Sr. Engineering Manager - #2163172

Engineering • Leeds • Full-Time • Hybrid

Are you a people-first engineering leader who thrives on turning complex technical challenges into elegant, user-centric software?

As our Senior Engineering Manager, you will sit at the intersection of high-level business strategy and hands-on execution. You will lead the engineering organisation responsible for the full BigChange product suite—from our legacy monolith to our rapidly evolving microservices architecture and mobile product ecosystem.

Reporting to executive leadership, you will lead high-performing development teams, translate strategic vision into actionable technical roadmaps, and embed an AI-first engineering culture that elevates delivery velocity, code quality, and team capabilities.

About BigChange:

BigChange is at an inflection point. As a pioneer of AI-powered field service software serving over 250,000 users worldwide, we are transforming how trades and field service businesses operate. Headquartered in Leeds and part of the global Simpro Group network, our platform connects jobs, people, and performance across plumbing, HVAC, fire & security, facilities management, electrical contracting, and more.

Trusted by over 2,200 high-growth businesses, we've processed billions in invoiced work and scheduled tens of millions of jobs. We've featured multiple times on the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, and we're just getting started. We’ve recently launched BigChange Lightning—an AI intelligence layer that deploys autonomous agents across field service operations—and we are looking for a Senior Engineering Manager to lead the teams building what comes next.

What You’ll Do

People Leadership & Talent Development

• Grow & Mentor: Run regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and merit cycles, providing honest, constructive feedback and creating tangible career pathways for individual contributors and leaders alike.
• Build a High-Trust Culture: Drive hiring, onboarding, and retention efforts in Leeds to foster an inclusive, collaborative environment where engineers feel motivated to stay and do their best work.
• Be a Pillar of Support: Act as a trusted sounding board and support system for your team through both professional and personal challenges.

Technical Requirements

• Legacy Modernization & Strategy: Expertise in bridging legacy monoliths (.NET 4.6.2, WebForms, jQuery) with modern architecture (C# .NET 8, Micro-frontends, Microservices on AWS EKS).
• Full-Stack Platform Management: Ability to lead diverse development streams across Web (React, WebForms), Mobile (iOS/Swift, Android/Kotlin, Kotlin Multiplatform), and Backend systems.
• Cloud & DevOps Leadership: Proven experience managing cloud infrastructure (AWS EC2, EKS) and robust CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps.
• Data Architecture: Proficiency in overseeing multi-model data environments, including relational (MS SQL, PG SQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB) databases, alongside data integration pipelines (Snowflake, FiveTran).
• Observability & Security Integration: A proactive approach to system health (New Relic), security compliance (Snyk, Auth0), and incident management (PagerDuty, FlagSmith).

Technical & Mobile Platform Strategy

• Set Technical Vision: Establish and communicate a technical vision that aligns with business goals, making pragmatic architectural decisions across web, cloud, and mobile platforms.
• Platform Evolution: Oversee our continued migration from an AWS EC2 monolith toward AWS EKS microservices, ensuring system reliability, security, and long-term scalability.
• Mobile Ecosystem Leadership: Drive high technical standards across our native and cross-platform mobile apps, mastering the nuances of mobile performance, deployment, and app store ecosystems.
• Champion Engineering Excellence: Establish high standards for code quality, continuous testing, and proactive management of technical debt with an AI-first lens.

Delivery, Operations & AI-First SDLC

• Transform to an AI-First Team: Lead the transition from traditional agile delivery to an AI-first software development lifecycle—leveraging developer tooling and CI/CD intelligence to fundamentally change how engineers work and what they achieve.
• Measure Progress: Utilize industry-standard framework metrics (such as DX Core 4) to track team performance, remove delivery bottlenecks, and validate the efficiency gains of our AI transformation.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Partner closely with Product Management, Commercial teams, and executive leadership to balance feature delivery (especially mobile-first initiatives) with platform maintenance and technical debt.
• Incident & Vendor Leadership: Take the lead during high-priority technical incidents, coordinating calm, swift resolutions, while managing key vendor relationships and external software partnerships where required.

What You’ll Bring

• Proven Engineering Leadership: 8+ years of total software engineering experience with a track record of successfully managing, scaling, and transforming engineering teams within a fast-paced SaaS environment.
• Mobile & Systems Architecture Depth: Hands-on expertise in modern mobile application development (iOS, Android, React Native, or Flutter) alongside proven experience navigating hybrid environments combining legacy systems and cloud microservices.
• AI Conviction: Genuine conviction about AI in engineering—you've moved teams beyond AI as a curiosity to AI as a core capability multiplier in developer workflows and product features.
• Pragmatic Debt Navigator: A track record of navigating legacy systems and technical debt pragmatically without stalling product velocity or feature delivery.
• Executive Communicator: Strong presence and communication skills—you easily translate complex technical challenges for executive stakeholders and bridge the gap between technical and business goals.
• Empathetic Leader: A genuinely people-first manager who takes team morale, psychological safety, and individual growth seriously.
• Location: Located in or able to regularly commute to our headquarters in Leeds for on-site leadership presence.