Engineering Manager - Apps Team

About us

The Financial Times is one of the world’s leading news organisations, globally recognised for its authority, integrity and accuracy, with a mission to deliver quality information and services worldwide.

At the FT, curiosity thrives and ambitious thinking is rewarded. Together, we help audiences stay better informed and deepen their understanding of the world around them.

Our Product & Tech teams drive us forward in an ever-evolving digital landscape, delivering cutting-edge products to over one million digital subscribers daily. Our growth relies on a diverse, dedicated and dynamic group of product, tech, delivery and data specialists.

With a supportive culture, entrepreneurial spirit and opportunities at every turn, there are no limits to where your FT career can take you.

Build a newsworthy career at the FT.

Our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion 

We believe in the power of unique perspectives and want all voices in our organisation to be heard, respected and valued. A supportive workplace is one where employees feel they can be themselves and operate to their full potential. We are committed to removing barriers for everyone, with a focus on addressing those faced by underrepresented groups.

Department Context

The Customer Products group works on our award-winning website (https://www.ft.com) and our iOS and Android apps. We are a multi-disciplinary, co-located team with around 75 engineers and 100 people total. We value transparency, accountability, shared responsibility, and teamwork. We deploy multiple times a day, and we’re focused on our users and the FT’s mission to provide engaging world-class journalism.

Customer Products sits within FT’s Product & Technology function and brings together people from Product, Delivery, and Technology.

FT Apps Team

The Customer Products Apps teams are responsible for the ‎FT’s native/web hybrid apps for iOS and Android. We develop new features and improvements, with the aim to drive incremental subscription growth, habit formation and engagement on the apps. We also maintain and enhance the app platforms, and support other teams and groups to implement their work on the FT Apps. The Apps teams (divided into “Architecture” and “Experience” squads) are currently 20 people strong, including 15 engineers.

About the Role

We are looking for a Senior Engineer (People Manager) - Apps who is passionate about growing people, fostering collaboration, and building high-performing engineering teams. While a strong background in native app development and mobile ecosystems is a must, this role is primarily focused on people management: developing and supporting iOS and Android engineers, building a thriving team environment, and leading hiring efforts to strengthen the team’s technical expertise in these areas. It will also involve contributing to technical discussions and collaborating across teams, ensuring a high-performing and supportive engineering culture.

Key responsibilities include:

• People Management & Mentorship: Provide line management and mentorship to a diverse team of permanent and contract engineers across web and native specialisms, ensuring their professional growth and fostering collaboration.
• Native Mobile Development Support: Nurture engineers to grow their skills in iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin/KMP) while staying up-to-date with platform changes and best practices.
• Hiring & Team Growth: Lead hiring efforts for new engineers, particularly in iOS, Android, and Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP). This will include defining job specifications, shaping the interview process, identifying career paths, and sourcing strong candidates.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with engineers, product managers, and stakeholders to align priorities and evolve the app ecosystem effectively, and to support collaboration with other FT product teams.
• Pragmatic Decision-Making: Balance technical trade-offs with immediate engineering needs while ensuring long-term sustainability.

In addition to these key responsibilities, we expect all Senior Engineer (People Managers) at S2 level to:

• Complement the work of technical leads by contributing to architectural discussions and decision-making, and by promoting knowledge sharing across the team.
• Encourage a culture of engineering excellence by supporting best practices in development, testing, and maintainability through coaching, mentoring and team-wide collaboration.
• Collaborate with tech leads and other senior engineers to develop strategic goals, ensuring the team is supported and resourced to deliver them.

About You

This is a people-focused engineering leadership role. You will be a line manager for engineers within the team, responsible for supporting their career development, facilitating one-to-one conversations, managing performance and well-being, and helping grow the team through inclusive hiring practices. You will also have a strong technical foundation in native mobile development and full-stack JavaScript. 

The ideal candidate will have:

• Extensive experience in people leadership, with a proven ability to mentor and support engineers, manage growth and performance, and foster a collaborative, high-performing team culture.
• A keen understanding of hiring and career development in mobile engineering teams, particularly in iOS and Android development.
• Extensive experience with Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android), with a deep understanding of native and hybrid mobile applications. Experience with Kotlin Multiplatform would also be advantageous.
• Solid full-stack JavaScript knowledge, particularly in the way that APIs interact with web and native applications.
• A strategic mindset, balancing long-term goals with the immediate needs of a fast-paced development environment.

Why Join Us?

• Be part of a team that is modernising and shaping the future of mobile applications at FT.
• Work in an organisation that values engineering excellence, continuous improvement, and innovation.
• Contribute to a high-impact product with a large and engaged audience.
• Benefit from a supportive and inclusive team culture that promotes learning and career growth.

If this sounds like a role that aligns with your expertise and ambitions, we’d love to hear from you!

What’s in it for you? Our benefits

Our benefits vary by location, but we are committed to providing best-in-class perks across all our offices. These include generous annual leave, medical cover, inclusive parental leave packages, subsidised gym memberships and opportunities to give back to the community. Full details of our benefits are available here.

We’ve embraced a 50% hybrid working model (averaging two to three days onsite) that fosters trust and remote adaptability while encouraging in-person camaraderie and peer learning. Additionally, we are open to accommodating specific flexible working pattern requests for all roles where feasible.

Accessibility

We are a disability confident employer and Valuable 500 signatory.

Please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments/personalisation as part of the application process or to enable you to attend an interview. If you would like to discuss your requirements or have any questions, email [email protected] and a member of our team will be happy to help.