Engineering Manager

Description Ripjar was founded by veterans of GCHQ to bring national security-grade intelligence tools to the fight against financial crime. Financial crime funds human trafficking, terrorism, corruption and sanctions evasion on a global scale, and the organisations on the front line need technology built to match the threat. Today, Ripjar's AI-native software and data fusion products are used by governments, the world's largest banks, and global enterprises to automate the detection, investigation and monitoring of serious financial crime.

Every day, hundreds of customers and thousands of daily active users rely on the platform to screen hundreds of millions of names for risk in real time, prevent money laundering and stop terrorist financing. If you want your work to matter, this is where it happens. We are a remote first team, with a head office based in Cheltenham.

This position is open to UK wide candidates. If you are based near Cheltenham or London, you are more than welcome to work from our office at any time. Team Mission: Ripjar’s Engineering team builds software products that make the world safer. We work together, mixing creativity with technology and engineering excellence to solve problems that nobody else can.

Our customers – including global financial institutions, corporations and technology companies – rely on our Labyrinth Screening product to monitor millions of client records, counterparties and prospects for sanctions, AML/CTF and other risks against billions of data points in near-real time. Ripjar’s unique approach to name and adverse media screening – using AI Risk Profiles – provides our customers with world leading capability, recognised by Chartis as a Category Leader in KYC Solutions. We continue to innovate at pace the compliance sector, pioneering the responsible use of AI with  Compliance Copilot.

What you’ll be doing: As Engineering Manager, you’ll lead two high-performing, diverse teams of software engineers tackling one of the most pressing challenges of our time: detecting and preventing financial crime at scale. You’ll play a pivotal role in delivering technically sound, mission-critical solutions with a clear purpose and measurable impact. With around 10–12 engineers reporting to you across both teams, you’ll support and guide their growth while bringing structure, clarity, and consistency to how work gets delivered.

This role suits someone who thrives on improving processes, building accountability, and raising engineering standards.

Key responsibilities

• Lead and manage multidisciplinary engineering teams delivering reliable, scalable solutions to tackle money laundering and other financial crimes.  Support and develop your team through coaching, consistent performance feedback, and creating professional development opportunities to ensure each team member has what they need to succeed.
• Champion a culture of accountability, proactivity and trust.  Own and drive product delivery in alignment with the roadmap.
• Meet commitments, remove blockers and ensure the team can operate effectively.  Collaborate cross-functionally with Product Managers, Technical Leads, Support, Delivery, and other Engineering Managers to shape the team roadmap and deliverables.  Take a proactive role in refining and evolving engineering processes, instilling operational discipline, predictability and clarity.  Contribute to the wider engineering community through leadership in agile practices, process improvements, and knowledge sharing.  Maintain a healthy engineering culture by encouraging psychological safety, clarity in roles, and structured decision-making.  While this isn't a hands-on coding role, you'll engage confidently in technical conversations with your team.
• You'll have a solid working knowledge of modern programming languages and software development practices.
• Familiarity with our stack (k8s, Node.js, React, Python, Elasticsearch, Kafka, MongoDB and Redis) is helpful but not essential. Why join us? Purpose-Driven Work: You’ll be part of a company committed to fighting financial crime through innovative technology. Structured Career Growth: We take career development seriously—with regular reviews, progression frameworks, and the support you need to succeed. High Standards, Real Autonomy: You’ll have the freedom to shape your team’s ways of working, supported by a leadership team that values results over noise. Collaborative Culture: Join a high-trust, low-ego environment where decisions are made with integrity, not politics. Ideal for: This role is a great fit for someone who is: Highly organised, clear-thinking, and structured in their approach to leadership. Decisive and confident in setting direction while remaining open to feedback. Motivated by building high-performing teams, with a strong sense of accountability and ownership. A strong communicator who values clarity, process, and professional standards.

Requirements

• What we’re looking for: A natural mentor and team developer—you understand how to get the best from people while managing performance professionally.  Strong experience in engineering leadership, with a track record of implementing process improvements and raising operational standards. Experience in agile environments and delivering production-grade software as part of a collaborative team. Technically credible: while you won’t be coding day-to-day, you can engage confidently with engineers on design decisions, tooling, and technical trade-offs. Comfortable with structured planning, performance management, and aligning engineering efforts with company objectives.  Familiarity with distributed systems and large-scale JavaScript codebases is a bonus.

Benefits

• Why we think you’ll enjoy it here: Competitive base salary DOEFully remote working with occasional travel. 25 days annual leave + your birthday off and Christmas shutdown, rising to 30 days after 5 years of service 35 hour working week Flexible working hours Life assurance Private Family Healthcare Employee Assistance Programme Company contributions to your pension Enhanced maternity/paternity pay The latest tech including a top of the range MacBook Pro  Office equipped with well-stocked pantries with food, snacks and drinks when in the office