Engineering Manager, Runna
£100-112k
+ Equity
1-4 days a week in office
Tailored running training plans
Be an early applicant
Tailored running training plans
201-500 employees
Be an early applicant
£100-112k
+ Equity
1-4 days a week in office
201-500 employees
Company mission
To make running training effective, enjoyable and easy for everyone.
Role
Who you are
- 5+ years of professional experience in software engineering, including meaningful experience in technical leadership and/or engineering management
- Experience leading and managing engineers in a fast-paced product environment, ideally owning a team through planning, delivery, and people development
- Strong track record of delivering complex projects end-to-end, especially in cross-functional environments with evolving priorities or ambiguity
- Ability to align stakeholders across engineering, product, and design, and to coordinate work effectively where multiple teams are involved
- Strong technical judgement, with the ability to raise the bar on architecture, design, and implementation quality without needing to be the primary coder on every project
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate company context into clear team direction and surface risks early
- Comfortable working in a highly skilled, fast-paced engineering team. In 2024, we shipped:
- 99 mobile app releases (iOS and Android)
- 443 API releases
- 237 modelling backend releases
- Technical fluency across modern product engineering environments. Experience with TypeScript/JavaScript, React Native, AWS cloud environments, and serverless architectures would be especially valuable
- A strong advocate for modern engineering practices, including:
- Iterative development, continuous deployment, and test automation
- Knowledge sharing, pair programming, and collaborative design & development
- Shared code ownership and cross-functional product team collaboration
Desirable
- Have experience leading teams working on consumer mobile products, especially React Native apps at scale
- Have delivered impactful work across the full stack, from mobile to backend services and cloud infrastructure
- Are confident improving CI/CD pipelines, release processes, and developer productivity
- Have experience with AWS services and serverless architecture patterns
- Have hands-on experience with SwiftUI or native mobile development
- Thrive in autonomous, high-growth environments and can bring clarity without heavy direction
- Have a personal interest in health, fitness, or sports technology
What the job involves
- We’re looking for an Engineering Manager to lead a high-performing team of engineers at Runna. You’ll be responsible for a medium-sized team of ICs (roughly 4–8+ engineers) and will independently guide that team to deliver meaningful business outcomes across a product or platform area
- This is a people leadership role first, grounded in strong technical judgement. You’ll partner closely with Product, Design, and Engineering peers to align goals, navigate ambiguity, and ensure your team can deliver high-quality work at pace. You’ll be expected to independently manage all aspects of people leadership, while creating the conditions for engineers to grow, experiment, and do the best work of their careers
- You’ll sit on the Train Team where you will work closely with our modelling teams to integrate features that are core to Runna’s mission (think adapting plans around holidays and B races, supporting new cutting edge plans, and building in-app experiences around our AI/ML tooling)
- Lead, support, and grow a medium-sized team of engineers, creating the clarity, context, and accountability needed for the team to do its best work
- Own team delivery for a product or platform area, driving execution from planning through release and ensuring work is aligned to business goals
- Partner closely with Product, Design, and other Engineering teams to align priorities, manage dependencies, and coordinate work that affects other teams
- Independently lead through open-ended or ambiguous problems, identifying risks, proposing solutions, and driving resolutions without heavy guidance
- Encourage experimentation and thoughtful risk-taking, creating space for exploratory work and creative solutions where it adds value
- Hold engineers accountable for high-quality technical designs and implementations that result in performant, scalable, secure, and maintainable systems
- Coach engineers and emerging leaders, providing feedback, mentorship, and support while deliberately delegating opportunities for others to step into leadership
- Independently manage all aspects of people management, including goal setting, performance reviews, career development, promotions and more
- Create a team environment built on psychological safety and inclusion, where people feel supported, challenged, and able to contribute fully
- Communicate company context clearly and effectively, helping the team understand how their work connects to wider company strategy and goals
- Participate in and drive organisation-level initiatives that improve how we build, plan, hire, and collaborate across engineering
- Partner with Recruiting and interviewers to calibrate assessments, make strong hiring and levelling decisions, and build a diverse and talented team for the long term
- Track delivery, unblock work, and improve team effectiveness through healthy processes, strong planning, and continuous improvement
Salary benchmarks
Our take
As a way to keep fit, running has shot up in popularity in recent years, partially due to accessibility, especially during the pandemic. But for those who want to take running to the next level – whether that be a 5K or a marathon – it can be difficult to know where to start in terms of a training plan. Runna supplies an app with personalised training plans for all types of runs, to help people achieve their running and fitness goals.
Runna was founded by running enthusiasts for running enthusiasts, in response to the lack of tools available to help them train. Although there are many running apps available, Runna stands by providing training plans for specific races, which can be distinguished by distance and goal time. In addition, it supports a sense of community, and still caters to a range of experience levels.
Runna has seen consistent subscriber growth since its launch, serving thousands of users globally. The company has plans to expand both its features and team, while reaching more customers in the future. Its acquisition by fitness giant Strava will certainly help it on its way to achieving these aims.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
Company
Funding (last 2 of 3 rounds)
Nov 2023
$6.8m
SEED
Dec 2022
$2.6m
SEED
Total funding: $10.3m
Company benefits
- Own a part of Runna: We want you to own a part of the company you're building. Everyone who joins Runna receives a generous stock options package
- Grow with us: As one of our early hires, you'll have a unique opportunity to shape and influence Runna's product and culture from the beginning
- Learn and develop: We work with all of the latest tools and technologies so you can learn at the cutting edge of product development
- Team socials: We're a friendly bunch and like to make work-like fun, whether that's lunches and dinners or our bi-weekly team run
- Paid vacation: We want people to take time off to rest and rejuvenate. Runna offers 25 vacation days + bank holidays
- Tools: You'll receive all new equipment including a laptop, running watch of your choice, and anything else you need to do your best work
- Get paid to Run(na): We have a dedicated hour block each week where you'll get paid to run! Whether you want to build up to your first 5k or do that tough intervals sessions it's up to you!
- Enhanced family care: 3 months fully paid when you welcome a new Runna into the family, as well as fertility support & a host of other benefits
Company HQ
Vauxhall, London, UK
Leadership
Walter Holohan
(CTO)Initially joined Runna as a Technical Lead before being promoted to CTO. Prior to Runna, they were a React Native Developer at 11:FS, a Full Stack Engineer at Nationwide Building Society and a Director at Spartn.
Josh Oppenheim
(MD)Initially joined Runna as COO before being promoted to Managing Director. Prior to Runna, they worked in Strategy and Operations at Let's Do This, was a Senior Consultant at Bain & Company and Strategist at X, the moonshot factory.
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