Engineering Manager (mfd)

At Superchat were rebuilding how businesses talk to their customers. The phone call the contact form the support ticket: all of it is being replaced by messaging and AI. Were building the platform that runs underneath.

Founded in 2020 Superchat has become the platform of choice for 10000 businesses worldwide from globally recognized brands like Allianz Auto1 Enpal Danone and GASAG to the small businesses dental practices and one-person startups that need to look bigger than they are. Today millions of messages flow through Superchat every single day.

We started as a unified inbox: one place for every channel a customer might pick WhatsApp email SMS Instagram. Then ChatGPT happened and the second chapter began: AI agents that respond across chat email and voice at the quality of the best human teams.

Were 100 people profitable and have raised 18M in funding (last round 4.5 years ago weve been growing on our own money since). Headquartered in Berlin.

Were hiring an Engineering Manager to lead one or more squads. Youll partner directly with the CTO to develop engineers ship reliable software and shape how our team works as we scale.

Who We Want

Experienced engineering people manager.

You bring 35 years of people management experience in software engineering ideally in B2B SaaS environments.

Strong delivery leadership.

You have a track record of leading squads of 5-10 engineers through full product and delivery cycles.

Technically credible.

You come from a strong technical background as a backend or full-stack engineer (former Senior Engineer or equivalent). You read code comfortably engage on server-side architecture and trade-offs and contribute meaningfully to technical discussions about the systems your squads own. Backend experience in Java/Kotlin is a plus since our backend runs on Kotlin/Quarkus.

Builder of strong engineers.

Your former reports got promoted took on broader scope or grew into roles that better matched their strengths.

Strong hiring instinct.

You have experience hiring engineers and successfully closing high-quality candidates.

Comfortable with difficult conversations.

You are comfortable having clear honest and sometimes difficult conversations when needed.

Clear communicator.

You are fluent in written and spoken English. You communicate clearly across engineering product and leadership teams and create alignment through strong written and verbal communication.

Who We Dont Want

Pure delivery manager.

You treat engineering as a ticketing operation focused only on timelines and task tracking instead of product quality technical health and team growth. We need engineering leaders not project coordinators.

Engineer escaping into management.

You moved into management mainly to stop coding rather than because you genuinely enjoy leading coaching and developing people. This role requires a real interest in people leadership not retreating from technical work.

Top-down architecture owner.

You want to personally own architecture decisions alone instead of enabling strong technical ownership within engineering teams. Engineers own architecture decisions - you participate challenge and sponsor the right investments.

First-time people manager.

You are entering engineering management for the first time and have not yet experienced leading teams through performance hiring and scaling challenges. Were looking for someone who has already managed engineering teams successfully.

Remote-only operator.

You prefer fully remote work and dont want to actively build relationships and culture in person with the team. We believe strong engineering leadership requires regular in-person collaboration and presence in Berlin.

Your Day To Day

• You run weekly or bi-weekly 1:1s with each of your direct reports to support growth alignment and execution
• You lead growth conversations and performance reviews - including development planning quarterly check-ins and calibration sessions with peers and the CTO
• You work closely with PMs and senior engineers on cycle planning scoping prioritization dependencies and team capacity
• You actively participate in architecture and tech debt discussions - challenging decisions supporting strong technical direction and sponsoring long-term investments
• You play a key role in hiring - from interviewing and feedback to debriefs and closing strong candidates
• You collaborate closely across squads with other Engineering Managers and the CTO to maintain alignment and execution quality
• You handle difficult conversations directly and thoughtfully - including performance issues conflicts and compensation discussions with support from the CTO where needed

Stakeholders

CTO: Your manager and partner on people development calibration technical direction
Direct Reports: Engineers in your squad(s); you own their development performance and growth
Product Manager(s): PMs own what and why; you own how (delivery) and who (people)
People Ops: Partner on compensation and processes

Why People Choose Us

Mission that matters. Real impact on small businesses not abstract metrics

Funded with conviction. $16.5M raised with a strong trajectory toward profitability

Modern stack. Kotlin/Quarkus AWS TypeScript/React/ and LangGraph for AI-powered features

Squad-based organization. Each squad owns its domain end-to-end with real ownership and autonomy

Product-led structure. PMs report directly to the CPO keeping product strategy focused consistent and clearly prioritized

Engineers own technical decisions. Engineering Managers participate challenge and sponsor decisions - but engineering judgment stays with the team

Hybrid by design. Our Berlin office in Prenzlauer Berg is the center of gravity with two work-from-home days as the standard setup

Direct feedback culture. Honest direct and kind feedback is part of how we work together - in 1:1s retrospectives and everyday collaboration

Two clear career tracks. We support both Individual Contributor growth (up to Staff level) and Engineering Management paths with explicit reversibility between both

Benefits & Culture

• Choose between an Urban Sports Club/John Reed membership or a public transport/Dance subscription
• Regular company and team events
• Annual personal development budget of 500 for conferences courses books career coaching and more
• An inclusive and exciting startup culture that enables fast professional and personal growth
• Beautiful office in the heart of Berlin (Prenzlauer Allee 242) with free snacks drinks and top-notch equipment

We want to build a community not just a company.

Its important to us to create an environment where people genuinely enjoy spending time together - whether thats through HYROX training golfing beer pong tournaments running clubs Warhammer weekend activities or whatever kind of community youd like to help build here!

Were looking for people with passion grit and integrity. Youre encouraged to apply even if your experience doesnt precisely match the description. At Superchat we welcome diverse perspectives and people who think rigorously.

Relocating to Berlin We support you with practical relocation help. Youll feel home in no time.

We look forward to your application!

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Employment Type : Employee
Experience: years
Vacancy: 1