# Engineering Manager

[Kernel](https://gurify.com/jobs?q=Kernel) · London · Posted 2 days ago

[Engineering Manager](https://gurify.com/jobs/engineering-manager)

[Apply on the original posting → (opens in a new tab)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kernel/2284d90b-f0d2-41fd-bb51-e215184f71e7?ashby_jid=e5588bb8-af9d-4e95-9745-c6ebdd5c0645)

## Job description

### ABOUT KERNEL

Agents are starting to sell, buy and operate on behalf of companies. But before an agent can close a deal, qualify an account, route a lead or assess risk, it has to answer a basic question: which company is this?

Today, that answer is messy, and no one answers it reliably. Business identity lives across CRMs, ERPs and third-party datasets full of duplicates, missing parent companies, stale addresses and incorrect enrichment. The cost shows up across the enterprise: sales teams miss revenue opportunities because they lack the right account context; operations teams take on avoidable exposure because risk signals are fragmented or wrong; and finance teams end up chasing, writing off, or defaulting on bad debt that should have been caught earlier.

Humans have worked around that mess for years. Agents cannot. They need a reliable business identity layer they can trust.

Kernel is building that layer: the business registry for agents. We issue a permanent KERN ID for every business, plus the context an agent needs to act on it. Ops, data and revenue teams at Gong, Legora, Mistral, Canva and Checkout already use Kernel on their own systems. Agents are next, and there will be far more of them.

We have raised $20M from top VCs and operators at Plaid, OpenAI, Slack and others, and we are growing 5x YoY.

### THE ROLE

You'll be a player-coach engineering leader with a spike in technical strategy, you'll own engineering delivery for your team end-to-end - from developing exceptional engineers to solving some of our most difficult engineering problems & setting technical direction.

This is a hands-on leadership role. You'll spend roughly 20% of your time contributing code and 80% leading your team, with that ratio shifting as we scale.

### KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

- Build, hire, and develop a high-performing engineering team

- Help set technical direction and architecture decisions

- Work with the engineering to tackle some of our most difficult problems

- Own engineering delivery with an emphasis on velocity

- Collaborate closely with Product on roadmap and prioritisation

- Write code when needed so you'll stay close to the product

### THE OPPORTUNITY

We are in the unique situation that our commercial traction is ahead of our product. You’ll play a leading role in moving towards automation in a way that enables us to rapidly scale with increased complexity and specific customer nuances.

### ABOUT YOU

- You have extensive experience in architecting enterprise-level systems, delivering on ambitious product visions, and building world class engineering teams.

- You have worked at high-growth businesses, and might have previously started your own company.

- You are highly analytical, and thinking proactively through the implications of your decisions, but also have high conviction and understand the importance of moving at pace and shipping often.

- You have previously led engineering at a company from its earliest stages, and don’t shy away from the manager role - you know what great looks like, and want to help engineers grow.

### ESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE

- 8+ years software engineering experience

- Track record of hiring and developing strong engineers

- Strong production systems background - you've built and scaled things that matter, and you’ve done something hard and lived to tell the tale

- Proven experience in distributed systems

- Experience operating autonomously in small, high-velocity environments - ideally in a startup

- Experience working in a data-focused company or closely alongside a data engineering/ML team - data is core to what we're building at Kernel, and you will play a key role in shaping how we grow that capability

### NICE-TO-HAVE:

- Scaled an engineering team through a growth phase (5 → 20+ engineers), or from Series A to Series C

- Technical depth across the stack: NodeJS, Postgres, TypeScript, Kubernetes AI-driven or data-heavy product experience

- Understanding of LLMs (e.g., RAG, prompt engineering, evals)

- CRM data models or workflow automation knowledge

- Hands-on Data Engineering or ML Engineering experience - as data becomes an increasingly large part of what we do, this would be a great asset for us to have

⚠️ THIS ROLE MAY NOT BE FOR YOU IF YOU:

- Insist on shipping pixel-perfect code

- Prefer managing from a distance without technical involvement

- Need extensive process and structure before making decisions

❌ THIS ROLE IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR YOU:

- If you over-rely on AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code) to the point where you don’t read or understand your own code

- If you on the other hand don’t understand how these tools (Cursor, Claude Code, etc.) can be force multipliers for senior engineers if used correctly

- If you prefer fully remote work

- If you don’t like early-stage startup pace

- If you’re seeking a purely ‘hands-off’ role

### TECH STACK

- Backend: AWS, NodeJS, TypeScript, Postgres, Clickhouse, Kubernetes

- Frontend: NextJS, TypeScript, Tailwind

You don't need to know everything, but you should be comfortable diving into any part of the stack.

### WHAT WE OFFER

We will do our best to offer you a ride of a lifetime. It will not be easy, but it will be thrilling.

- 💰 Salary: £130,000 – £170,000 + equity

- 🗓️ 24 days holiday per year + bank holidays

- 🥕 £450 Monthly Office Dinner Allowance

- ✈️ 2 weeks work-from-anywhere

- 🍼 Generous parental leave policy

- 💼 Pension plan

- 💻 Top-spec equipment and central London office

- 🎉 Team events and dinners

- 🚀 Work directly with the founders to scale the systems that power enterprise AI

- 🏆 High-autonomy, high-trust environment with a small team shipping at pace

🎫 VISAS & RELOCATION

We sponsor visas for exceptional candidates and provide relocation support for those moving to London.

### INTERVIEW PROCESS

### Stage 1: Introductory Call (45 minutes)

An introductory conversation covering your professional background and what you’re looking for in your next role.

### Stage 2: Hiring Manager Call (30 minutes)

A conversation with Marcus focused on ways of working and team collaboration.

### Stage 3: Technical Deep Dive (60 minutes)

An in-depth discussion exploring your architectural thinking and past technical decisions.

### Stage 4: Leadership Scenario Interview (60 minutes)

An onsite interview at our London office, where we’ll walk through real challenges you’d likely face in the role.

### Final Stage: Founders Interview

A conversation with our co-founders, Anders and Marcus, focused on values alignment and long-term vision.

Upon mutual fit: references and offer stage.

**Live in Kernel’s hiring system.** Read from the company's own applicant tracking system, not reposted from a job board — so it's a real, open requisition rather than an ad that outlived the role.

We remove it as soon as it disappears at source.

