Engineering Manager, Payroll

Airwallex1 months ago

Location

UK - London

Type

Full Time

Salary

GBP 135,000 – 178,000

Level

Manager

Role

Engineering Manager

Posted

Jan 19, 2026

Full TimeManager

The role

Summary

Airwallex seeks an Engineering Manager for their new Payroll product in London to build and lead a high-performing team from the ground up. This role involves owning the technical strategy for payroll services, APIs, and workflows while ensuring compliance in a regulated fintech environment. The ideal candidate has 7+ years of software engineering experience with 2+ years in engineering management, focusing on backend systems and API-heavy integrations.

What you'll do

Team Leadership: Build, lead, and grow a high-performing Payroll engineering team in London from the ground up

Product Partnership: Partner with Product and Design to define roadmap, scope, and success metrics while translating customer needs into executable plans

Technical Strategy: Own the technical strategy and architecture for Payroll services and APIs, focusing on scalability, reliability, security, and maintainability

Delivery Excellence: Drive strong delivery practices including planning, prioritisation, execution, and continuous improvement

Cross-functional Leadership: Lead cross-functional execution with stakeholders across Compliance/Legal, Risk, Operations, Support, and other engineering teams

Technical Oversight: Guide design reviews, de-risk complex initiatives, and raise the bar on engineering quality through hands-on involvement

Operational Excellence: Establish operational excellence for production systems including monitoring, incident response, postmortems, and reliability improvements

Compliance Management: Ensure auditability and traceability is built into all systems to meet regulatory requirements

What we look for

Technical

Software Engineering Expertise7+ years of software engineering experience with strong backend and system design expertise

API and Integration SystemsTrack record building API-heavy and integration-focused systems in production environments

System ArchitectureExperience designing scalable, reliable, and secure distributed systems

Production OperationsKnowledge of monitoring, incident response, and operational excellence practices

Education

Computer Science BackgroundBachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience

Technical Leadership EducationFormal or informal education in engineering management and team leadership

Experience

Engineering Management2+ years experience as an Engineering Manager leading small to mid-sized teams or equivalent leadership experience

Product DevelopmentStrong product sense with ability to make tradeoffs, iterate quickly, and build for customer outcomes

Cross-functional CollaborationStrong communication and stakeholder management skills in cross-functional settings

Fintech Experience (Preferred)Experience in fintech, payroll, payments, or other regulated domains

Zero-to-One Experience (Preferred)Experience building 0→1 products/teams and scaling systems as adoption grows

Skills

Required skills

Backend Engineering7+ years of strong backend development and system design experience

Engineering Management2+ years leading engineering teams with proven track record

API DevelopmentExperience building production-grade APIs and integration-heavy systems

Product ThinkingStrong product sense for making technical tradeoffs and customer-focused decisions

Cross-functional LeadershipExcellent communication and stakeholder management in complex organizational settings

System ArchitectureExperience designing scalable, secure, and maintainable distributed systems

Nice to have

Fintech DomainExperience in fintech, payroll, payments, or regulated financial domains

Zero-to-One DevelopmentTrack record building new products and teams from inception to scale

Compliance SystemsKnowledge of building auditable and traceable systems for regulatory compliance

Operational ExcellenceExperience with production monitoring, incident response, and reliability engineering

Compensation & benefits

Salary

GBP 135,000 – 178,000 (annual)

Stock options

Available

Benefits

Equity Package

Competitive equity package as part of total compensation

Performance Bonus

Annual performance-based bonus structure

Global Fintech Exposure

Opportunity to work on global payments infrastructure used by 200,000+ businesses

Career Growth

Leadership role in a rapidly scaling $8B fintech unicorn with global presence

Technical Impact

Build foundational payroll systems from the ground up with high visibility and ownership

Hybrid Work

Flexible hybrid work arrangement in London office

Interview process

1
Initial Screen — Phone or video screening with talent acquisition to discuss background and role fit
2
Hiring Manager Interview — Technical and leadership discussion with the hiring manager covering system design and management experience
3
Technical Leadership Round — System design and architecture discussion focused on API design, scalability, and fintech considerations
4
Cross-functional Interview — Stakeholder management and product partnership scenarios with product and engineering leaders
5
Team Culture Fit — Cultural values alignment and team leadership approach discussion
6
Final Executive Interview — Senior leadership interview focusing on strategic thinking and long-term vision