Engineering Manager

About US

Harmattan AI is a next-generation defense prime building autonomous and scalable defense systems. Following the close of a $200M Series B, valuing the company at $1.4 billion, we are expanding our teams and capabilities to deliver mission-critical systems to allied forces.

Our work is guided by clear values: building technologies with real-world impact, pursuing excellence in everything we do, setting ambitious goals, and taking on the hardest technical challenges. We operate in a demanding environment where rigor, ownership, and execution are expected.

About THE Role

This is a dedicated people management role where you are responsible for building the conditions under which engineers perform their best work at scale. While you are not expected to be a daily individual contributor, you must provide the technical and organisational mentorship needed to scale a high-performing engineering culture.

Responsibilities

• People Management: Own the day-to-day management of Morocco-based engineers — performance reviews, career development, skills ramp-up, and training. Build and maintain a structured performance review system.

• Recruitment: Lead local engineering recruitment as a priority from day one — own the process end-to-end in coordination with Talent Acquisition, and relieve pressure on senior technical leadership.

• Autonomy Building: Drive the transition from remote steering to local autonomy — establish the management infrastructure that allows the Morocco team to operate independently and at quality.

• Process Standardisation: Identify, design, and implement engineering processes that standardise ways of working across the company without harming execution speed; adapt approach for software and electrical engineering disciplines respectively.

• Tooling: Assess and address tooling needs for the local team — prioritise tool demands, evaluate off-the-shelf vs. custom solutions, and ensure tooling is generic enough to serve multiple needs across the organisation.

• Organisational Contribution: Contribute to org structure decisions — reorganise modules and initiate changes when needed; bring ideas and a transverse view, not just execution.

• Stakeholder Management: Act as the bridge between your engineering team and cross-functional leadership; ensure alignment on priorities, dependencies, and expectations across the organisation.

• CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS

• Educational Background: A strong academic record in a technical field such as Engineering or Computer Science.

• Proven Leadership: 5+ years of engineering experience, with at least 2–3 years in an engineering management or team lead role. Demonstrated ability to manage and develop engineers — performance reviews, career frameworks, skills development.

• Complex Project Management: Avid learner with a demonstrated capacity to handle large-scale, complex projects — offering innovative solutions and leading teams to deliver outstanding results. Experience building or formalising engineering processes in a fast-moving, high-growth environment.

• Technical Profile Specialisation:

• Core product support profile: Background in systems, embedded, or hardware-adjacent engineering; ability to support engineers working on product delivery.

• Tooling and platform profile: Ability to focus on engineering infrastructure, developer tools, and cross-organisational platform utility.

• Adaptability & Mobility: Thrives under pressure in a fast-paced, dynamic environment; embraces a “no-task-is-too-small” mentality. Experience in a distributed, multi-site engineering organisation is a strong plus.

• Communication & Influence: Excellent written and verbal communication, capable of leading diverse principals – from junior members to senior executives. Strong cross-functional and organisational awareness — able to take a transverse view and drive standardisation without creating friction. Comfortable operating in a context where processes are still being built; brings structure without waiting for it.

• Language Skills: Proficiency in English is mandatory; French and Arabic are a plus.

• Commitment: 100% dedication to Harmattan AI’s mission, vision, and ambitious growth plans, ready to go the extra mile to ensure operational excellence.

• We look forward to hearing how you can help shape the future of autonomous defense systems at Harmattan AI.