Engineering Manager - Platform Unit (AI, Spatial Media)

TL;DR

Engineering Manager (AI, Spatial Media): Leading and growing backend and ML engineering teams for a spatial media platform, ensuring reliable execution, scalability, and continuous improvement. Focus on translating product goals into roadmaps, evolving team processes, and driving engineering excellence across the unit.

Location: Fully remote contract role

Company

hirify.global is building the next generation of Spatial Media, focusing on interactive, multi-user journeys through videos with interaction, haptics, AI, and immersive storytelling.

What you will do

• Lead and grow backend and ML engineering teams (25+ engineers), including hiring, performance management, and career development.
• Own the unit's delivery commitments and ensure predictable execution against them.
• Partner with Product Managers and Technical Leads to translate product goals into realistic roadmaps.
• Design, evolve, and enforce team processes for planning, stand-ups, retrospectives, and incident response.
• Track delivery health using metrics and drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure teams meet agreed SLOs and reliability targets in cooperation with DevOps engineers.

Requirements

• 3+ years of engineering management experience leading backend teams (5+ engineers).
• Strong technical background in backend software engineering (any stack), able to assess architecture and challenge technical decisions.
• Track record of hiring, growing, and retaining strong engineers.
• Experience owning delivery commitments and driving predictable execution in a product engineering environment.
• Experience with Agile/Scrum processes, sprint planning, and continuous improvement practices.
• Strong communication skills, able to articulate risks, trade-offs, and progress clearly.
• English B2+ (written and verbal communication).

Nice to have

• Experience managing multiple teams or a unit-level engineering org (20+ engineers).
• Hands-on backend experience with PHP, Go, Python, or Java.
• Familiarity with relational (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MSSQL) and NoSQL (MongoDB, ElasticSearch) databases in production.
• Experience with delivery metrics (lead time, throughput, DORA metrics) and using data to drive process improvements.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, CI/CD pipelines, and modern DevOps practices.

Culture & Benefits

• The chance to be part of a pioneering team in a rapidly evolving industry (immersive media).
• Direct impact on the future of immersive media.
• Flexible working hours and remote-first culture.
• A team that values initiative, clarity, and collaboration.
• Access to all tools and tech needed.
• Unlimited DeoVR Premium.
• A work environment where ideas matter and people are treated with respect.

Hiring process

• HR screening (30 min).
• Team Interview (1 hour).
• Tech Interview (1 hour).
• CEO Interview (45 min).