessments of team health that combine metrics with qualitative context.

Within 6 months

• Establish a progression framework that is actively used, trusted by individual contributors, and supported by a clear calibration process across engineering.
• Demonstrate measurable improvements in team health and individual development outcomes.
• Embed a clear and respected performance management cadence.
• Build strong, trusted relationships with Product Managers and Tech Leads and be recognised as an embedded partner in delivery.

About you

This is a great fit if you have…

• Significant engineering management experience, including managing 8 or more engineers simultaneously and the ability to scale to approximately 10 direct reports. This is not a first-time engineering manager role.
• Professional experience as a software engineer with hands-on experience writing production code, enabling credible evaluation of engineering quality and output.
• Proven track record in performance management, including delivering difficult feedback, designing structured improvement plans, and successfully supporting underperforming individuals to improve.
• Experience working with individual contributor progression frameworks, including building, iterating, or actively using them for development and calibration.
• Comfort using quantitative performance data to inform management decisions, alongside an understanding of the limitations of metrics.
• Experience working within agile squads, with a strong understanding of effective ceremonies, delivery practices, and collaboration with Tech Leads and Product Managers.

Call out in your CV if you have...

• Experience working in a scale-up or growth-stage environment where structures and processes are still evolving.
• Familiarity with TypeScript or JavaScript ecosystems.
• Experience managing across multiple squads or product areas simultaneously.
• Exposure to managing data teams, including data engineering or analytics.
• Experience in GovTech, EdTech, or other mission-driven organisations.

Don’t meet every single expectation? Studies have shown that women and people of colour are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Apolitical is dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Application Process

The Applied platform also asks some demographic questions before you start your application. These answers are never visible to the hiring team and don’t affect your application in any way. We only see summary statistics to help us check if our candidate pool is balanced and if everyone has an equal chance to get hired irrespective of their background. If you prefer, you can easily opt out of answering these questions.

Using AI in your application answers

At Apolitical, we embrace new technologies and encourage the use of AI in our work. However, as AI becomes more prevalent, it can be difficult to distinguish between machine-generated content and the unique perspectives of candidates. We’re excited to see how you use AI tools to structure and refine your answers, but we value your unique insights above all else. Ensure your application reflects your voice and how your skills align with our mission.

Stages in our hiring process:

• Management and culture interview [45m on Google Meet]. When up to 70% of employee engagement is driven by manager effectiveness, our objective is clear: hire effective managers who will uphold our working culture and help our team members thrive. This interview considers the skills and behaviours expected of a manager at this role level and within our culture. This interview is an opportunity to get to know you and for you to get to know us as an organisation, so we make time at the end for you to ask us questions about how we work.
• Team interview [45m in person]. We ask you questions on fundamental skills and behaviours for the role. It’s an opportunity to meet some of the people you might end up working with, so we make time at the end for you to ask us questions about the team and role.
• Executive interview [30m in person]. One or two of our senior leaders build on conversations you've had with other team members to learn about your motivations and drivers at work and within the Apolitical context.