Engineering Manager

About the role:

This is a hands-on technical leadership role for a manager who can support engineers and delivery at a high level while still contributing technically when needed. Depending on your background and interests, you will lead a team focused on building end-to-end customer workflows across our core platform and/or developing AI-powered features and services that enhance how firms operate.

This role is hired through an Employer of Record (EOR) partner in the Czech Republic.

About us:

8am builds software that helps professionals run stronger businesses. Our platform powers payments, client experience, and operational workflows for legal, accounting, and other service-based businesses. U.S. based professionals count on our purpose-built solutions to simplify operations, ensure compliance, and fuel profitable growth, so they can focus on their clients and do more of the work that matters.

More than 250,000 professionals across the U.S. rely on our products every day. As we continue to grow, we’re investing in the next generation of our platform and are looking for experienced engineers who want to help shape its future.

What you'll do:

• Lead and support a team of software engineers building customer-facing features and/or AI-driven solutions across the stack using modern technologies (e.g., Next.js, React, Ruby on Rails, Python).
• Manage engineers through onboarding, coaching, feedback, career development, and performance management.
• Partner closely with Product, Design, and stakeholders to deliver high-impact product features and/or translate business problems into AI-driven solutions.
• Lead agile team rituals, improve planning, remove bottlenecks, and ensure predictable delivery.
• Maintain strong technical understanding of systems and architecture to guide design decisions and execution.
• Contribute technically through code reviews, architecture discussions, debugging, and hands-on implementation when needed.
• Build and maintain high-quality engineering standards across testing, reliability, maintainability, and operational excellence.
• Drive improvements to engineering processes, workflows, and team health to increase effectiveness and scalability.
• Collaborate with UX, Product, and Cloud/DevOps teams to deploy features (including AI where applicable), monitor impact, and continuously improve them.
• Drive technical initiatives expanding the platform with new capabilities, including AI-powered workflows where relevant, while ensuring performance and scalability.
• Communicate clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders and share engineering context across teams.
• Contribute to hiring and building a strong engineering organization.

About you:

• Experience managing software engineers and leading teams delivering production software in cross-functional environments.
• Strong technical background in modern web application development, with the ability to engage in design and code discussions.
• You likely bring experience in one or more of the following areas:
  • Platform / Product Engineering:
    • Experience building and scaling customer-facing web applications across frontend and backend systems.
    • Experience building APIs and backend services.
    • Proficiency with SQL and relational databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL).
    • Strong understanding of software design, testing, and maintainability.
  • AI / Data & ML Engineering:
    • Experience building and deploying production-ready AI/ML services.
    • Strong programming skills (e.g., Python or similar) and experience with data workflows and evaluation.
    • Experience integrating models into SaaS products and building scalable data infrastructure.
    • Experience working in cloud environments (e.g., AWS) and modern DevOps practices.
    • Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools and technologies to drive innovation.
• Across both:
  • Experience working in agile teams and collaborating with distributed teams.
  • Strong communication, collaboration, and documentation skills.

Nice to haves:

• Experience managing multiple teams or larger engineering domains.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP).
• Experience with modern web technologies (React, Next.js, Ruby on Rails).
• Experience building scalable SaaS systems.
• For AI-focused candidates:
  • Experience delivering, fine-tuning, or optimizing LLMs.
  • Background in NLP or real-time/streaming data systems.
• For platform-focused candidates: 
  • Experience improving engineering processes and development workflows.
  • Exposure to fintech or legal industry domains.
  • Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.

Additional Information:

The monthly gross salary range for this position is CZK 140,000 to CZK 250,000. 8am is committed to fair, objective, and non-discriminatory compensation, and actual pay may vary based on job-related knowledge, skills, experience, and education.

Why join our new 8am Brno hub?

• Founding Team Impact: Be a founding engineer of our new Brno R&D hub. After a brief 1-6 month integration with U.S. based teams, you will help form fully autonomous, locally-led squads with clear paths to Staff and leadership roles with the exciting opportunity to collaborate face-to-face with your team in our upcoming Brno office.
• Drive our "AI-First" Transformation: We are building a secure, massive-scale "Unified AI Platform". Depending on your squad, you will either help architect this core infrastructure (LLM routing, RAG, agent orchestration) or build directly on top of it.
• Build the Next Generation of Our Platform: Help shape the systems powering products used by more than 250,000 professionals. You’ll work on complex platform capabilities across payments, workflow automation, and AI-powered features as we expand into new professional service markets.

Benefits and Perks

We offer a competitive, locally relevant benefits package designed to support your life in the Czech Republic while giving you access to global opportunities:

• Performance bonus opportunities and employee referral rewards
• Flexible Time Off (FTO) and 13 paid public holidays aligned with the Czech calendar
• Paid sick leave with additional support through the Czech social security system
• Maternity, paternity, and parental leave in line with Czech regulations, plus additional paid paternity leave from 8am
• Full statutory benefits, including public health insurance, social security, pension, and work accident coverage

Grow Your Career

• Access to Coursera (including Gen AI Academy) and ongoing professional development
• Clear growth paths, regular feedback, and opportunities for advancement

What Makes 8am Different:

• International company environment with collaboration across Europe and the U.S.
• Opportunities to travel for company events (including potential U.S. visits)
• Engaging team culture with local events, outings, and community initiatives
• High-quality company swag and programs focused on wellness, learning, and connection
• New Brno office coming soon, with opportunities to work in-person and enjoy a flexible hybrid setup

Diversity, equity & inclusion at 8am:

At 8am, we recognize that innovation occurs with a strong team of people who are diverse in background, personality, talent and ideas. Experience comes in many forms and ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace where we continue to learn from each other is an integral part of our culture. We are committed to creating a welcoming and transparent environment for all that embraces those differences through education, equal access to opportunities and information, inclusionary programs, and community outreach. 

Security advisory:

Our hiring teams at 8am are dedicated to recruiting top talent that share our passion for serving the professional services industry through innovative financial technology.  As such, our Talent Acquisition Team only follows legitimate hiring practices.  We will always communicate with our candidates using emails with the 8am domain and will never ask for sensitive/personal data during the application process.  All interviews take place over phone call, Zoom/Google Meet or in person.  All offers are communicated verbally by our Talent Acquisition Specialists with a written offer letter as a follow up. 

Applicant Data Privacy Notice:

Your personal data will be collected and retained by Controller as long as Controller determines it is necessary to evaluate your application for employment. Under the GDPR, you have the right to request access to your personal data, to request that your personal data be rectified or erased, and to request that processing of your personal data be restricted. You also have the right to data portability. In addition, you may lodge a complaint with an EU supervisory authority.  Full policy linked here.