Engineering Manager, Product Engineering

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Germany.

📋 Description

• Month 1: Become a proficient individual contributor (IC). Get acquainted with the codebase, deliver a significant feature, and demonstrate to yourself and the team that you can meet our development standards. You don’t have to be the top senior engineer right away, but you should be onboarded and producing high-quality work quickly enough to effectively assist others in their growth. Anticipate spending 70–80% of your time coding.

• Month 2: Take charge of hiring. In addition to ongoing contributions as an IC, assume responsibility for engineering interviews and enhance the technical interview process. The existing setup relies on too many individuals. You will create technical challenges, conduct screenings, and make the hiring process more consistent and repeatable. This is crucial as we plan to expand the team in the next 12 months.

• Month 3: Begin to lead. Collaborate on a practical approach to assess team performance — it should be straightforward, measurable, and non-bureaucratic. Start conducting regular one-on-ones with each team member, focusing on three key areas: output x impact, quality, and AI efficiency. Identify team members who may be struggling and assist them in their development. Remove barriers for top performers.

• Over time, the focus will shift. Coding will decrease from 70% to 10–20%. Hiring will become the majority of your responsibilities, as we aim to expand our team from 5 engineers to 9 in the coming months (50–70% during active recruitment, 20–30% afterward). Mentorship and process enhancement will grow as the team expands. However, you will never fully cease coding — you will remain engaged in the code enough to maintain credible technical judgment.

⛳️ Requirements

• Over 8 years of experience in backend/product engineering, with a proven history of managing large, complex systems from start to finish — at the principal engineer level or equivalent.

• Some experience in engineering management (1–3 years) — you've conducted one-on-ones, performance discussions, and hiring, ideally within a similarly staged company.

• Strong practical experience with AI-assisted coding tools (Cursor, Claude), having experimented extensively to understand what works and what does not.

• Solid grasp of OOP fundamentals, along with some experience in Java Spring Boot, Hibernate, or equivalent technologies.

• Experience in building or integrating AI/ML features in production, with hands-on exposure to LLMs and RAG-based systems.

• Proven ability to lead system design on significant projects, rather than merely contributing to them.

• Excellent troubleshooting and debugging capabilities; you are the go-to person when issues arise and no one knows the cause.

• Proficiency in relational database design and SQL optimization.

• Experience in designing technical interviews and assessing senior engineering candidates.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills; comfortable working in a remote, in-sync-first culture.

• Startup experience; you understand what it’s like to build at this stage.

• Available to work in the European timezone (CET/CEST). Ideally based in Germany.

🏝️ Benefits

• Remote: Fully remote with a genuine virtual office in Gather.

• Salary: Competitive, aligned with European market rates (specifics will be shared during discussions).

• Equity: Generous package — we are all stakeholders here.

• Development budget: €1,000/year — yours to invest in your professional growth.

• Workspace: Support for remote workspace setup + access to co-working spaces.

• Holidays: 26 days plus local public holidays.

• Health insurance: Comprehensive coverage.

• Annual retreat: Previous locations include Costa Brava 🇪🇸, Austrian Alps, Portugal, Italy, and the Spanish Islands.

• Tech: Latest equipment including a MacBook, monitors, and headphones.