R&D Engineering Group Manager

Optimove is a global marketing tech company, recognized as a Leader by Forrester and a Challenger by Gartner. We work with some of the world's most exciting brands, such as Sephora, Staples, and Entain, who love our thought-provoking combination of art and science. With a strong product, a proven business, and the DNA of a vibrant, fast-growing startup, we're on the cusp of our next growth spurt. It's the perfect time to join our team of ~500 thinkers and doers across NYC, LDN, TLV, and other locations, where 2 of every 3 managers were promoted from within. Growing your career with Optimove is basically guaranteed. 

Based in Dundee, Scotland, our R&D operation is a dynamic environment, where every developer can impact the flow of technology, from introducing the smallest library to making big infrastructure changes. We welcome open-minded developers who like to share knowledge and help each other to push Optimove forward using the cutting-edge of today’s tech.  

About the Product and Role 

This role will lead the R&D group responsible for Optimove’s Digital Personalization Platform, Optimove Personalize (formerly known as Opti-X), which uses over 20 Machine Learning driven recommendation models to personalize in real-time on-site, in-app and outbound campaign content to drive up customer engagement.  

This R&D group consists of 4 software development teams: two focussed on new feature development, one focussed on our ML Platform and one focussed on data ingestion and platform integrations. The group consists of ~25 developers and QAs. 

Working collaboratively with Product Management and Data Science, the R&D Group Manager is responsible for leading the teams that design, evolve and operate Optimove Personalize, including setting engineering standards, processes, structure and recruitment.

Why apply? 

This is more than a leadership role - it’s a chance to work with talented multi-discipline people to define the future of a cutting-edge, cloud-native, AI/ML-driven recommendation platform that powers some of the world’s most iconic enterprise brands. 

We’re looking for a visionary software development leader ready to take the next bold step in their career. Someone who thrives on innovation, inspires teams, and wants to leave a lasting impact - on our product, our people, and the growth of our company - while continuing to learn grow along the way

Key Responsibilities 

• Lead, mentor, motivate and inspire 4 software development teams (~25 engineers and QAs in total).  

• Work collaboratively with Architects, DevOps and Data Scientists to build and maintain a robust, scalable, secure, cloud-native architecture for model training and real-time inference.  

• Together with Product Management and Development Team Leaders, establish a product roadmap for each development team and oversee the delivery of this. 

• Review and refine our agile delivery processes on an ongoing basis. Encourage pragmatic adoption of modern agentic development tools and practices. 

• Establish a quality first culture, take an active role in code review & deployment and triage customer-impacting issues promptly (with the client when required). 

• As a data-driven company, we work with multiple databases (e.g. DynamoDB, Postgres, Snowflake) and event streaming systems (e.g. Kinesis). We want you to identify and implement improvements to data architecture and data quality. 

• Although predominantly a hands-off role, don’t be afraid to roll-up your sleeves and get stuck-in, helping scaffold solutions to gnarly or time-sensitive issues 

• See the full picture. Take ownership of Optimove Personalize from feature design to production and support, ensuring it is delivering value for our clients. 

Requirements 

• B.Sc. (or higher) in Computer Science, or equivalent. 

• Excellent knowledge of software design and scalable, cloud-native architecture.  

• 5+ years’ of experience of full-stack commercial software development, ideally including back-end services in one of Python, Rust or Node.js and front-end services in Javascript or Typescript with a modern framework (e.g. React). 

• Experience of automated unit-testing and CI/CD pipelines. 

• Experience with AWS (including ECS). 

• Knowledge of SQL and NoSQL databases. 

• Experience mentoring junior developers. 

• 2+ years of experience as an agile development team leader. 

• Strong leadership skills to motivate and build a winning team.  

• Working in a hybrid model from our Dundee office (at least 2 days per week). 

• Eligible to work in the UK (we are unable to provide sponsorship at this time). 

Advantages 

• AWS, GCP or any other certifications. 

• Experience with event stream processing. 

• Experience with Machine Learning and ML Ops. 

• Experience with enterprise observability platforms (e.g. DataDog). 

• Experience with large OLAP databases (e.g. BigQuery or Snowflake). 

• Experience with containerisation (e.g. Docker) and orchestration (e.g. K8S). 

• Experience of working in a global organization with geographically distributed teams and clients.