Engineering Manager at Prolific (United Kingdom)

Prolific · United Kingdom·4d ago

Role details

Work type

Remote

Job description

Engineering Manager

Engineering

Prolific

Prolific is not just another player in the AI space – we are the architects of the human data infrastructure that's reshaping the landscape of AI development. In a world where foundational AI technologies are increasingly commoditized, it's the quality and diversity of human-generated data that truly differentiates products and models.

The role

At Prolific, our product development group is a powerhouse of Engineering, Product, Data, Design, and Research – all working in lockstep. You'll thrive in cross-functional teams, each with a clear mission and the freedom to self-organize and innovate towards the best possible outcomes. We're passionate about moving fast and continuously improving, and we champion strong engineering principles and a culture of strong ownership.

As an Engineering Manager, you won't just manage; you'll inspire, empower, and elevate. You'll cultivate high-performing engineers and champion good engineering practices. Working hand-in-hand with your Product Manager, you'll ensure your team is not just set up for success, but poised to deliver exceptional customer impact.

This is a hands-on technical leadership role where your expertise will directly impact the technical excellence of your teams' work. You'll be instrumental in driving technical decision-making and collaboratively building scalable, resilient, and maintainable systems that power the future of AI.

What you’ll bring to the role

Experience in engineering management or equivalent coaching, mentoring and leadership experience as an individual contributor
A demonstrable track record of building products and leading complex initiatives and designing systems
Exceptional problem-solving and deep understanding of software engineering
Clear and structured communication skills, with an ability to lead diverse teams, influence stakeholders, and collaborate effectively across all levels and disciplines.
5+ years of professional software development experience, including hands-on expertise building highly available, transactional, and distributed cloud-based applications
Strong web frontend expertise with proven experience building secure and customer facing frontend applications and strong knowledge of modern web technologies

What you’ll be doing in the role

Lead, coach engineering teams to consistently deliver outstanding customer value.
Nurture the professional growth of your engineers, including impactful hiring, onboarding and performance management.
Create a healthy and predictable pace of work by proactively planning, removing blockers, orchestrating dependencies, and fostering crystal-clear communication within and beyond your team.
Collaborate closely with product managers and your team to define both what to build and how to build it
With your team, drive the technical solution design and implementation, ensuring alignment with the overarching technical direction
Collaborate closely with product managers and the team to manage technical debt and toil and provide support for existing systems
Contribute to defining and evolving Prolific's engineering practices and cross team initiatives

Key Technologies

Cloud Platforms: Google Cloud Platform (GCP), Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Programming Languages: Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Vue.js
Frameworks: Django Rest Framework, Serverless architectures, container-based services
Databases: MongoDB, DynamoDB, Postgres
DevOps & Monitoring Tools: CircleCI, GitHub Actions, Kubernetes, Celery, EventBridge, DataDog

Why Prolific is a great place to work

We've built a unique platform that connects researchers and companies with a global pool of participants, enabling the collection of high-quality, ethically sourced human behavioral data and feedback. This data is the cornerstone of developing more accurate, nuanced, and aligned AI systems.

We believe that the next leap in AI capabilities won't come solely from scaling existing models, but from integrating diverse human perspectives and behaviors into AI development. By providing this crucial human data infrastructure, Prolific is positioning itself at the forefront of the next wave of AI innovation – one that reflects the breath and the best of humanity.

Working for us will place you at the forefront of AI innovation, providing access to our unique human data platform and opportunities for groundbreaking research. Join us to enjoy a competitive salary, benefits, and remote working within our impactful, mission-driven culture.

Links to more information on Prolific

Privacy Statement

By submitting your application, you agree that Prolific may collect your personal data for recruiting and global organisation planning. Prolific's Candidate Privacy Notice explains what personal information Prolific may process, where Prolific may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over Prolific use of your personal information.

