Engineering Manager / Lounge by Zalando (all genders)

THE ROLE & THE TEAM

Lounge by Zalando is an online shopping club for fashion and lifestyle products, serving millions of members across 20+ European markets. Demand Tech sits at the intersection of acquisition, engagement, and AI enablement, building the systems that attract customers, understand their intent, personalise their experience, and increasingly automate marketing workflows.

INCLUSIVE BY DESIGN

At Zalando, we encourage you to apply even if you don’t meet every single requirement; we may just be the right candidate for this or other roles. We believe diverse teams fuel innovation and creativity, so we actively seek talent from all backgrounds. We reduce bias in hiring and focus on your qualifications, skills, and contributions. Please refrain from including personal details such as your photo, age, or marital status in your CV, ensuring a fair and equitable evaluation based solely on your abilities and potential. If you require accommodations throughout the hiring process, let us know – we are here to assist you.

WHAT WE’D LOVE YOU TO DO (AND LOVE DOING)

• Lead and grow a high‑performing engineering team across backend, full‑stack, and ML/GenAI; build an inclusive, high‑trust environment with strong ownership and healthy team dynamics.
• Own delivery of impactful systems; drive the development of customer‑facing and platform capabilities that influence acquisition, engagement, and conversion.
• Shape architecture and technical direction; define and evolve the architecture across backend, data, and ML/AI systems, balancing speed, quality, and pragmatism in a multi‑domain environment.
• Bridge software and applied science; enable your team to build and operate ML and LLM‑based systems in production, from data pipelines to model integration and evaluation.
• Champion operational excellence; ensure reliability, scalability, and cost‑awareness across systems, establish KPIs/SLOs, improve observability, and lead incident response for business‑critical services.
• Collaborate and influence; work closely with Product, Data & AI, and other engineering teams across Zalando, navigating dependencies, aligning on shared platforms, and communicating effectively with stakeholders.

WE’D LOVE TO MEET YOU IF YOU HAVE

• Proven engineering leadership: significant experience as an Engineering Manager with a strong track record of building, developing, and retaining high‑performing teams.
• Solid technical foundation: experience in backend and distributed systems (e.g., Kotlin/Java/Python), cloud‑native architectures (AWS preferred), and data‑intensive applications.
• Exposure to ML or applied science in production: experience working with teams that build or integrate ML/AI systems (e.g., personalisation, recommendation, or LLM‑based features).
• Product and business mindset: experience building customer‑facing systems and understanding how technical decisions impact metrics such as conversion, engagement, or revenue.
• Strong architectural thinking: ability to navigate complex systems, define direction with senior engineers, and make pragmatic trade‑offs across multiple domains.
• Operational mindset: experience running reliable systems in production, including monitoring, incident handling, and continuous improvement.
• Clear communication and stakeholder management: ability to explain complex topics simply, influence decisions, and collaborate effectively across engineering, product, and business teams.

OUR OFFER

• 27 days of holiday a year to start for full‑time employees (+1 day for every calendar year up to 30 days).
• 2 paid volunteering days a year.
• Hybrid working model with up to 60% remote per week; actual practice is up to each team to best support collaboration.
• Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year.
• Employee shares programme.
• 40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, and discounts from external partners.
• Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement).
• Family services, including counselling and support.
• Health and wellbeing options (including Wellhub, formerly Gympass).
• Mental health support and coaching available.
• Drive your development through our training platform and biannual peer‑to‑peer review.

About Lounge By Zalando

Lounge by Zalando is an online shopping club for fashion and lifestyle products in 20+ European countries, offering members daily, time‑limited sale campaigns with discounts of up to 75% off the recommended retail price. Our strength lies in our focus on fashion, from sought‑after labels to niche brands, ensuring we meet the fashion tastes of all customers. Working with brand partners, we pioneer innovative supply‑chain and production processes, offering them an impactful and smart solution and creating a new way to shop for fashion and for sellers.

Discover more about our commitment to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace