---
title: 'Engineering Manager - Developer Experience *EU/UK remote* (m/f/d) at Pliant'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-developer-experience-eu-uk-remote-m-f-d-pliant-europe-vaannbpds571'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-10-28'
---

# Engineering Manager - Developer Experience *EU/UK remote* (m/f/d) at Pliant

- **Company:** Pliant
- **Location:** Europe
- **Employment:** full-time
- **Work type:** remote
- **Posted:** 2026-10-26
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-10-28
- **Apply:** https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/pliant/12f218a5-6de5-4aba-8d8a-a396dbe3b974/application

**Skills:** Python, Kubernetes, CI/CD, Terraform, AWS, Spacelift, GitHub Actions, Datadog, Helm, Kubernetes admission webhooks, GitHub Actions runner debugging, Go, Java, Kotlin, Fintech experience, Regulated-environment experience

> The Engineering Manager will define and lead a new platform engineering team focused on Developer Experience. This founding role involves building the golden path for CI/CD, standardizing AI-assisted development tooling, and hiring the first engineers to establish a high-performance team.

## Job description

## ABOUT US

Pliant is a modular B2B payments platform that combines commercial card issuing, payment accounts, FX, and spend management in one system — adapting to existing setups rather than requiring customers to replace them. Businesses across industries such as travel, e-commerce, and insurance use Pliant to manage complex payment workflows with cards, backed by credit lines Pliant underwrites itself. Fintechs and software platforms embed Pliant's payment infrastructure into their own products, from API-based Cards-as-a-Service to fully white-label solutions. Banks use Pliant's Card & Spend OS, the customer-facing interface, on their own infrastructure to run card programs. Founded in 2020 and headquartered in Berlin, Pliant serves 5,000+ businesses and 40+ partners across Europe and the United States. A principal member of Visa and Mastercard, Pliant issues commercial cards in 13 currencies across 32 countries — under its own European e-money license and with licensed partners in the UK and US. Learn more athttp://www.getpliant.com/[www.getpliant.com](http://www.getpliant.com)

## ABOUT THE ROLE

We're seeking an Engineering Manager - Developer Experience (m/f/d) to define and lead a brand-new platform engineering team focused on Developer Experience, the discipline where Pliant ensures every engineer is productive from day one and autonomous from day two. This is a founding role. You will be the first hire on the team, which means you get to define what great looks like before hiring the engineers to build it alongside you. You will own the golden path that product teams actually use, CI/CD integrations engineers can modify without raising a ticket, self-service environment provisioning, and a Service Registry as the canonical source of truth for everything running on Kubernetes. Initially, you will be heavily hands-on, coding alongside your team, reviewing designs, and making architectural calls. The expectation is that hands-on involvement remains high as the team is built out, with leadership responsibilities growing in parallel as the team matures.

## WHAT YOU’LL DO

- You use AI-assisted coding tools every day. Claude Code, Cursor, or something equivalent. Not occasionally. You know how to coach engineers who haven't made the shift yet, and you're the one who sets the bar for how the team uses them. Pliant is investing heavily in AI tooling and your team will own the company's AI harness so you need to be its most credible user.
- Own the golden path: Build and maintain deployment templates, opinionated CI/CD patterns on top of our Kubernetes cluster APIs, production readiness checklists, and onboarding flows that get a new service to production without filing a support ticket.
- Own developer satisfaction as a metric: Track golden path adoption rate, deployment lead time, and time-to-first-deploy for new services. When engineers route around the platform, that is your problem to diagnose and fix.
- Standardise AI-assisted development tooling: Lead the team building the AI harness that standardises the usage of assisted development tools across the company, including Claude Code, Cursor, and others.
- Build the team from zero: Own hiring, culture, and the technical bar from the very first hire. The people you bring in first define what this team becomes, and you know that.

## WHAT YOU’LL BRING

- 4+ years of software development experience with Python, including 2+ years in leadership/management. Go experience is a strong plus.
- Hands-on experience building CI/CD systems, internal developer portals, or golden paths, with enough codebase familiarity to still be useful. You can read a Helm chart, write a Kubernetes admission webhook, and debug a GitHub Actions runner issue. You do not need to be the fastest IC on the team, but engineers need to trust your technical calls.
- Deep experience with Kubernetes-based platforms specifically, including cluster APIs, namespaces, RBAC, admission control, and deployment patterns well enough to make informed decisions.
- A product mindset for internal tooling. The failure mode for DX teams is building things that get bypassed. You have shipped something internal that people chose over the workaround.
- Experience hiring engineers, including at least one hire that taught you something. Building a team from scratch means the first few hires matter more than usual.
- Security-first thinking that shows up in the design, not just the vocabulary. You know what "shift left" means and you practice it.
- Fintech or regulated-environment experience is a genuine advantage. We operate under PCI DSS and SOC2.
- The product teams run Java and Kotlin, and they'll come to you when something breaks. You don't need to write Java. You do need to read a stack trace, follow a build log, and tell a configuration issue from a code bug. If you've never touched a JVM that's fine as long as you’re willing to learn
- Fluent in English

## THE FIRST YEAR

- The first few months are mostly discovery and hiring. You are learning where the friction actually is, writing a team charter, interviewing candidates, and probably fixing at least one thing that has been annoying everyone for longer than it should have.
- By mid-year the team has a few engineers on board and a version of the golden path that is meaningfully better than what existed before.
- By year one the Service Registry is live, golden path adoption is measurable, and your team has a defined roadmap it owns.
- Tech Stack: Kubernetes, Terraform, AWS, Spacelift, GitHub Actions, Datadog.
- We are in the middle of an ECS-to-Kubernetes migration, so there is real new ground to cover from day one.

