Job description
Engineering Manager, Developer Experience PostgreSQL
We’re a global team of over 400 people, working together to push the boundaries of open-source technology and multi-cloud solutions. Our vision is to become the trusted Data & AI Platform for everyone, leveraging the most popular open-source technologies like Apache Kafka®, Aiven for PostgreSQL®, Aiven for Clickhouse®, and Aiven for OpenSearch®. to help companies accelerate time-to-market, drive efficiency, and build innovative solutions across any cloud. Right now, we’re looking for a Engineering Manager to join our team who shares our passion for forward-thinking and innovative approaches.
About this team
In our Product team at Aiven, we believe engineers can drive significant impact through coding and problem solving. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to contribute to challenging projects that transcend the cloud provider limitations, work alongside exceptional engineers, and continuously expand your technical expertise. We strive to create an environment that encourages problem solving and results over following directions, so we make better decisions for our customers, our products and our employees.
Who we are
So, how do we become the trusted open source data platform for everyone? By listening closely to our customers and taking action to ensure they achieve their business goals. You see, the software we create is merely a means of delivering value. Our thinking is customer-first. That’s why our customers are at the front and center of all we do. And in the spirit of sideways thinking, we’re by their side as well. Actively helping them solve their challenges. Collaborating. Sharing. And innovating. In other words, it really isn’t just about who we are. It’s about who our customers are – and where they want to be.
Our Crabby Principles
Aiveners use the V2MOM framework to set and align on business goals. In order to achieve those business goals we live by our ‘Crabby Principles’ which unite us in our ways of working, globally.
These principles are embedded in our business processes and support us in collaborating and role modelling positive and productive behaviours in our daily work, something you will have the opportunity to demonstrate throughout your interview journey with us.
The Role
We are looking for an Engineering Manager to build and lead our PostgreSQL Developer Experience team. This team’s mission is bold and clear: Make building modern apps effortless, backed by the world’s most resilient Postgres database.
You will guide a team of engineers in building workflows, integrations, and tools that remove friction from application development—making PostgreSQL not just reliable and scalable, but also a joy to use. Your leadership will directly shape how developers interact with databases in modern app development, from prototyping to production at scale.
Whether you’re a manager with a strong technical core, or a staff engineer looking to dive deeper into people leadership, we want to hear about the products you’ve shipped, the impact they had, and what you learned along the way.
What You’ll Do
- Lead with Impact: Foster a culture of speed and agility — balancing quality with a bias for action and continuous learning.
- Drive Impactful Delivery: Be accountable for the team’s output and outcomes — ensuring deliveries are not just on time, but make a real difference in developer adoption and usability.
- Experiment & Iterate: Foster a culture of experimentation, where quick changes and developer feedback loops guide the team’s priorities.
- Shape the Strategy: Partner with product management to define and deliver the roadmap, bringing engineering insights and developer empathy into the vision.
- Build Developer-Centric Tools: Oversee the creation of user experience, APIs, integrations to the broader developer ecosystem, and workflows that reduce friction and accelerate app development.
- Champion Developer Efficiency - Ensure teams operate at peak effectiveness by removing friction, minimizing waste, and optimizing processes for consistent high performance.
- Grow the Team: Hire, mentor, and develop engineers who thrive in fast-moving, outcome-driven environments.
- Keep Developer Empathy at the Core: Stay close to developers through feedback loops, research, and hands-on usage of our tools.
What We’re Looking For
- 2+ years experience in a leadership position
- 5+ years of experience as a software developer
- A bias for action — you move quickly from idea to experiment to delivery, avoiding excessive planning or analysis paralysis.
- Passion for developer experience—understanding the challenges developers face and turning them into elegant solutions.
- Comfort with fast, iterative delivery cycles — you default to experimentation over excessive planning and analysis.
- Understanding of what it takes to build high performing teams and to retain talent.
- A good understanding of database systems - knowledge on PostgreSQL is a big plus.
Don’t worry if your experience doesn’t line up perfectly – we still encourage you to apply! We believe in investing in our crabs’ professional growth.
Our Offer
If you ask us what’s the best thing about working for Aiven, many will probably say it’s the high concentration of talent from around the world that we have here. Enjoy the agile environment of a hyperscale scale-up where you can truly make an impact and have fun while at it.
We invest in you
- Participate in Aiven’s equity plan.
- With Aiven locations spanning the globe, we want all of our crabs to find the right balance with our hybrid work policy.
- Get the equipment you need to set yourself up for success.
- Step up your career game with real employer support (use one of our learning platforms, annual learning budget, and more).
- Get holistic wellbeing support through our global Employee Assistance Program.
Make a difference at Aiven
- Contribute to open source projects that you find meaningful outside of work - and get paid for it! Our Plankton program recognizes extra work to the open source ecosystem for developers and non-developers alike.
- Use up to 5 days per year to volunteer for a good cause of your choice.
- Join one of our team member resource groups - empower yourself and others in missions that resonate with you.
What else?
- Your wellbeing matters: we provide extensive Occupational Health Care, Dental Care, as well as sports, culture, massage and lunch benefits
- Love breakfast? So do we! Join us at our regular office breakfast
- We also have you covered by statutory accident insurance
Amazing! What’s next?
Once applying you should hear from our Talent Experience team within 5 days regarding the status of your application. If you are selected to move forward you can generally expect 4 stages with us
- 30-45 minute call with one of our Talent Partners
- 60 minute Depth of Expertise Interview with the hiring manager
- 60 minute System Design Interview and 60 min Team Interview
- Company values interview for 1 hour
How to Recognise and Avoid Employment Scams
There has been a rise in fake job postings used by scammers to get personal information. Please familiarise yourself with the red flags of a potential scam.
Here at Aiven, all of our emails relating to recruitment come from an @aiven.io, @greenhouse.io or @eu.greenhouse.io domain and all of our interviews are conducted over video call or in person, our interviews will never occur over text or chat. If you’re unsure of the legitimacy of a job opportunity/offer pertaining to Aiven, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected].
Equal Opportunities
Aiven provides equal employment opportunities to all qualified employees and applicants for employment without regard to age, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, physical and mental ability, marital and family status or without regard to any other similar personal attributes. Aiven complies with applicable local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the company operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, training and any other terms and conditions related to employment.
At Aiven we are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities or special needs in our working environment and job application procedures. We make all reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities or who otherwise need support to thrive in the workplace. We are committed to continuously improving workplace accessibility. There is an option to request a discussion in the application process but if you have any questions before applying please write to us at [email protected].
