Engineering Manager
This role helps build Lucy, the proactive AI coach from Lucy Labs that lives on your desktop as a cloud-backed app, while the product is in development with design partners.
Player-coach for a team of five to eight engineers.
About the role
At Lucy Labs, this role owns the purpose described below.
The Engineering Manager at Lucy Labs leads a team of 5-8 engineers to deliver high-quality product features with velocity and technical excellence. This is a player-coach role—70% people management (hiring, mentoring, performance, culture) and 30% technical leadership (architecture, code review, technical decisions). Engineering Managers ensure their teams ship reliably while growing in capability and maintaining high engineering standards.
This role is critical when the team reaches 8+ engineers—you enable the team to scale without losing quality or velocity.
The mission
At Lucy Labs, this role's mission is defined by the outcome and work below.
Lead an engineering team that:
- Ships high-quality features consistently
- Maintains technical excellence and low technical debt
- Grows in capability and seniority over time
- Collaborates effectively with product and design
- Operates with high autonomy and accountability
What you'd own
At Lucy Labs, this role turns its mission into concrete responsibilities in each area.
1. People Management (70%)
For 1. People Management (70%), Lucy Labs expects this role to own the responsibilities below.
- Hire, onboard, and retain top engineering talent
- Conduct 1:1s, provide coaching and career development
- Set clear expectations and deliver performance feedback
- Build team culture of ownership, quality, and collaboration
- Manage team capacity, workload, and work-life balance
- Resolve conflicts and remove blockers
2. Technical Leadership (30%)
For 2. Technical Leadership (30%), Lucy Labs expects this role to own the responsibilities below.
- Make architecture decisions for team's domain
- Review code and enforce engineering standards
- Guide technical design and problem-solving
- Ensure quality through testing, monitoring, documentation
- Balance speed vs. technical debt
- Drive technical initiatives and improvements
3. Delivery & Execution
For 3. Delivery & Execution, Lucy Labs expects this role to own the responsibilities below.
- Own team's roadmap execution and delivery commitments
- Break down complex projects into iterative milestones
- Coordinate cross-team dependencies
- Ensure teams ship on time with quality
- Communicate progress and risks to VP Engineering and Product
4. Process & Quality
For 4. Process & Quality, Lucy Labs expects this role to own the responsibilities below.
- Establish team rituals (standups, retros, planning)
- Implement quality gates and testing standards
- Drive post-incident reviews and process improvements
- Measure and improve team velocity and efficiency
- Balance process with pragmatism
5. Cross-Functional Collaboration
For 5. Cross-Functional Collaboration, Lucy Labs expects this role to own the responsibilities below.
- Partner with Product Managers on feature planning
- Collaborate with Design on technical feasibility
- Coordinate with other Engineering Managers on dependencies
- Represent team in leadership meetings
- Escalate blockers and advocate for team needs
What success looks like
Lucy Labs defines these milestones as role outcomes, not metrics for measuring the person.
- 60 days
- Team operating smoothly, delivery cadence established
- 90 days
- Quality and velocity improving, team culture strong
- 6 months
- Team consistently ships on time with high quality
- 12 months
- Team members promoted, technical debt managed, morale high
Experience and fit
Lucy Labs looks for the essential experience listed here and treats the rest as helpful, not an automatic barrier.
Must have
- 5+ years software engineering experience
- 2+ years leading engineering teams (5-8+ engineers)
- Strong architecture and system design skills
- Code review and mentoring experience
- Agile/Scrum process expertise
- Excellent communication and people skills
- Track record of shipping products at scale
Nice to have
- Startup or 0→1 product experience
- Full-stack engineering background
- Ai/ML product development experience
- Experience building SaaS platforms
- Managed remote or distributed teams
- Technical recruiting experience
How you work
Lucy Labs looks for these working traits alongside technical experience.
Role DNA
Lucy Labs evaluates these traits as part of the fit for this role.
- Servant leader (team success > personal glory)
- Technically strong but people-focused
- Clear communicator
- High emotional intelligence
- Pragmatic problem-solver
- Ownership mentality
Leadership principles for the role
Lucy Labs expects this role to apply the following leadership principles.
- People first, technology second
- Quality and velocity are not mutually exclusive
- Clarity prevents waste—communicate relentlessly
- Build teams that can operate without you
- Culture is what you tolerate—hold the bar high
- Technical debt kills startups—pay it down regularly
Apply for this role
The Lucy Labs application form opens with this role already selected. You can review the message before sending it.
Apply for this roleFrequently asked questions
Is this role open at Lucy Labs?
Yes. Lucy Labs confirmed this role is open on 25 August 2026.
Where does Lucy Labs base this role?
Lucy Labs bases this role in Madrid, Spain. The exact working arrangement is confirmed during the application conversation.
What does this role own at Lucy Labs?
At Lucy Labs, this role has one central responsibility: Player-coach for a team of five to eight engineers. The full description sets out the mission, responsibilities, and relevant experience.
How do I apply to Lucy Labs?
At Lucy Labs, use the application form. The role is selected automatically, and you can review it before sending.