## WHAT WE OFFER

- The opportunity to work in a growing team with big responsibilities that thrives on a strong exchange of knowledge and excellence
- Attractive remuneration
- Your choice of preferred OS, Windows or Mac
- Flat hierarchy and transparent communication in a relaxed, professional atmosphere
- Opportunity to develop your talent in a dynamic team with ambitious goals
- Flexibility and possibility to work remotely
- Monthly mobility benefit
- Wellhub Membership
- Pliant Card with monthly credit to explore the product and enjoy food with colleagues

Pliant is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, identities and abilities, and are committed to an inclusive hiring process. If you need any accommodations during the interview process, please let us know.

At Pliant we use the Ashby AI Criteria to assist with looking over resumes against our job qualifications for this role. All final decisions are made by our Talent Team and Hiring Team.

A human is behind these processes. Ashby does not automatically reject candidates or make final hiring decisions. Our teams review all results and make the final hiring decision with every candidate that applies.

## About Pliant

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Pliant provides an API-first, modular B2B credit card platform that enables businesses to issue, manage, and track physical and virtual credit cards while streamlining payment processes and spend controls.
- **Entity Type**: Private (growth stage, backed by multiple venture capital investors)
- **Headquarters**: Berlin, Germany
- **Founded**: 2020
- **Founders**: Malte Rau and Fabian Terner

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: Fintech – B2B payments, spend management, and card issuance.
- **Target customers**: B2B – businesses of all sizes (SMB to enterprise), banks and financial institutions (via CaaS/BaaS), and developers/API users.
- **Mission or purpose statement**: "Empower companies to grow by providing a smart way to pay that scales with their business." [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en-us/about-pliant)

## Products & Services
- **Payment Apps**: Ready-to-use mobile and web applications for issuing cards, managing spend, tracking transactions, and integrating with accounting tools. Ideal for companies that want a full-featured solution out of the box.
- **Pro API**: A fully customizable API for businesses that need to issue cards at scale, automate workflows, and build custom integrations into their finance stack. Supports single-use virtual cards, spend controls, and real-time monitoring.
- **CaaS & BaaS (Card-as-a-Service & Banking-as-a-Service)**: White-label solutions for banks and fintechs to launch their own branded credit card programs, with Pliant handling compliance, card issuance, and processing under its e-money license.
- **Card & Spend OS**: The underlying operating system that powers all products, offering spend control, receipt management, accounting automation, and transaction insights.

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly available.
- **Key Metric**: Total funding amount not publicly disclosed; notable investors include **Alstin Capital**, **Motive Ventures**, **Speedinvest**, **SBI Investment**, **PayPal Ventures**, and **Illuminate Financial**. [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en-us/about-pliant)
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: PayPal Ventures, Speedinvest, Alstin Capital, Motive Ventures, SBI Investment, Illuminate Financial.
- **Growth Signals**: 
  - Team of 250+ employees representing 35+ nationalities. [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en/careers)
  - Offices in Berlin (HQ), London, New York, Paris, Munich, Vienna, Lisbon, and Helsinki. [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en-us/about-pliant)
  - Licensed as an e-money institution (EMI) in the EU and certified ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and PCI DSS. [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en)
  - High Glassdoor rating of 4.6/5 (as of Nov 2024). [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en/careers)

## Competitive Advantages
- **API-first platform**: Fully programmable card issuance and spend management, enabling deep customization and automation for enterprises and developers.
- **Regulatory moat**: Holds an e-money license and multiple security certifications (ISO 27001, PCI DSS), making it a trusted partner for banks and regulated institutions.
- **Multi-product flexibility**: Offers everything from out-of-the-box apps to white-label CaaS/BaaS, covering a wide range of customer needs in one platform.
- **Real-time data & insights**: Provides granular transaction monitoring, customizable reporting, and seamless integration with accounting and ERP systems.

## Strategic Focus
- Expand geographically (already present across Europe and the US) and deepen partnerships with banks and fintechs through CaaS offerings.
- Continue enhancing the Pro API and automation capabilities to serve high-volume enterprise clients.
- Strengthen compliance and security infrastructure to maintain regulatory advantages.
- Grow headcount across engineering, sales, and data teams to support scaling.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture & values**: Emphasizes agility, kindness, openness, and having fun. Mission-driven team with a flat structure and collaborative environment. [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en/careers)
- **Remote/hybrid policy**: Offers home office and remote work opportunities (many roles listed as *EU/UK remote*), plus flexible working hours. [getpliant.com](https://www.getpliant.com/en/careers)
- **Perks**: Learning & development budget, monthly lunch benefit, mobility perk, Bahncard, Wellhub membership, and regular team events.
- **Engineering culture**: 11 cross-functional teams, with visible investment in data, engineering, and product roles. Technology stack includes modern API-first development.
- **Glassdoor rating**: 4.6/5 (as of Nov 2024) – indicative of high employee satisfaction.

## Sources
1. [getpliant.com - Main site](https://www.getpliant.com/en)
2. [getpliant.com - About page](https://www.getpliant.com/en-us/about-pliant)
3. [getpliant.com - Careers page](https://www.getpliant.com/en/careers)
4. [linkedin.com - Pliant company page](https://www.linkedin.com/company/getpliant)
5. [getpliant.com - Careers (alternate)](https://www.getpliant.com/en-us/careers)

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