Engineering Manager - Development (Germany or Poland)

Engineering Manager - Development

• Location: Remote (Poland or Germany-based candidates only)
• Employment Type: Permanent or B2B Contract
• Salary package: €80,000 base (net) + benefits
• Start Date: Immediate/negotiable 

About the Company

We are a well-established international (top-3) quick-service restaurant (QSR) group with a strong presence across Europe, the NOAM and beyond. Known for its high operational standards, consistent quality, and people-first culture, the business is now seeking a Senior Team Lead/Engineering Manager who combines strong technical leadership with system ownership and effective people management.
You will work closely with senior leadership and the IT Director, contributing directly to the stability and evolution of critical business systems.

About the Role

This role does not require daily hands-on coding — however, it does require deep technical expertise. You must be able to validate existing code, identify performance bottlenecks, suggest architectural and code-level optimisations, and act as a Technical Leader, not just a people manager.

You will be expected to have a deep understanding of the system, know how each component works, maintain a clear view of the backlog and accumulated technical debt, proactively identify risks, and set the right priorities for the team based on business needs and system health — not wait for failures or degradation to occur.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a distributed team of up to 6 software engineers across the EU
• Act as both Team Lead and Technical Lead — guiding architecture, reviewing solutions, and validating code quality
• Deeply immerse yourself in existing systems to understand how everything works in detail
• Review and validate existing code; advise on optimisation, refactoring, and performance improvements
• Own the technical backlog, identify weak points, and prioritise work based on business requirements and technical debt
• Ensure system stability, scalability, security, and audit readiness
• Proactively propose technical improvements before issues escalate
• Collaborate closely with the IT Director to align execution with strategic goals
• Support audits and ensure documentation and processes meet internal and external standards
• Participate in hiring decisions, onboarding, mentoring, and performance management
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders across multiple countries
• Occasional travel within Europe (approx. once per quarter)

Core Competencies

• Senior Technical Leadership — able to guide architecture and technical decisions without daily coding
• System Thinking — sees the platform as a whole, not just individual components
• Proactivity — identifies risks and improvements early
• Ownership & Accountability — full responsibility for system quality and outcomes
• Analytical Mindset — strong engineering thinking, comfortable with complex systems
• Clear Communication — effective with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Technical Requirements

• PHP (7.2+, 8.0+) - strong understanding of OOP principles and design patterns
• Experience with Yii2 and Laravel
• Strong knowledge of SQL and NoSQL databases:
  • MySQL
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • MongoDB
• Understanding of REST and ability to design APIs
• Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Confident Linux user, comfortable with command-line tools
• Strong understanding of Git and version control workflows
• Ability to read, understand, and analyse other people's code
• Experience in estimating development timelines and delivering against them
• Experience working in teams and understanding shared responsibility

Nice to Have

• Experience working on HighLoad systems
• Understanding of DDD (Domain-Driven Design)
• Experience with microservice architectures and inter-service communication

Education & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience
• Senior-level experience required (Team Lead / Senior Developer / Engineering Manager)
• 6+ years of professional software development experience
• Proven experience working with complex, production-grade systems
• Stable career history (no frequent job changes)

Compensation & Benefits

• Net monthly salary: €6,000 – €7,000
• 26 days paid holiday
• Full benefits package
• Remote-first setup with occasional travel
• B2B contract option available (Germany)
  

Interested in leading a highly skilled software team and contributing directly to the stability and evolution of critical business systems? Apply now!