Manager, Software Engineer

About the job

The Budget Steering squad builds a holistic approach to budget allocation and optimization for performance marketing — from quarterly planning to monthly optimization down to daily decisions at campaign and ad-group level.

We operate in a highly complex and ambiguous environment where:

• Ground truth is often unobservable (incrementality vs attribution)
• Budget decisions must be made continuously, under uncertainty and with imperfect data
• Every allocation change moves real spend across markets, channels and platforms

Our goal is simple to state and hard to solve: invest each euro where it generates the biggest leverage, across scenarios ranging from volume maximization to payback-based allocation.

We are looking for an Engineering Manager to lead a cross-functional squad of engineers and data scientists, own a large-scale production service the business depends on daily, and turn ambiguous commercial questions into reliable, model-driven decision products. This role requires a strong technical foundation — in backend engineering or in data science / ML — combined with the leadership to grow people and the pragmatism to partner closely with Product and business stakeholders.

In this role you will,

Lead and grow a cross-functional squad

• Lead engineers and data scientists across the full product lifecycle — from problem framing to production and adoption
• Grow individuals through coaching, feedback and clear development paths, and hire to close capability gaps
• Set measurable goals for the team and create the conditions for the squad to hit them
• Build a culture of ownership, proactiveness and high engineering standards

Own the budgeting lifecycle end to end

• Take accountability for budget allocation across every dimension and timeline — from strategic quarterly allocation to daily bid and budget changes at campaign level
• Drive the development of payback-based allocation models, including CLV estimation and constrained optimization
• Consolidate a fragmented tool stack into a single budgeting platform with coherent interfaces, ownership and roadmap
• Balance methodological rigor with business constraints — budget caps, pacing and channel dependencies

Guide technical strategy and execution

• Shape the squad's technical strategy and stay close enough to the work to be a credible partner in most technical conversations at squad and domain level
• Make architecture and prioritization trade-offs explicit — effort, value, feasibility and pace
• Set the bar for reliability and data quality: uptime, correctness of allocation, and validated inputs and outputs across every source
• Ensure solutions are built as decision products, not one-off analyses — tested, monitored, documented and reproducible

Partner with Product and business stakeholders

• Work with Product Managers to define scope, trade-offs and timelines, and to set common, measurable goals across planning cycles
• Act as an ally of Product: negotiate constructively, know when and how to say no, and compromise without losing the long-term technical direction
• Reduce ambiguity by asking the right questions before committing the team to build
• Navigate a complex stakeholder network spanning marketing, finance, analytics and central platform teams

Drive decision-making under uncertainty

• Provide clear recommendations despite imperfect measurement, articulating trade-offs and confidence levels
• Navigate conflicting signals (e.g., attribution vs incrementality vs MMM) and help the team decide what to trust
• Translate complex modeling and system behaviour into clear narratives for non-technical audiences
• Build trust in the squad's outputs over time, including when they contradict established assumptions

• Technical Excellence: Depth in either of the following, with hands-on experience on cross-functional products:
• Software Engineering: strong backend background, building scalable and reliable applications used in production every day
• ML / MLOps or Data Science: deep expertise across the ML lifecycle and its tooling ecosystem

Willingness and ability to ramp up on the other side quickly: the squad is cross-functional by design, and you will be expected to engage credibly with both.

• People Leadership: Proven track record leading and mentoring engineers and/or data scientists, growing individuals and taking accountability for a large-scale production service. Ability to mediate and resolve conflict without taking sides, acknowledging different perspectives and building shared understanding.
• Building Systems Where Modelling Is the Core: Experience delivering scalable, reliable applications with data science modelling at their centre — where the model output is the product, not a supporting artefact.
• Comfort with production-grade practices: modular design, testing, CI/CD, monitoring, version control and modern data/ML stacks.
• Product Collaboration & Business Acumen: Pragmatic and realistic. Evaluates business value against technical feasibility, and turns complex business requirements into bite-sized, deliverable work for the team. Understands which metrics matter and what a marketplace business optimizes for — or can demonstrably follow the train of thought and reach sound conclusions in an unfamiliar domain.
• Innovation & Ownership: Experience building new solutions from scratch and setting measurable goals for a team. Deep sense of ownership and proactiveness — comfortable operating without a clearly defined problem statement.

Nice to have:

• MarTech Domain Expertise: Understanding of performance marketing: budget allocation and optimization, bidding, attribution, and the dynamics of incrementality, diminishing returns and cross-channel interactions.
• Experience building bidders or budget optimization systems is a strong plus.

Individuals representing diverse profiles, encompassing various genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds, are less likely to apply for this role if they do not possess solid experience in 100% of these areas. Even if it seems you don't meet our musts don't let it stop you, we are all about finding the best talent out there! Skills can be learned, and embracing diversity is invaluable.

We believe driven talent deserves:

• 💪 Top-notch private health insurance to keep you at your peak.
• 🍔 Monthly Glovo credit to satisfy your cravings!
• 💳 Cobee discounts on transportation, food, and even kindergarten expenses.
• 🏊 Discounted gym memberships to keep you energized.
• 🏖️ Extra time off, the freedom to work from home two days a week, and the opportunity to work from anywhere for up to three weeks a year!
• 👪 Enhanced parental leave, and office-based nursery.
• 🧠 Online therapy and wellbeing benefits to ensure your mental well-being.

Delve into our culture by taking a peek at our Instagram and check out our Linkedin and website!

Additional information

At Glovo, your success is defined by both results and behaviors. We hire for excellence in craft and for the Leadership Principles that shape how we think, decide, and collaborate. What you achieve matters and how you achieve it defines us. Together, they move the business forward and deliver great experiences. Learn more about our Leadership Principles here.

Here at Glovo, we thrive on diversity, we believe it enhances our teams, products, and culture. We know that the best ideas come from a mashup of brilliant diverse minds. This is why we are committed to providing equal opportunities to talent from all backgrounds – all genders, racial/diverse backgrounds, abilities, ages, sexual orientations and all other unique characteristics that make you YOU. We will encourage you to bring your authentic self to work, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone feels heard.

Feel free to note your pronouns in your application (e.g., she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc).

So, ready to take the wheel and make this the ride of your life?
Delve into our culture by taking a peek at our Instagram and check out our LinkedIn and website!