Hands-On Engineering Manager (m/w/d)

CmdScale GmbH • Germany, TX

20h • €85,000 - €100,000 • Remote

About The Position

We are looking for a hands-on Engineering Manager who combines strong technical skills with real leadership responsibility. The client's product is already in production: an AI agent that automates complex operational business processes end-to-end – from data acquisition through decision logic to execution. We are not looking for a "slide manager" or a pure reporting role, but a technically strong Tech Lead with leadership competence – someone who combines engineering, scoping, technical decisions, and team leadership in one person. If you want to stay close to the code, discuss on equal footing, and build a strong team – without getting lost in corporate structures – then this is your role.

Requirements

• Relevant experience: At least 5 years of professional software development, and you have already led or technically managed developers – e.g., as an Engineering Manager, Tech Lead, Senior/Staff Engineer with team responsibility, or Founding Engineer.
• Still coding: You want to continue working technically and have no desire to completely distance yourself from the code.
• Technical depth: Solid understanding of modern backend architectures, APIs, cloud infrastructure, and production-ready software development.
• Stack: Experience with Python/Django is an advantage – but not a must if you can quickly learn new stacks. Our environment: Django, React/TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Azure, Docker.
• AI proximity: Experience with AI-related products, LLM APIs (OpenAI, Claude, etc.), automation, or data-driven workflows is a clear plus.
• Startup mindset: You come from startups, scale-ups, or fast-paced product organizations and are comfortable with self-responsibility and short communication lines.
• Communication: You explain technical trade-offs clearly – to developers as well as non-technical stakeholders. Fluent German and English are required.

Responsibilities

• Tech-Leadership & Hands-on: You will lead your engineering team technically and organizationally, but remain hands-on with the code – architectural decisions, code reviews, technical concepts, and your own implementation will continue to be part of your daily work.
• Scoping with Product: You will be a sparring partner for Product, jointly answering the crucial question: "What is the simplest, most sensible V1 that we can get live quickly?" You will evaluate technical trade-offs and prioritize effectively.
• AI Quality & Reliability: You will ensure that AI outputs remain reliable and consistent – using evaluation and observability tooling, prompt versioning, quality metrics, and regression monitoring.
• Delivery & Structure: You will bring structure to development processes, releases, team rituals, and incident handling – pragmatically, without unnecessary bureaucracy.
• People & Growth: You will conduct regular 1:1s, provide constructive feedback, and develop your engineers both professionally and personally.
• Bridge to Business: You will translate business requirements into realistic technical plans, make progress, risks, and dependencies transparent, and represent Engineering in important discussions.

Benefits

• Genuine remote culture: work from anywhere in Germany.
• Fair compensation between €85,000 and €100,000 – and your performance is worth every cent to us: If you have more to offer, you'll earn more. Plus fair bonus models.
• Hardware setup: Tell us what you need – or bring your own hardware.
• A team of experienced employees who stick together – whether for an open question or a digital coffee in the afternoon.
• Family-friendliness is a lived reality: Child sick, daycare closing, or vacation during school holidays? No problem at all. The founders are fathers themselves and know that family comes first – flexible hours and full remote freedom make this possible.
• Responsibility & equal footing from the first second – plenty of scope for design, an environment where leadership and hands-on engineering go hand in hand, and no unnecessary corporate structures.
• Urban Sports Club & team events are included.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: No Education Listed