Engineering Manager - UK

Overview

Join Ashby as an Engineering Manager and contribute to building an engineering culture that empowers engineers with ownership, autonomy, and a high standard of technical excellence. This role focuses on cultivating a supportive environment where engineers lead projects end-to-end, make product decisions, and innovate with minimal process constraints.

Key Responsibilities

• Coach and mentor engineers to own large, loosely defined projects and deliver quality results with little oversight.
• Provide constructive feedback on product and technical specifications to enhance project scope and quality without making final decisions.
• Engage hands-on with coding tasks such as debugging, bug fixes, or improving developer experience while supporting your team.
• Contribute to business-impacting projects like improving data generation for demo accounts to enhance processes across engineering, QA, and sales.
• Focus on building team skills, fostering individual performance, and maintaining an empowered, distraction-free work environment.

Qualifications and Experience

• Passion for both technical work and management, with a desire to deeply engage with team members and technical challenges.
• Experience managing small to moderate-sized engineering teams (aiming for about six direct reports for junior management roles) with a hands-on leadership style.
• Exceptional communication and empathy skills, able to facilitate organizational change and inspire trust and openness.
• Strong understanding of what defines exceptional engineers, including recruitment and growth strategies tailored to individuals.
• Ability to encourage autonomy and ownership among engineers rather than directing product decisions.
• Thrives in high-trust, fast-moving startup environments with multiple responsibilities and rapid feedback cycles.

Work Culture and Philosophy

Ashby's engineering culture minimizes traditional processes, placing trust in engineers to drive projects end-to-end and collaborate naturally with deliberate communication. The company invests in powerful developer tools and reusable components to increase team leverage and aims for regular, healthy work hours. The environment prizes autonomy, experimentation, and high performance without excessive meetings or managerial overhead.

Additional Details

• Remote work opportunity based in Glasgow, Scotland.
• Engineering leadership experience is valued but early leadership candidates with strong principles and drive are welcomed.
• Occasional in-person meetings twice a year for departmental and company-wide gatherings, with a budget to meet local colleagues.
• Highly transparent and fair compensation philosophy promoting trust and clarity around pay and promotions.
• Commitment to building a diverse and talented team with minimal process to maximize innovation and efficiency.