Engineering Manager - Runtime Team at PolyAI

<div class="content-intro"><p style="line-height: 1.2;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">^{PolyAI automates customer service through lifelike voice assistants that let customers lead a conversation. Our voice assistants make it possible for businesses to deliver outstanding customer service that rivals their human agents. Our customers, which include the world’s leading logos, are expanding how they use our platform, driving automation of critical customer service operations and integrating PolyAI into their daily customer service workflows.&nbsp;}</span></p></div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{We’re looking for a talented <strong>Engineering Manager</strong> to join our Runtime Engineering team. Our Runtime team own the global infrastructure that powers real-time voice interactions. In this role, you will focus on leading and developing a high-performing engineering team while staying close to the technical challenges at the core of our agentic process: streaming audio, transcribing speech, using LLMs and acting on their output, and synthesising natural voice. You will guide the team as they design and optimise systems across the media stack to deliver low-latency, secure, and reliable conversations. Your leadership will directly shape the user experience of every call, driving down response times, improving comprehension, and ensuring we meet strict SLAs for performance and security.}</span></p> <h3><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong>Responsibilities</strong>}</span></h3> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Lead, develop, and mentor a cross-functional team of 3 to 5 engineers, focusing on people management, career growth, and building a strong team culture.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Run team operations end to end, including sprint planning, review cycles, and performance management, ensuring clear goals, predictable delivery, and accountability.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Drive hiring efforts to grow the team, partnering with Talent and contributing to a high-quality interview process.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Partner closely with Product to translate business goals into an actionable roadmap and measurable outcomes for internal tooling, observability, and scalability.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Oversee the software architecture of our multitenant conversational AI platform, ensuring robustness, scalability, and reliability, particularly in externally facing developer APIs.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Champion and enforce strong engineering standards and best practices across the team.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Support technical decision-making, guiding engineers through design choices, trade-offs, and architectural challenges while maintaining a strong understanding of the systems in your domain.}</span></li> </ul> <h3><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong>Requirements</strong>}</span></h3> <ul> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{3 or more years of experience working in a SaaS company, with at least 5 years of professional experience as a Software Engineer and a strong technical foundation.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Proven experience managing a team or having direct reports, including sprint leadership, performance reviews, technical mentorship, project planning, and delivery.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Demonstrated ability to build and execute a roadmap for an engineering team, collaborating closely with cross-functional partners.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Experience coaching engineers through technical challenges and architectural decisions.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Significant expertise in <strong>Python is a must</strong>. Experience with <strong>GoLang is preferable but not essential</strong>. Experience with React is a plus.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Experience with internal tooling, observability, and scaling distributed systems.}</span></li> <li style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Experience with at least one major cloud provider (AWS, GCP, or Azure).}</span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{We offer competitive compensation based on experience, expertise, and the level of responsibility. This role also includes equity, giving you the opportunity to share in the long-term success of the business. The listed expectations reflect what we are hiring for, so we encourage you to review the job description carefully.}</span></p> <hr> <h1><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong>Benefits</strong>}</span></h1> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">💰</span> Participation in the company’s employee share options plan}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🏝</span> Tenure-Based PTO: You will receive 25 holidays when you join and will gain an additional 1 day after 2 years of service, then 1 day each year until capped at 32 holidays}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🏡</span> Flexible working from home policy}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🌎</span> Work from outside of the UK for up to 6 months each year}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🫂</span>TELUS Health EAP 24/7 - offers you and your chosen family confidential, judgment-free support for any work, health, or life challenge}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🧡</span> Enhanced parental leave}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🚲</span> Bike2Work scheme}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">📚</span> Annual learning and development allowance}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🏡</span> We’re all about making WFH work for you - that’s why we offer a one-off WFH allowance when you join. Offering perks like noise-cancelling headphones or a comfortable desk chair to boost your comfort and focus!}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s2"><a href="https://emojipedia.org/family-man-woman-girl/">👨‍👩‍👧</a></span> Company-funded fertility and family-forming programmes}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s2"><a href="https://emojipedia.org/cherry-blossom/">🌸</a></span> Menopause care programme with Maven}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🏥</span> Private healthcare and dental cover, discounts on gym members and relaxation apps, and access to a range of mental health programs}</span></p> <p class="p1"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<span class="s1">🌎</span>&nbsp;Sabbatical Program: 5-week paid sabbatical available after 5 years of employment}</span></p><div class="content-conclusion"><hr> <p style="line-height: 1.2;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{At PolyAI, we take great pride in our values - they guide everything we do. We believe that a strong culture leads to meaningful work and lasting impact.}</span></p> <p style="line-height: 1.2;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{Our core values are:}</span></p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong><img style="max-width: 100%;" src="https://emoji.slack-edge.com/T8GS4RNNM/only-the-best/63f754d467834139.gif" alt=":only-the-best:" width="30"><br></strong><strong>Only the best<br></strong>We expect the best from our people, we hire people that expect the best from themselves, and we nurture this drive for excellence.}</span></p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong><img style="max-width: 100%;" alt=""><img style="max-width: 100%;" src="https://emoji.slack-edge.com/T8GS4RNNM/ownership/753f47103884882c.gif" alt=":ownership:" width="30"><br></strong><strong>Ownership<br></strong>We care deeply about what we do. We take ownership of our initiatives, decisions and outcomes.}</span></p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong><img style="max-width: 100%;" src="https://emoji.slack-edge.com/T8GS4RNNM/relentlessly-improve/b5e1910b7c09b966.gif" alt=":relentlessly-improve:" width="30"><br></strong><strong>Relentlessly improve<br></strong>We demand more from ourselves and are always evolving. Continuous, obsessive improvement is the only way we will transform the world of conversational AI.}</span></p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong><img style="max-width: 100%;" src="https://emoji.slack-edge.com/T8GS4RNNM/bias-for-action/0a5bd6888d3f2db1.gif" alt=":bias-for-action:" width="30"><br></strong><strong>Bias for action<br></strong>Our world moves quickly and so do we. We take calculated risks and we deliver impact fast.}</span></p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong><img style="max-width: 100%;" src="https://emoji.slack-edge.com/T8GS4RNNM/disagree-and-commit/0cee7f9f02baac38.gif" alt=":disagree-and-commit:" width="30"><br>Disagree and commit<br></strong>We are all working toward the same goal. If we donʼt agree with something, we work hard to understand it and when a decision is made, we accept it and give it our all.<strong><br></strong>}</span></p> <p style="line-height: 1;"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">^{<strong><img style="max-width: 100%;" src="https://emoji.slack-edge.com/T8GS4RNNM/build-for-people/9c2fba2ffb2331c8.gif" alt=":build-for-people:" width="30"><br>Build for people<br></strong>We want the world to enjoy the experiences they have with us. We are building for a future that prefers automation.}</span></p> <hr> <p style="line-height: 1.2;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">^{<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>PolyAI is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All employment decisions at PolyAI will be based on the business needs without attention to ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, family or parental status, national origin, neurodiversity status or disability status.</em><br></span>}</span></p> <hr> <p style="line-height: 1.2;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">^{<span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"><em>Kindly find the Privacy Notice for our recruitment process by following the link <a href="https://polyai.notion.site/Recruitment-Privacy-Notice-1b5097db17f7802ead64dd6daf159ded">here</a>. This document provides important information regarding how we handle your personal data throughout the recruitment journey.</em></span>}</span></p></div>