99designs

The gig
We're rapidly expanding, to build towards our vision of being the marketing partner for millions of entrepreneurs, businesses and creative professionals around the world. The newly formed Platform Group is critical to achieving this vision, because it builds the software, infrastructure and tools that other business units rely on. This includes the foundational capabilities and infrastructure that support the broader Engineering team, such as deployment pipelines, development environments, payments and user authentication services. It also extends to our Data and Analytics tools used across the organisation to help them make smart decisions on a daily basis, as well as the systems used by their Fraud Protection and Customer Support teams who help keep our end-users safe and on track for success.

As Senior Engineering Manager of the Platform Group you will be responsible for managing Engineering Managers, Tech Leads and Engineers in your group. You will guide planning and execution of roadmaps and projects among multiple teams and create a balanced and diverse workforce with the right level of expertise. You’ll leverage senior engineering staff to build world-class systems and products while at the same time growing the next generation of senior leaders.

This is an ideal opportunity for a truly full-stack “platform thinker” to make an impact and cultivate a growing team of smart, passionate engineers. We’re looking for a compassionate leader who believes in leadership through service, by example, and with empathy.

Key working relationships

• The Senior Director of Engineering, who you will report to directly and is responsible for the success of the entire engineering team.
• Engineering Managers, Tech Leads who will report directly to you. They lead and manage the Engineering teams in your group.
• Staff Engineers for the Platform Group, who will report directly to you. They are senior individual contributors who have a wide system view and work across teams to coordinate cross-system architectures, they are your main go-to for major design decisions.
• The Senior Product Manager in your group, who owns and sets the group’s product direction and will help manage the product backlog and priorities.
• The Senior Product Designer in your group who will help lead the design activities.
• Engineers and others in the Platform Group who indirectly report to you.

A bit about you
We are looking for an experienced leader who has experience as an engineering leader, preferably in fast growing start-up environments with the following experience:

• Broad set of management skills, including building teams with a diverse set of backgrounds and growing other managers.
• Hands-on experience with modern, cloud-first architectures. You have the ability to guide platforms through scale curves and avoid common pitfalls. 
• Strong sense of ownership in the business. You are excited to collaborate with partners across the organization to succeed together and you can come up with ideas to help your group empower and enable the rest of 99designs.
• Proficient in any one of the following tech: Golang, TypeScript/JavaScript, PHP, or Ruby.
• Commercial experience with React or other recent JavaScript web frameworks.
  
• Deep understanding of AWS, Docker and infrastructure as code.
• Strong ability to influence and collaborate with people at all levels.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and deriving satisfaction from clarifying unknowns.
• You have actively coached and mentored team members in their careers.
• You are passionate and want to keep coding pair-programming, and reviewing PRs.

Why 99designs?
We hold our values dearly - we believe in putting people first, and people helping other people to create their own success, that design has no borders, and that the journey should be fun. We want every person we engage with to be delighted with our service and experience. 

As we continue to scale, we are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team that reflects the communities in which we operate. We want people to feel like they belong and can bring their whole selves to work. Our aim is to continue to foster a collaborative environment with a keen focus on innovation, growth and ownership. 

We are on the journey to diversity - very transparent with our progress, and open to employee feedback. We believe that welcoming, supporting, and celebrating people from all experiences and backgrounds will enable them to build a stronger and more creative environment on our platform and within our own teams. Below are some of the things we do to support our people.

We have a culture of workplace flexibility
Some people work remotely, some people have start and flex finish times, we have part-time workers (4 day weeks, 9 day fortnights)... the common thread between it all is that it’s unique to each person's needs. Some people have joined with flex needs in their contract, and others have changed as their life and circumstances have! Some people are parents, some are studying at uni - it’s all about what your individual needs may be and how we can support you. 

Support for working parents 
In addition to flexibility to help make the juggle work for you, we have a paid parental leave policy to support new parents. We provide 6-14 weeks of company primary paid parental leave, depending on your tenure, which can be accessed part time, or however suits you. For secondary carers we offer 4 weeks of company paid parental leave which can also be accessed part time. This is all paid in addition to government funded paid parental leave. We are also proud to have had a 100% return to work rate to date!

+  heaps more, this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the WHY!

Next steps
Apply, say hi!