Why work at Prolific

Remote-first culture: Prolific is remote-first with flexible work arrangements. Employees report high satisfaction with working location freedom (FlexScore data). Regular company-wide and team meet-ups, plus an annual in-person get-together.
Autonomy and flexibility: 81% of employees feel they have complete autonomy over their work; 83% are happy with flexible hours; 78% report good work-life balance.
Benefits: Home office budget for new joiners with annual top-up, personal learning and development budget, share options, and competitive benefits (86% employee satisfaction with benefits).
Diversity and inclusion: Strong DEI focus with a formal Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Monitoring statement; a culture that celebrates differences and removes barriers.
Growth opportunity: Join a fast-scaling business backed by $32M in Series A funding with a clear mission and strong product-market fit.
Culture principles: "We care deeply about our customers," "We embrace change," "We aim high," "We win together," "We make every minute count," "We are optimistic and find a way."
Hiring process: Structured 4-stage process (talent call, hiring manager interview, panel interview with task compensation, final principles interview) with feedback surveys to continuously improve.

About Prolific

Company Overview

One-liner: Prolific is a technology company that provides a platform for collecting high-quality, human-derived data from verified participants, used by AI developers, researchers, and organizations for AI training, surveys, and user research.
Entity Type: Private (Series A)
Headquarters: London, UK (with a New York City hub and remote presence across the US and UK)
Founded: 2014
Founders: Phelim Bradley, Ph.D. (CEO & Co-founder)

Core Business

Primary industry/industries: AI data services, market research, academic research, human-in-the-loop AI
Target customers: B2B — AI developers, academic researchers, product teams, and enterprise organizations (35,000+ data collectors use the platform)
Mission or purpose statement: "To help thinkers, creators, and innovators make the impossible possible" by building a future where human insight drives breakthroughs in science, technology, and society.

Products & Services

Prolific Platform: A web-based platform that connects researchers and AI developers with a pool of 200,000+ active, verified participants for online studies. Studies launch every 2 minutes, with a 97% completion rate and data sets delivered in under 2 hours on average.
AI Training & Evaluation: Human feedback from representative populations for preference tuning, safety evaluations, and benchmarks. Used to defend AI model quality.
Research Services: Accelerated research through insights from verified participants, supporting behavioral research, surveys, and user testing.
Participant Marketplace: A paid participant side where individuals can join paid online studies with flexible scheduling and real payouts.

Market Standing

Valuation/Market Cap: Not publicly disclosed
Key Metric: $32 million in Series A funding (secured in 2023)
Notable Investors/Partners: Series A funding of $32M (lead investors not specified in available data); trusted by thousands of organizations including cutting-edge AI startups and Ivy League universities.
Growth Signals:
- Expanded into the US with a New York City hub (announced February 2024)
- 172 open job listings across multiple departments (as of mid-2026)
- 700+ studies launch every day on the platform
- Participants from 38+ countries speaking 80+ languages
- 10,000+ organizations use Prolific
- 35,000+ data collectors use the platform

Competitive Advantages

Verified participant pool: All participants are actively vetted, verified, and fairly paid, ensuring high-quality, trustworthy data without the noise of typical survey platforms.
Speed and reliability: Data sets are delivered in under 2 hours on average, with a 97% study completion rate — a significant moat for time-sensitive AI and research projects.
Representative populations: Ability to source diverse, representative participant pools for AI safety evals and benchmarks, critical for regulatory compliance and model defensibility.
Trusted brand: 10 years of operation, trusted by leading academics, AI developers, and Ivy League universities.

Strategic Focus

AI and human data: Continuing to build the "biggest pool of human-derived data in the world" with a focus on powering AI training, safety evaluations, and benchmarks.
US expansion: Opening a New York City hub and hiring across the US (San Francisco, Seattle, New York) signals a major push into the North American market.
Product development: Active hiring for product, engineering, data science, and AI research roles indicates ongoing platform innovation and scaling.
Enterprise growth: Hiring for Strategic Customer Success Managers, Solutions Engineers, and Strategic Account Executives suggests a focus on enterprise and strategic accounts.

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