Engineering Program Manager

Job description

We're building a system that represents domain knowledge as modular probabilistic models — making analysis rigorous and transparent. Users can connect these models flexibly into larger structures. The system enforces consistency across them, and propagates uncertainty through each step. Our first applications are in finance and scientific research, with use cases ranging from equity valuation and distress monitoring, to particle physics. We are looking for an Engineering Program Manager to bridge the gap between strategic planning and hands-on development. You will help to manage our roadmap and refine our engineering processes. This is a role for someone with software engineering experience combined with organisational instinct, who thrives in a fast-paced environment; you will work alongside a highly collaborative engineering and product team, balancing strategic priorities and complex challenges, with rapid high-quality execution. USEFUL EXPERIENCE - Software engineering in a collaborative, commercial environment, working on large codebases and using practices like CI/CD, testing, and code reviews. - Functional/typed languages, e.g. Rust, OCaml, Clojure, C++, or Haskell, and a willingness to learn and work with Julia. - Implementation of pragmatic organisational processes. - Background in Technical Product Management, working with complex technical systems. - Coordination of workflows and coaching or mentoring team members. RESPONSIBILITIES - Manage the development roadmap: Work with leadership as well as individual contributors, to identify interdependencies, and adapt to shifts in priorities and timelines as goals are achieved. Day to day, this includes writing, consolidating, and triaging tasks that come out of discussions and planning. - Drive quarterly planning: Initiate and prepare reviews; identify potential goal owners early and provide support and guidance to ensure good planning and risk management across the team. - Steer features from idea to implementation: Coordinate work across multiple topics; when a new feature idea comes up, ensure it progresses from product specification, design, and prioritisation, through to implementation, bridging gaps between different technical and product areas. - Maintain technical documentation and tooling: Reviewing frequently and coordinating updates, and improve our internal technical processes. - Facilitate communication: Be a responsive point of contact across our channels, connecting team members with the right information and resources. - Develop hands-on: Contribute directly to high-priority development tasks, and build tools and automations that support the team's workflow. QUESTIONS CANDIDATES TYPICALLY ASK - What does progression look like? You start by working closely with our technical co-founder on the concrete work of planning and coordination, and grow from there. There is no fixed ladder; as you show what you can carry, you take on more, and we actively help you get there. The responsibilities above are the direction. - What does success look like? You will thrive here if you find satisfaction in the careful, behind-the-scenes work that keeps a team moving. You can assess your own abilities well, and want to earn scope rather than be granted it. You will struggle if you need a defined territory and formal authority to be able to operate. - What does failure look like? The pattern that has led to failure in the past is: many threads opened and few brought to completion, tasks talked bigger instead of broken down smaller, process ideas raised without a demonstrated pain point, claims defended instead of explored, and blockers left uncommunicated until someone else has to step in. HOW WE WORK - Hierarchical goals, not personal hierarchies: We organise around a transparent tree of goals and tasks. Every quarter we plan milestone goals, which branch down into smaller and smaller tasks. This tree is the foundation of how we organise, not a side tool. - Transparency: Everyone should have access to every opportunity in the team that they can realistically handle. All goals, tasks, and the reasoning behind them are visible to everyone. - Decisions become tasks: When something is discussed and decided, it gets captured as a task in the right place in the tree, so that nothing dissipates as hot air. In this role, that instinct is your daily bread. - Written and asynchronous by default: We are fully remote and document naturally. If you learned something, you write it down for the next person. Communication happens transparently in shared channels, not in private threads and one-on-ones. - Growing from leaf to tree: New joiners start from smaller leaves of the tree and work themselves up to ownership of larger branches as trust and understanding build. Teams form around topics and dissolve when the work is done; people move to where they are most useful. WANT TO KNOW MORE? On our website you can find more about our team and work culture, as well as example tasks that share some insight into the type of things team members are working on. - What we do: https://planting.space/ https://planting.space - Ways of work: https://planting.space/org/ - Team culture and example tasks: https://planting.space/joinus/ Our team works fully remotely, and mostly within the CET timezone.