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The cost shows up across the enterprise: sales teams miss revenue opportunities because they lack the right account context; operations teams take on avoidable exposure because risk signals are fragmented or wrong; and finance teams end up chasing, writing off, or defaulting on bad debt that should have been caught earlier.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHumans have worked around that mess for years. Agents cannot. They need a reliable business identity layer they can trust.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKernel is building that layer: the business registry for agents. We issue a permanent KERN ID for every business, plus the context an agent needs to act on it. Ops, data and revenue teams at Gong, Legora, Mistral, Canva and Checkout already use Kernel on their own systems. 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You\u2019ll play a leading role in moving towards automation in a way that enables us to rapidly scale with increased complexity and specific customer nuances.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EABOUT YOU\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EYou have extensive experience in architecting enterprise-level systems, delivering on ambitious product visions, and building world class engineering teams.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EYou have worked at high-growth businesses, and might have previously started your own company.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EYou are highly analytical, and thinking proactively through the implications of your decisions, but also have high conviction and understand the importance of moving at pace and shipping often.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EYou have previously led engineering at a company from its earliest stages, and don\u2019t shy away from the manager role - you know what great looks like, and want to help engineers grow.\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EESSENTIAL EXPERIENCE\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E8\u002B years software engineering experience\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETrack record of hiring and developing strong engineers\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EStrong production systems background - you\u0026#39;ve built and scaled things that matter, and you\u2019ve done something hard and lived to tell the tale\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EProven experience in distributed systems\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EExperience operating autonomously in small, high-velocity environments - ideally in a startup\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EExperience working in a data-focused company or closely alongside a data engineering/ML team - data is core to what we\u0026#39;re building at Kernel, and you will play a key role in shaping how we grow that capability\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ENICE-TO-HAVE:\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EScaled an engineering team through a growth phase (5 \u2192 20\u002B engineers), or from Series A to Series C\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ETechnical depth across the stack: NodeJS, Postgres, TypeScript, Kubernetes AI-driven or data-heavy product experience\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EUnderstanding of LLMs (e.g., RAG, prompt engineering, evals)\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ECRM data models or workflow automation knowledge\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EHands-on Data Engineering or ML Engineering experience - as data becomes an increasingly large part of what we do, this would be a great asset for us to have\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u26A0\uFE0F THIS ROLE MAY NOT BE FOR YOU IF YOU:\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EInsist on shipping pixel-perfect code\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EPrefer managing from a distance without technical involvement\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003ENeed extensive process and structure before making decisions\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u274C THIS ROLE IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR YOU:\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIf you over-rely on AI coding tools (Cursor, Claude Code) to the point where you don\u2019t read or understand your own code\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIf you on the other hand don\u2019t understand how these tools (Cursor, Claude Code, etc.) can be force multipliers for senior engineers if used correctly\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIf you prefer fully remote work\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIf you don\u2019t like early-stage startup pace\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EIf you\u2019re seeking a purely \u2018hands-off\u2019 role\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Ch3\u003ETECH STACK\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EBackend: AWS, NodeJS, TypeScript, Postgres, Clickhouse, Kubernetes\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EFrontend: NextJS, TypeScript, Tailwind\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EYou don\u0026#39;t need to know everything, but you should be comfortable diving into any part of the stack.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EWHAT WE OFFER\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe will do our best to offer you a ride of a lifetime. It will not be easy, but it will be thrilling.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#128176; Salary: \u0026#163;130,000 \u2013 \u0026#163;170,000 \u002B equity\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#128467;\uFE0F 24 days holiday per year \u002B bank holidays\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#129365; \u0026#163;450 Monthly Office Dinner Allowance\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u2708\uFE0F 2 weeks work-from-anywhere\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#127868; Generous parental leave policy\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#128188; Pension plan\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#128187; Top-spec equipment and central London office\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#127881; Team events and dinners\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#128640; Work directly with the founders to scale the systems that power enterprise AI\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003E\u0026#127942; High-autonomy, high-trust environment with a small team shipping at pace\u003C/li\u003E\u003C/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026#127915; VISAS \u0026amp; RELOCATION\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe sponsor visas for exceptional candidates and provide relocation support for those moving to London.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EINTERVIEW PROCESS\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EStage 1: Introductory Call (45 minutes)\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAn introductory conversation covering your professional background and what you\u2019re looking for in your next role.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EStage 2: Hiring Manager Call (30 minutes)\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA conversation with Marcus focused on ways of working and team collaboration.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EStage 3: Technical Deep Dive (60 minutes)\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAn in-depth discussion exploring your architectural thinking and past technical decisions.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EStage 4: Leadership Scenario Interview (60 minutes)\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAn onsite interview at our London office, where we\u2019ll walk through real challenges you\u2019d likely face in the role.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EFinal Stage: Founders Interview\u003C/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA conversation with our co-founders, Anders and Marcus, focused on values alignment and long-term vision.\u003C/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUpon mutual fit: references and offer stage.\u003C/p\u003E","identifier":{"@type":"PropertyValue","name":"Gurify","value":"engineering-manager-at-kernel-6243d9fe98ea"},"url":"https://gurify.com/job/engineering-manager-at-kernel-6243d9fe98ea","datePosted":"2026-10-21","validThrough":"2026-12-07T23:59:59Z","hiringOrganization":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Kernel","sameAs":"https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/kernel"},"directApply":false,"jobLocation":{"@type":"Place","address":{"@type":"PostalAddress","addressCountry":"GB","addressLocality":"London"}}}
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