Job description
Engineering Manager
Company Overview
At parcelLab, we help brands improve what happens after checkout: delivery updates, tracking, returns, customer communication, and the operational work behind all of it. We monitor over six million shipments, support customers across 175+ countries, and power post-purchase experiences for 1,000+ brands.
Job Summary
We’re looking for an Engineering Manager to lead our Returns (v2) Platform team. You will lead the engineering team responsible for this platform, working across backend services, APIs, workflows, and AI-assisted capabilities. You’ll bring clarity to complex architectural decisions, collaborate closely with cross-functional peers, and create the space for senior engineers to do their best work.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team of experienced engineers, fostering a culture of ownership and continuous improvement.
- Partner with Product and Go-To-Market teams to shape the Returns Platform roadmap and turn ambiguity into clear execution plans.
- Guide technical decisions across backend services, APIs, distributed systems, and complex product capabilities like rules engines and Shopify integrations.
- Help the team make practical trade-offs around delivery speed, reliability, technical debt, extensibility, and long-term platform health.
- Own the talent lifecycle for your team, including hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career growth paths.
- Champion modern engineering tools, helping the team integrate AI into their development workflows thoughtfully without lowering the bar for quality.
Requirements / Qualifications
- Proven leadership track record: Experience leading and coaching senior engineers through complex product and architecture decisions in a SaaS, platform, or B2B environment.
- Core Technical Credibility (Python): A strong technical background in backend engineering, distributed systems, and scalable APIs. Because our V2 platform relies heavily on Python, you must have hands-on experience with Python and its ecosystem (e.g., Django) to effectively review designs, challenge technical assumptions, and guide the team.
- Enterprise Product Judgment: Comfort building highly configurable enterprise products without turning the platform into bespoke, customer-by-customer software.
- Cross-functional Collaboration: Ability to build strong relationships and communicate clearly with both deeply technical engineers and non-technical commercial stakeholders.
- Pragmatic Delivery Focus: Strong judgment around sequencing, technical debt, and maintainability—you aren't satisfied just because "the tickets are done."
Preferred Qualifications
- Domain Expertise: Experience in e-commerce, logistics, returns, fulfilment, post-purchase, or supply chain platforms.
- Ecosystem Experience: Deep familiarity with Shopify, commerce platforms, carrier integrations, or merchant tooling.
- Advanced Workflows: Experience with complex exchange flows, customer profiles, fraud prevention, rules engines, or event-driven architecture.
- Tech Stack Extras: Experience with PostgreSQL, AWS, Terraform, or modern observability tooling.
- AI & Automation: Experience building AI-assisted product capabilities, internal tools, or agent-driven workflows.
- Distributed Teams: Experience leading remote or internationally distributed teams.
Location
München, Bayern, Deutschland (Remote)
Employment Type
Vollzeit
Salary & Benefits
- Competitive salary and benefits.
- Flexible remote-first working.
- Career development and mentorship opportunities.
- Mental wellbeing support and coaching.
- Regular company retreats, meet-ups, and off-sites.
- A collaborative international team representing 25+ nationalities.
Equal Opportunity Statement
At parcelLab, people bring their own perspectives. We judge qualifications and performance, not age, sex, religion, skin colour, gender identity, family status, or disability.
