Engineering Manager (human)

Stellenbeschreibung:

Engineering Manager (human)

Neura Robotics • Metzingen

Shape the Future of Human-Robot Collaboration

In the Software Department, you're shaping robotic solutions that redefine human-machine collaboration. You'll work with cutting-edge technology, setting industry-changing standards. Not only will you help develop our solutions, but you'll also set new trends and drive innovations forward. In an agile and interdisciplinary team, you'll engage in exciting projects. With clear Scrum processes like daily stand-ups, sprint planning, and reviews, you remain flexible and efficient. Collaborating closely with other departments allows you to create software solutions that are both technically advanced and practically effective. Here, you'll find an environment where creativity and technological excellence go hand in hand. If you're eager to turn ideas into reality and enjoy taking technology to the next level, the Software Development Team at NEURA offers the perfect challenge for you.

Your mission & challenges

NEURA's Core Robot Software department is scaling through a deliberate structural transition. At ~50 engineers, one Technical Lead can no longer maintain meaningful career conversations with every engineer while also running sprint allocation across eight concurrent product streams. Engineering Managers are the answer to that specific problem — and this is one of those roles.

Your mission is to make 18–22 robotics software engineers as effective as possible over time: growing in their careers, performing well, and doing well as people. Technical architecture is not your domain — that is owned by Staff Engineers and the Platform Architect on the individual contributor track. Sprint allocation is owned by the Engineering Director. Your scope is people, and that scope is real and demanding.

Your team spans multiple technical specialisations — real-time systems, robot middleware, motion planning, fleet connectivity — and a range of seniority levels. You do not need to be the expert in every domain your engineers work in. You do need enough technical literacy to understand their work, recognise when someone is genuinely stuck, and have a credible conversation about what a Senior engineer needs to do to become a Staff engineer in their specific field.

Own every engineer\'s career trajectory: maintain a live understanding of where each person is, what they are working toward, and what is in the way
Run trigger-based promotion reviews when evidence is ready — not on annual cycles; assemble review panels, ensure fairness, and advocate for your engineers in cross-team calibration
Identify and address performance issues early, directly, and with a concrete improvement plan before they become a team problem
Conduct regular 1:1s focused on the person — project status has its own ceremonies
Monitor wellbeing; be the person engineers come to when work is hard for non-technical reasons; surface burnout, disengagement, and friction before they compound
Own hiring end-to-end for open roles: sourcing strategy, interview process design, offer decisions, and the candidate experience; ensure new engineers land well in their first 90 days
Represent your team\'s interests and constraints in Director-level planning; surface resourcing problems, morale signals, and structural issues before they become crises
Partner with the Staff Engineers who provide technical leadership to your team — your job is to ensure the people and team health conditions exist for their technical authority to be effective

What we can look forward to

People management experience
- 3+ years of direct engineering management experience: you have managed at least 6 engineers through hiring, performance management, and career development in a product engineering environment
- A concrete track record of developing engineers: you can name specific engineers whose careers you advanced and describe what you actually did
- Experience running performance improvement processes — improving performance where possible, not just ending it
- Full hiring ownership: you have run the end-to-end hiring cycle for technical roles, not only participated in interviews
Technical background
- A software engineering background sufficient for credible technical conversations with robotics engineers: you understand what a control loop is, why real-time constraints matter, and what makes embedded systems hard
- You do not need to be a robotics specialist — you need enough technical literacy that engineers feel you genuinely understand their work, even if not at the expert level
- Prior engineering management in embedded systems, robotics, or adjacent hardware-software domains is a strong advantage
Communication and judgment
- Clear, direct written and verbal communication in English; able to give hard feedback without it feeling like an attack
- Sound judgment under ambiguity: you make reasonable decisions with incomplete information and own them
- Experience holding a team together through the high-pressure periods that come with hardware deadlines — you have been through at least one product launch cycle as a manager
- Low ego: your success is measured through your engineers\' growth and delivery, not your own direct technical contributions
Organisational sensibility
- Comfortable operating in an organisation where people management and technical authority are explicitly separated — you partner with Staff Engineers on technical matters without either fully deferring to them or overriding them on decisions that are not yours
- Clear understanding of the boundary: you own careers, performance, wellbeing, and hiring; architecture and sprint allocation belong elsewhere
Nice to have
- Engineering management experience in robotics, autonomous systems, or advanced manufacturing
- Experience managing engineers across multiple technical specialisations simultaneously
- Experience scaling a team through growth: hiring from 6 to 20+ engineers while maintaining team health
- German language skills

What you can look forward to

Creative Freedom and Agility
Passion for Winning
Attractive Compensation
One Team
Professional Growth

Our values. The cornerstones of our success.

STRONGER TOGETHER

We are a team. We strive to achieve great things by promoting the success of our colleagues and partners.
PASSION DRIVES US

We strive for technological progress in order to give people back their valuable time for enjoyable activities.
MAKING A CHANGE

We strive to revolutionize the world of robotics by pushing the boundaries of technology every day.
TRUST AND HONESTY

We live a high level of appreciation through open communication and transparency.
WE SPEED THINGS UP

We do our best to always be two steps ahead. We achieve this through empowerment, freedom of action and personal responsibility.
WE ARE HUMAN

People are at the center of everything we do.

Our Location

Headquarters: Innovate in Riederich, Live in Metzingen and Stuttgart

Our headquarters in Metzingen and Riederich are the heart of our company. It\'s not just home to our offices, but also our production facilities, Academy, logistics, and Tech Labs—all working together to turn ideas into reality. Riederich itself is a small, peaceful town, just a kilometer away from Metzingen, a city with its own unique character. Metzingen is globally renowned as Outlet City, attracting visitors from all over the world. Here, you can enjoy exclusive designer stores in a relaxed and charming setting. The city also offers a variety of restaurants, cafés, and a down-to-earth Swabian coziness—perfect for unwinding after work.

Our application process

We ensure a transparent and efficient process and look forward to getting to know you during the application process.

Your insight into our daily work

3/4, 4/4, 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4

Unsere Mission

David Reger
Gründer und CEO

"Our goal was to develop the world\'s first cognitive robot that can work with people, learn from them and provide them with targeted support. And that is exactly what we have achieved. But there is much more to come!"