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About the role
The Senior Manager of Engineering Operations provides cross-functional support to the VP of Engineering by removing obstacles and driving strategic initiatives. This role involves managing planning cycles, budgets, and cross-team responses to critical incidents without direct reports.
What they look for
Requirements
Candidates must have 8+ years of experience in product development, including exposure to AI/LLM and cloud-based engineering. Strong influence, organizational skills, and experience in technical leadership roles are essential for this individual-contributor position.
Benefits
Full description
You love fixing things but you're over fixing bugs in code — this is the role for you. The brief is wide-ranging yet simply described: do whatever it takes to help over 200 engineers and their managers operate at their fullest potential. Don't mistake this for a PMO or coordinator role — this is hands-on, in the thick of it. One day you might be partnering with an engineering manager to get their roadmap nailed down; the next, preparing reports for the VP of Engineering; the next, shifting gear to lead the cross-team response to an urgent client escalation.
About the Role The Senior Manager, Engineering Operations is a technical leader who provides cross-functional operational support to the VP of Engineering and the wider Engineering organisation. This role has no direct reports. It focuses on proactively removing obstacles, improving operating efficiencies, and driving strategic initiatives — giving Engineering clear visibility across priorities, risks, decisions, planning, budgets, and follow-up actions. The role partners closely with Product, Engineering, Finance, and People to keep the organisation running smoothly. It is hybrid, based in our Hyderabad office with a minimum of four days on-site per week, and sits at a senior individual-contributor level, benchmarked externally to Senior/Staff Technical Program Manager or Principal Program Manager positions.
- 8+ years of experience (including up to 3 years in management/leadership) in product development, with significant exposure to AI/LLM and cloud-based engineering.
- Comfortable operating without formal management authority — this role has no direct reports, and impact comes through influence and cross-functional credibility.
- Previous experience as an Engineering Manager, Technical Program Manager, Engineering Operations Manager, or similar technical leadership role.
- Strong understanding of software engineering delivery, product development, agile ways of working, and cross-functional operating models.
- Proven ability to drive complex initiatives to resolution across multiple teams and stakeholders, forcing decisions where necessary, without relying on direct reporting authority.
- Strong organisational skills with the ability to maintain visibility across priorities, dependencies, risks, decisions, and actions.
- Experience owning planning cycles, resource updates, budget tracking, portfolio reporting, and executive-level status updates.
- Ability to create clear communications, concise status reports, meeting materials, process documentation, and follow-up notes.
- Hands-on experience with operating-rhythm tooling such as Jira and Confluence, OKR or roadmap-tracking tools, and BI/reporting tools.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to identify blockers, clarify ownership, and drive improvement actions.
- Comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with continuous change, ambiguity, and competing priorities.
- Bachelor’s degree in a technical, engineering, business, or related discipline preferred.
What Success Looks Like (within 6 months)• Achieved measurable reduction in the VP’s recurring meeting load and time spent on status monitoring.
- Established and enforced a clear decision‑escalation threshold, respected by peer Directors and EMs.
- Ensured RCA and incident action items are closed within the agreed SLA.
- Completed Engineering Leadership meeting follow‑ups on time, without requiring VP involvement
- Operate as a technical individual-contributor leader with no direct reports, driving outcomes through influence and credibility rather than formal authority.
- Own resolving of cross-functional issues across Product, Engineering, Finance, and People partners.
- Lead cross-team response during critical incidents or client escalations
- Drive cross-platform and cross-functional strategic projects on behalf of the Engineering organisation.
- Represent the VP of Engineering in key meetings, ensuring decisions, risks, and follow-up actions are captured and driven to closure.
- Own planning, budget tracking, and resource updates with clear, timely, and accurate information.
- Standardise communications, status reporting, and process documentation across the Engineering leadership.
- Maintain portfolio visibility across teams, priorities, dependencies, risks, and decisions.
- Attend RCA / incident-review and problem-resolution meetings to track root-cause follow-up actions to closure, ensure clear ownership and timelines are set, and escalate recurring or stalled issues to the VP without owning the technical diagnosis itself.
- Own the smooth running of Engineering Leadership meetings, including agendas, materials, actions, decisions, and follow-ups, holding owners accountable for completion.
- Own the preparation of KPI reporting, delivery updates, and improvement actions.
- Senior Leadership Exposure
- Broad Business Ownership
- High Impact Without People Management
- Strong Career Progression
- Executive-Level Decision Making
- Exposure to AI and Modern Engineering
