Engineering Manager – Data & AI (all genders)

Become our new Engineering Manager Data & AI (all genders)

As an Engineering Manager Data & AI you are the system and outcome owner for complex data-driven and agentic solutions. You hold end-to-end responsibility for technical conception architectural decisions implementation depth and the real measurable business impact delivered to our clients.

This role is deliberately forward-deployed: close to the business problem close to stakeholders and close to the engineering work. You combine senior engineering judgment with clear technical decision authority people leadership and accountability for delivery outcomes.

You are not a pure people manager nor a detached architect. You are a hands-on technical leader who ensures that systems are coherent production-ready and valuable in real-world enterprise environments.

System & Architecture Ownership

• Design evolve and take ownership of complex Data & AI systems including agentic architectures orchestration patterns integrations and governance mechanisms.

• Define architectural guardrails technical standards and system-level trade-offs across scalability cost reliability and maintainability.

• Identify and manage failure modes fallback strategies safety boundaries and human-in-the-loop concepts for production-grade AI systems.

• Ensure that individual technical contributions come together into a coherent consistent and operable end-to-end system.

End-to-End Outcome Accountability

• Own the technical feasibility implementation quality and achieved business impact of delivered solutions.

• Make and defend sound engineering and architecture decisions under technological domain and organizational uncertainty.

• Ensure that responsibility does not stop at design or deployment but extends to stable operation and sustained customer value.

Engineering-Driven Delivery & Hands-On Contribution

• Actively contribute to system design agent design protocols and integrations this is not a pure steering or review role.

• Co-own and prioritize the engineering backlog translating business goals into clear technical user stories together with Senior Engineers.

• Sequence and steer implementation based on system dependencies risk and outcome impact.

• Spend a significant portion of time embedded in projects balancing leadership with hands-on technical involvement.

People Leadership & Team Development

• Lead mentor and develop a team of senior engineers domain engineers and data experts.

• Foster a culture of ownership technical excellence and system thinking.

• Partner with People Experience to shape career paths mentoring performance development and capability growth.

• Recruit retain and grow top-tier engineering talent in Data Cloud and AI domains.

• Act as a role model for technical responsibility clarity in decision-making and outcome focus.

Standards Reuse & Productization

• Ensure the use and continuous improvement of existing frameworks templates and architectural standards.

• Identify and drive reusable system agent and architecture patterns beyond individual projects.

• Contribute to the long-term productization and scalability of KI performances Data & AI offerings.

Go-Live Readiness Stability & Operations Alignment

• Own go-live readiness stabilization phases and the technical transition into sustainable operations.

• Work closely with Cloud AI Architects and QA Engineers to align on reliability security cost control monitoring and quality gates.

• Decide when systems are production-ready based on business-critical quality criteria.

Business Development & Client Ownership

• Act as technical owner and trusted partner for key customer accounts and strategic engagements.

• Support pre-sales and business development by shaping technical solution concepts architectures and delivery approaches.

• Contribute to effort estimation feasibility assessments and technical risk evaluation in proposals.

• Build and maintain long-term client relationships managing expectations and ensuring sustainable value delivery.

• Represent KI performance as a credible technical authority in customer workshops decision forums and executive discussions.

Your Profile Required Skills

Experience & Mindset

• A very senior engineering profile with a strong focus on system thinking architecture and ownership not isolated feature development.

• Deep experience in Data Cloud and/or AI systems ideally in complex production-grade enterprise environments.

• A clear outcome-oriented mindset: responsibility ends with stable customer value not with deployment.

Technical Expertise

• Strong background in cloud-native data and AI architectures ideally with platforms such as Microsoft Azure and Databricks.

• Proven ability to design end-to-end systems including data pipelines agent orchestration integrations monitoring and governance.

• High confidence in making and communicating technical trade-offs across performance cost risk and maintainability.

Leadership & Communication

• Demonstrated ability to lead senior engineers earn trust and drive alignment without micromanagement.

• Excellent communication and facilitation skills in technical cross-functional and customer-facing settings.

• Comfortable representing and defending technical decisions towards engineering teams product leaders management and clients.

Language & Mobility

• Fluent in English and German written and spoken.

• Willingness to travel (up to 30%) to work closely with customers and stakeholders.

Why Join KI performance

• Shape and own real-world production-grade Data & AI systems with tangible business impact.

• Work in a role with true technical decision authority and end-to-end responsibility.

• Combine deep engineering work people leadership and business development in one senior role.

• Be part of a culture that values ownership clarity and technical excellence over hype.

• Actively influence how KI performance positions itself as a leader in the Data & AI ecosystem.

About KI performance

We transform how companies work with data preparing them for the future of artificial intelligence. With our expertise in data platforms and AI-powered solutions we create measurable business valuealways with a clear focus on strategy and impact.

Our projects range from global data platforms to cutting-edge Gen AI applications directly contributing to the success of leading DAX-listed companies. By leveraging the latest technologies we set new standards in digital transformation and collaborate closely with Microsoft Databricks and our KI Group ecosystem to develop sustainable and future-ready solutions.

Our culture is shaped by forward-thinking curious and open-minded professionals who actively shape the digital world. To maintain this dynamic environment we place great value on diversity innovation and close teamwork. If you want to learn more about our culture and benefits visit our careers page.

Different perspectives make better teams.
We welcome applications from everyone regardless of gender identity ethnic or social background religion or belief disability age or sexual orientation. What matters to us is what you bring to the team and what you want to build with us.

Ready to shape the future of data-driven business models with us

Apply nowwe look forward to hearing from you!