Software Engineering Manager

Software Engineering Manager Leeds (Hybrid – 3 days on-site) Exclusive opportunity via WRK digital WRK digital are proud to be acting as the exclusive recruitment partner for a global, technology-led organisation investing heavily in its digital platform and engineering capability. We’re looking for a UI Engineering Manager to take ownership of frontend architecture while leading a high-performing, internationally distributed team. This is a pivotal role, combining hands-on technical leadership with people management and strategic influence over the evolution of a large-scale eCommerce platform.

The Opportunity This role sits at the centre of a complex and high-traffic digital ecosystem, with responsibility for ensuring the frontend platform is secure, scalable and highly performant. You’ll be leading three established UI teams across the UK and India, working closely with Product, Architecture and Platform to align engineering with wider business goals. There’s also a forward-looking element to this role, with early thinking around evolving towards a more AI-enabled software development lifecycle.

While not essential, candidates with an interest in AI or LLM-driven development will find plenty of scope to explore this space. The Role You’ll act as the technical authority for frontend engineering, shaping architecture, tooling and standards across the platform. A key part of the role will involve reviewing existing systems, identifying opportunities to reduce technical debt, and driving improvements that enhance performance, maintainability and delivery efficiency.

Ensuring performance and security at scale will be a core focus. You’ll work across teams to optimise rendering, caching strategies and runtime behaviour, embedding best practice into development processes, CI/CD pipelines and engineering standards. Alongside this, you’ll play a key role in evolving ways of working across the frontend function.

You’ll champion code quality, testability and observability, while partnering with cross-functional teams to ensure solutions are pragmatic, scalable and aligned to long-term strategy. From a leadership perspective, you’ll be responsible for developing and supporting a team of experienced UI engineers. This includes coaching, mentoring and creating an environment that encourages ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement across geographically distributed teams.

You’ll also engage regularly with senior technical stakeholders, contributing to architectural discussions and ensuring complex technical concepts are communicated clearly across the business. What We’re Looking For Core experience Strong, hands-on background building and evolving large-scale SPAs in production environments Deep expertise in React.js, Node.js and modern frontend ecosystems Strong understanding of browser internals, rendering pipelines and performance optimisation Experience improving frontend performance metrics such as TTFB, TTFP and TTI Strong knowledge of caching strategies across client, edge and server layers Proven ability to assess and improve existing architectures and engineering practices Experience leading and developing high-performing engineering teams Desirable Experience working on high-traffic, customer-facing eCommerce platforms Exposure to micro-frontend or modular frontend architectures Experience working in globally distributed engineering teams Interest or exposure to AI / LLM-driven development approaches The Person You’ll be a pragmatic and thoughtful engineering leader who can balance technical ambition with delivery. Comfortable being hands-on when needed, you’ll also enjoy developing others and building high-performing teams.

You’ll be confident influencing at a senior level, able to challenge constructively and communicate clearly across both technical and non-technical audiences. A strong sense of ownership, curiosity and commitment to continuous learning will set you apart. Why This Role?

This is an opportunity to take genuine ownership of frontend architecture at scale, leading internationally distributed teams and shaping the direction of a critical digital platform. You’ll be part of a business committed to investing in engineering excellence, with the autonomy to make a real impact. Interested?

If you’re a frontend leader who enjoys solving complex challenges while developing high-performing teams, we’d love to speak. Please apply now or get in touch with James @ WRK digital for a confidential discussion.