Engineering Manager

Remote OK - Worldwide
Full-time
December 13, 2022

About this position

As an engineering manager your mission is to maximize the output of engineering. You will utilize your communication skills and technical background to allow individuals and teams to work together to achieve common goals.

At Degica, engineering managers act as visionaries that help drive the technical direction of the product. They work closely with product and engineering to refine the “what” and “how” of features being built. They play a major role in scaling engineering through hiring and solving organizational problems. They are servant leaders who put the needs of employees first and provide opportunities for others to develop and perform to their full potential.

Responsibilities

Participate and improve process around engineering hiring, onboarding, and training
Define processes to increase productivity and ensure adoption across engineering and the organization
Provide mentorship and guidance through 1-on-1’s and performance reviews
Ensure engineering teams are operating efficiently and achieving their goals
Set expectations with engineers and hold them accountable for project deliverables

Requirements

Previous leadership experience (Tech Lead, Team Lead, etc are acceptable)
Excellent written and verbal communication skills
Ability to work with the product owners to provide crucial technical context to inform projects and timelines
Ability to collect and provide meaningful context to help inform the developers' technical solutions
Ability to provide thoughtful feedback to help developers improve their skills
Ability to work across teams and departments to unblock developers and improve productivity

Nice to haves

These aren't required, but be sure to mention them in your application if you have them.

Experience building and working on large-scale software products
Solid understanding of software development best practices
Understanding of concepts like technical debt and continuous integration
Knowledge of the Ruby programming language
Able to speak Japanese

Compensation

7,000,000 - 12,000,000 yen / year
Includes (rough estimate of) profit share. Based on experience and skill level

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About KOMOJU

Global payments made simple

KOMOJU is the leading cross-border payment gateway for Japan. They power payments for companies like the video game distribution platform Steam and the popular mobile app TikTok. Today, they help thousands of merchants by providing the payment infrastructure they need, from developer-friendly APIs to integrations on popular platforms like Shopify and Wix. They help merchants grow in all the markets they are expanding into.

Developer-centric, inclusive culture

Engineers at KOMOJU work in a developer-centric and inclusive culture where engineers have a say in both product and technical decisions. The culture is largely self-organizing, which means engineers have both a stake and ownership in what they work on. Engineers play to their strengths, but are also able to invest in areas where they want to grow within the team. At KOMOJU, engineers are the main drivers behind their growth and position in the company.

International at core

Around half of the team members come from outside Japan. English is the primary language used within the engineering team, and throughout the company many people are bilingual.

As an international company, KOMOJU understands the importance of bilingualism. They offer all employees a choice between optional English and Japanese lessons to help create a culture of diversity and ensure smooth collaboration across teams.

Passionate about technology

Developers at KOMOJU are passionate about their craft. To foster innovation, they have a monthly open hack day where developers can work on whatever they want. It could be trying a new programming language or tool, fixing a long-standing annoyance, or something fun and experimental, like building a game.

Japanese Language Policy
With around half of KOMOJU’s total members (and around 90% of engineers) coming from outside Japan, teams generally use English for written communication(e.g. Slack, Github).

Verbal communication is also primarily in English.

However, quite a few people can speak both English and Japanese fluently, so Japanese may be spoken at times during meetings, especially when they involve teams other than engineering.

Overall, the language spoken depends on the team. The dev team uses mostly English, but the HR team (for example) speaks primarily Japanese.
Visa Sponsorship
KOMOJU sponsors visas for candidates living outside of Japan. KOMOJU also helps out with relocation (searching for apartments etc.) but they don’t have a formal policy for this. The support offered depends on each individual case. They do always pay for flight tickets to Japan in the case that someone moves from abroad.
Paid Leave
KOMOJU offers annual leave starting at 10 days, an extra paid holiday on employees’ birthdays, 5 additional vacation days that can be used during the summer months, and another 5 days of year-end holidays.
Benefits
💻 New tech gear

👩‍🎓 Skill development support

💛 Support for attending conferences

💜 Seminar participation support

📕 Book purchases

🍔 Free lunch

🍹 Free drinks

👶 Parental Leave

👩‍🏫 Language Learning Support (Language courses)

💚 Translation support (EN<>JP)

💟 Complete health and social insurance

🚃 Commuter allowance
Engineer Interview Process
Engineering Roles

KOMOJU aims to keep their hiring process thoughtful and efficient. Typically, it involves 3–4 stages depending on the role:
- Initial Screening
- Take-home Exercise
- Technical Interview (Team Interview)
- Final Interview with Leadership
Throughout the process, the team evaluates technical skills and looks for alignment with team culture and potential for long-term growth.
Work style
KOMOJU operates as a remote-first company while placing a strong emphasis on personal connections and close collaboration. The company maintains an office in the Kichijoji area of Tokyo, which employees are welcome to visit for in-person collaboration and company events, such as weekly lunches provided at no cost.

Team members have the flexibility to work from anywhere within Japan, as well as up to three months per year from abroad. KOMOJU also offers flexible scheduling, allowing employees to set their own hours as long as they are available during the company’s core hours, Monday to Friday from 10:00 to 15:00 JST.