Engineering Manager, Kafka

ph3bBrief info about Vinted /b /h3pOur mission is to make second-hand the first choice, and we're looking for people who want to help us get there. Every day, we work together to help our members buy and sell pre-loved clothing and lifestyle items, giving each piece a second life - or even a third.br/The Vinted Group is made up of three business units that support this mission: /ppbVinted Marketplace /b is Europe's leading platform for second-hand fashion and a go-to destination for all kinds of pre-loved items, with a growing range of categories. Our platform connects millions of members across 20+ markets, helping great items find a new life. /ppbVinted Go /b enhances the shipping experience with a vast network of over 500,000 pick-up and drop-off points, partnering with more than 60 carriers across Europe, with added services like item verification for peace of mind on high-value pieces. /ppbVinted Pay /b is the newest part of the Vinted Group, dedicated to bringing secure, reliable payments to buyers and sellers across Europe. Seamlessly integrated into the Vinted app, it helps keep every transaction safe, efficient, and easy for our members. /ppFounded in 2008 in Lithuania, Vinted began as a way for friends to find new homes for clothes they no longer needed. In 2019, we became Lithuania's first unicorn! Today, our headquarters remain in Vilnius, and we've grown with offices across Europe, supported by a team of over 2,000 people. /ph3bInformation about the position /b /h3pAs an bEngineering Manager /b for the bKafka /b team, you will lead an engineering team responsible for providing managed services, tooling, and standards for multiple Vinted product teams that need asynchronous message processing. This spans the full scope of the domain - from operating infrastructure and running Kafka clusters across multiple data centers, to abstracting complex systems into easy-to-use managed services that support core Vinted operations at scale. /ppYour main responsibility will be the health, morale, and efficiency of your team, ensuring they successfully operate and grow parts of the platform while developing "golden paths" for product developers. /ppThe newly established Kafka team in the Persistence domain currently consists of 5 experienced engineers, with plans to grow further. In this role, you will report to the Director of Engineering and form a strong leadership partnership with the team's Staff Engineer, who leads deep technical architecture and technology choices, and Technical Program Manager (TPM), who drives cross-team delivery and roadmap alignment. Together, you will empower the team to deliver reliable, high-quality services to Vinted's wider development organization. /ph3In this position, you'll /h3ulliLead and develop a team of 5+ infrastructure engineers, driving individual goal setting, regular feedback cycles, and quarterly performance reviews. /liliBuild individual career development plans, mentoring engineers to reach their potential and supporting team growth. /liliKeep track of team health, delivery velocity, and operational workload to prevent burnout and ensure a sustainable pace. /liliCreate, refine, and take accountability for efficient operational procedures, agile workflows, incident response routines, and on-call practices. /liliHelp unblock engineers, resolve cross-team dependencies, and foster strong collaboration with peer platform teams. /liliParticipate in engineering management rituals, organizational planning, post-incident reviews, and continuous improvement initiatives. /liliOversee team execution, capacity planning, and hiring efforts as the team expands. /liliWork with the Staff Engineer and TPM to turn technical strategy into well-structured roadmaps, clear team priorities, and predictable delivery. /liliCommunicate with internal stakeholders and development teams across Vinted to ensure transparent service expectations, SLAs, and roadmap visibility. /liliEnsure the team delivers eventually consistent systems that keep data synchronized across cross-Atlantic markets without sacrificing performance. /liliFocus on your team's and your own professional and personal growth, including conducting performance and compensation reviews. /li /ulh3bAbout you /b /h3ulliHave experience managing, coaching, and developing software and/or infrastructure engineering teams, with a track record of delivering results. /liliHave a strong understanding of goal-setting frameworks, performance review cycles, continuous feedback, and career growth pathways for engineers. /liliAre comfortable collaborating in a leadership triad, partnering closely with a Staff Engineer on technical decisions and a TPM on program execution. /liliAre skilled at creating structured workflows, clarifying team ownership, facilitating constructive discussions, and managing stakeholder expectations. /liliCare deeply about people development, psychological safety, a healthy on-call culture, and team satisfaction. /liliAre well-versed in high-level software engineering and platform concepts, enabling you to communicate effectively with technical specialists without needing to be hands-on. /liliCommunicate excellently in written and spoken English. /liliAdvantage:Experience working within platform, infrastructure, SRE, or cloud organizations. /liliAdvantage:Experience working within Apache Kafka or similar platforms. /liliAdvantage: Experience establishing or improving on-call rotations, incident post-mortem processes, or service-level management. /li /ulh3bWork perks /b /h3ulliThe opportunity to benefit from our share options programme /lili25 working days of holiday /liliAccess to all the tools tech needed for work /liliHome office support: we provide IT workstation equipment and a personal budget of up to €540 for home workplace furniture /liliPrivate health insurance /liliConfidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP) for you and your family /liliFrequent team-building events /liliA personal monthly budget for shopping on Vinted /liliA dog-friendly office /liliIn Vilnius office: gym in-house meals at friendly prices /liliIn Kaunas office: a monthly lunch allowance, and a once-a-week provided in-house lunch and breakfast /li /ulh3bWorking at Vinted /b /h3pbWorkation policy /b /ppBetter balance holidays with workdays by working remotely! Up to 90 days per year in the EU, of these, 21 days can be spent globally. For non-EU citizens, it's 21 days worldwide. This can be combined with time off for vacation or personal time. /ppbIndividual learning budget /b /ppEach year, you'll be given a learning budget (starting at €3,000), and a total of up to 10 working days over a 2-year period to support your personal and professional development. /ppbHybrid work /b /ppOur hybrid model, with 2 recommended office days a week, gives you and your team the flexibility to decide if and when you want to work from home, and when to catch up in person. /ppbEqual opportunity /b /ppWe welcome applications from everybody, regardless of your background, identity, or life experiences. Job openings come with guides, not checklists. If you're excited about a role, but don't identify with every point in the 'About you' section, apply anyway - you might still be the perfect match! /ppThe annual gross salary range for this position excluding 8% holiday pay is: /pp€100.300-€121.400 EUR /p /p #J-18808-Ljbffr