Senior Engineering Manager

We're looking for an experienced engineering leader to help scale our engineering organization and strengthen our technical foundation. As a Senior Engineering Manager you'll report directly to the CPTO and drive technical execution, develop high-performing teams, and ensure our systems stay scalable, reliable, and secure.

You'll work in an environment that values focus, pragmatism, and continuous improvement. You'll face challenges with existing systems, and your job will be to prioritize what matters most while delivering impactful results. Initially, you'll manage individual contributors, not managers, as we define the right long-term structure.

You'll collaborate closely with Product, Design, Data, and Commercial Teams (UA & AdMon) teams to align engineering work with company priorities while maintaining a healthy, transparent team culture.

We also expect you to champion efficiency through AI tooling, encouraging and guiding the use of AI in analytics, coding, planning, and QA execution to help our engineers and teams move faster and smarter engineering work with company priorities, while maintaining a healthy and sustainable team culture.

Leadership & Team Development

• Lead and grow multiple engineering teams, including:
• Rewarding Systems: Core reward logic driving user engagement.
• Fraud: Scoring systems to identify and block bad actors.
• Customer Experience: CRM and customer support integrations.
• Cashout: Systems enabling users to claim rewards seamlessly.
• Platform/DevEx: Developer experience, infrastructure, observability, and deployment tooling.
• Mentor senior engineers and emerging leaders, providing clear growth paths and feedback.
• Own hiring and team structure decisions in partnership with our Talent team.
• Promote a culture of ownership, inclusion, and technical excellence.

Technical Execution

• Define the technical direction for your teams while contributing to a broader engineering strategy.
• Ensure timely and high-quality delivery of cross-domain projects.
• Oversee system scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Identify and manage technical debt, balancing it against feature delivery.
• Understand service costs and drive technical efficiency.
• Introduce and expand AI-powered tools that improve developer productivity and quality.

Process & Strategy

• Partner with Product and Design to align roadmaps with company goals.
• Improve how teams plan, estimate, and execute work.
• Define and measure KPIs for team health, delivery speed, and quality.
• Help evolve engineering org structure, processes, and rituals.
• Work with leadership to continuously improve how engineering supports company growth.
• Leverage AI-based insights for planning, analytics, and quality assurance to enhance team efficiency.

Experience

• 8+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Proven track record leading multiple engineering teams in a product-led company.
• Strong technical background in backend systems, APIs and cloud infrastructure
• Experience scaling teams and building high-performance engineering cultures.
• Experience leading transformational initiatives and driving measurable improvements.
• History of owning OKRs and contributing to company-level objectives.
• Proven experience establishing, measuring, and improving DORA4 metrics.

Skills

• Proficiency in at least one JVM language, Kotlin preferred.
• Strong architecture and system design skills across distributed systems.
• Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and modern infrastructure practices (IaC, CI/CD, observability, reliability engineering).
• Deep understanding of platform and infrastructure challenges in high-scale environments.
• Proven experience implementing or leveraging AI tools to enhance engineering efficiency (analytics, coding, planning, QA).
• Strong background in architecture design and technical decision-making.\
• Skilled in leading through influence and aligning multiple teams around shared goals.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to collaborate across departments.
• Strong problem-solving, prioritization, and decision-making abilities.
• Demonstrated ability to lead teams through change, growth, and modernization.

Bonus Points

• Experience in gaming, ad tech, or other performance-based products.
• Familiarity with event-driven systems, data pipelines, and fraud detection architectures.
• Track record of improving developer experience through tooling and automation.

• Work-Life Balance and Flexibility: Flexible working hours and options for digital nomads, occasional office visitors, or regular office-goers
• Employee Stock Options: Opportunity to join our Virtual Share Option Program (VSOP) and share in the success of an already profitable company
• Mental Health Support: Free personal coaching through our partner to support our team members to live fulfilled lives at home and at work
• Training & Development: A competitive personal development budget of up to 2000€/year for training, conferences, workshops, etc., and free language courses with Chatterbug
• Germany-Based Benefits: 25 vacation days, free Gympass gold subscription, free monthly Deutschland-Ticket, and a monthly €50 tax-free internet contribution
• State-of-the-Art Equipment: Doesn't matter if you are a MacBook or Windows user; we will provide you with the technical gear you need to succeed
• A Relocation Package: Includes visa support for those who need it
• Berlin Office Perks: Ergonomic setup, free daily lunch, and a dog-friendly environment.
• Engaging and Diverse Work Environment: Join a diverse team, with over 30 nationalities working from 20 different locations

*Benefits may vary depending on location and contract type. Do not hesitate to ask us about more details on our benefits offer.

About us

Come join the company that's transforming the world of mobile gaming by making playtime truly rewarding. At JustPlay, we're on a mission to build a fairer, more sustainable Play-to-Earn ecosystem—one where players are rewarded for their time, and engagement drives continuous growth.

Since launching in 2020, we've grown into one of the world's leading loyalty gaming platforms, with over 25 million downloads and 500,000+ daily active users. Bootstrapped and headquartered in Berlin, our global team spans 20+ countries and is united by a belief in fun, fairness, and meaningful impact.

We're leading a massive shift in the gaming industry—but it's still early enough for you to make your mark. At JustPlay, you'll have the freedom to shape bold ideas, drive real impact, and be part of a company that's not just growing fast—but growing right.