Engineering Manager
Payments Technology | Fully Remote | Up to £110,000k + bonus
- Seniority: Manager level, leading a team of 14 to 20 software engineers
- Stack: Agnostic (Java, .NET, Golang all welcome)
- Working model: Fully remote
- Salary: £90,000 to £110,000 depending on experience
- Exclusive role to Ocho.
About the Company
This is a global payments technology company processing billions of dollars in transactions annually, serving merchants from SMEs through to large enterprise clients across North America, Europe, and beyond. Built through strategic acquisitions into a single unified platform, the business competes at the top end of the fintech infrastructure space alongside some of the most recognised names in the industry. It is a merchant-first organisation, deeply focused on outcomes over outputs, and is currently undergoing a significant AI-driven transformation that is reshaping how engineering teams work and what they are expected to deliver.
The Role
This Engineering Manager role sits at the heart of a company in genuine transformation. You will lead the Asset team, a group of 14 to 20 software engineers, at a moment when AI tooling has dramatically accelerated development velocity and the real constraints have shifted to deployment, DevOps, and requirements. The business is moving toward fewer, more senior hires who can operate as force multipliers, and this is precisely that kind of role.
You will be a player-coach: credible enough with engineers to stay close to the technical detail, and strategic enough to work confidently with senior leadership on roadmap and delivery. You will partner closely with product, architecture, and DevOps teams to eliminate blockers, raise engineering standards, and build a culture where people grow. If you are the kind of engineer-turned-leader who gets energised by impact rather than activity, this is worth your attention.
Key responsibilities
- Lead, hire, mentor, and retain a team of 14 to 20 software engineers, fostering a culture of accountability and continuous growth.
- Drive engineering best practices across the team, including agile and lean delivery frameworks, CI/CD, and automated testing.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product managers, DevOps, and architecture to ensure alignment with the product roadmap and delivery timelines.
- Apply an AI-first mindset to team operations, identifying where AI tooling can accelerate velocity, reduce toil, and improve outcomes beyond basic code generation.
- Eliminate blockers and continuously improve tooling, deployment pipelines, and automation to raise team throughput.
- Coach engineers on career progression, tackling increasingly complex challenges, and developing the skills needed for a more senior, system-level approach to engineering.
- Own the delivery commitments of your team, ensuring transparency with leadership and alignment to business objectives.
- Coordinate the development of cross-team features between engineering squads, product, and technical operations.
- Foster a culture of operational excellence through real-time monitoring, alerting, and continuous improvement.
- Support the planning process and help translate product requirements into sound engineering plans.
What You Will Need
Essential
- 5+ years in software engineering, with at least 2 years in a formal engineering management role.
- Proven track record leading and developing teams of 5 or more engineers.
- Strong object-oriented programming background in Java, .NET (C#), Golang, or equivalent.
- Solid grasp of agile and lean delivery methodologies with hands-on experience running teams within these frameworks.
- An AI-first mindset: comfortable applying AI tools practically to improve team velocity, automate processes, and think beyond basic code generation.
- Excellent communication skills, including the ability to present technical concepts to senior stakeholders and work effectively with distributed teams.
- Experience working cross-functionally across product, DevOps, and architecture teams in a fast-moving environment.
- Comfortable with ambiguity, willing to backtrack, experiment, and seek multiple solutions without needing all the answers upfront.
Nice to Have
- Experience in payments, fintech, or financial services technology.
- Exposure to mentoring first-time engineering managers.
- Familiarity with modern DevOps practices and CI/CD tooling at scale.
Why Apply?
- £90,000 to £110,000 base salary, depending on experience.
- Fully remote working with genuine flexibility.
- AI budget and tooling (including GitHub Copilot) already in place, with active investment in experimentation.
- Rare opportunity to lead at a genuinely transformational moment: engineering strategy has been rebuilt around AI and the company is moving fast.
- Small teams, big autonomy: clear outcomes, no needless process, trust to get on with it.
- Real investment in learning, mastery, and individual growth as a core part of the culture.
- Exclusive role via Ocho , with a fast two-stage interview process and quick time to offer.
How to Apply
If you believe you meet the criteria for this role and are excited about the opportunity, please apply via the link. Alternatively, reach out to Phil Gamble directly for an informal chat via LinkedIn or WhatsApp.
About Phil Gamble
Phil Gamble has over 21 years of experience recruiting in global software engineering markets, delivering high-quality technical hires for scaling organisations. His relationship-driven approach ensures candidates are supported throughout the entire process.
