Engineering Manager - 12 month FTC
Vista Group, New Zealand
Job Description
Vista’s Engineering Managers are jointly accountable for the management and coordination of personnel and processes to deliver software and services of the highest quality to Vista customers.
The Engineering Managers share responsibility for the day-to-day management of Vista’s cross-functional software teams, which include team leads, developers, testers, and business analysts.
The role requires an experienced, technically astute, and motivated leader who is comfortable managing multiple expectations in a high-pressure environment; engaging and empowering others to achieve results.
Note: This is a 12 month Fixed Term Contract to cover parental leave
About Vista
Vista is a world-leading company that makes software for the cinema industry. Started in Auckland, New Zealand, over 25 years ago, we now serve cinemas, film distributors, and moviegoers worldwide.
Our HQ is in the City Works Depot in Auckland. We have offices and subsidiary companies in Sydney, Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam, Cape Town, Shanghai, Mexico City, and Kuala Lumpur. We use the latest technologies and offer a fun, agile and collaborative environment. We continue to innovate and build our reputation as one of the best Kiwi tech companies to work for.
Key Responsibilities
Leadership:
- Provide direction by leading and managing direct reports to ensure key targets are met or exceeded
- Lead in a way that fosters and encourages a culture of teamwork and unity, quality, and continuous improvement
- Mentor direct reports
- Ensure that team members are performing their roles effectively and to the required Vista standard - this includes addressing any issues in a timely, effective, and appropriate manner, and providing coaching and mentoring, or recommending additional training, where necessary
- Prepare and conduct staff performance and salary reviews, as per staff review schedule
- Be visible internally and externally in the Software Engineering space, advocating for and explaining our collective strategy to improve the status quo
Software Engineering:
- Provide input into the formulation and fine-tuning of Vista’s overall software development strategy
- Work with the Heads of Engineering to execute the combined (engineering and product work items) backlog to ensure that software and service quality, reliability, and observability are optimised while controlling management and operating costs
- Create work items for the engineering backlog, providing evidenced justification for each work item and measurable success criteria
- Advise upon and implement the strategy to make Vista a world-class place for software engineers to work and refine their craft
- Proactively implement and inform the ‘you build it, you run it’ culture across all Engineering teams, including liaising with the Product Support Manager and Head of Cloud Operations to establish on-call rosters
- Act as an escalation point for on-call personnel
- Seek regular feedback from the software teams to continuously improve processes and concepts
- Determine future resource requirements and recruit and select team members as necessary
- Ensure that team members are developing their skills and knowledge (technical, Vista product-related, business skills, other) as best as possible, including providing coaching and mentoring, or recommending additional training where necessary
Commercial:
- Work with Heads of Engineering to manage the current budget and assist with annual budget preparation
General:
- Contribute to developing internal processes and best practices, and lead the adoption and implementation of these by example
- Maintain up-to-date knowledge of Vista products and releases
- Travel to visit customers and prospects as required
Requirements
Qualifications and experience:
- 5+ years’ experience in the software industry with direct experience in some or all parts of the SDLC, or software architecture
- Relevant tertiary qualification (preferred)
- Previous team management experience
- Broad knowledge and understanding of the Vista product suite
Skills, Knowledge, Abilities and Personal Attributes:
- Proven team management ability, including outstanding negotiation skills and persuasive ability
- Sets high standards and leads by example
- Creates a positive and collaborative team environment
- Proven ability to effectively manage a varied and busy workload and to meet deadlines
- Experience supporting teams in their Scrum-based practices and events
- Ability to develop and maintain good professional working relationships with people at all levels across the company