Job Application for Engineering Talent and Operations Lead at Blinkist

Blinkist connects people with powerful ideas from leading authors and experts to broaden perspectives, gain knowledge, and spark understanding in all areas of their life, both personal and professional.

Used by over 28 million people worldwide, Blinkist distills the key ideas from the most relevant, impactful books and podcasts. These can be read or listened to in 15-minute summaries, that we call Blinks.

Together with Go1, our parent brand, who gives organizations and their employees access to the largest curated e-learning library on the planet, we’re on a mission to reach one billion learners as we unlock positive potential through a love of learning. ✨

Scene Set

We operate a business-focused Engineering organization, aiming to maximize impact by building a robust, flexible, and enjoyable tech stack. We love to exceed our business goals, have fun with the technology we use, and prefer doing it all alongside peers we respect and learn from every day. Our 35 engineers work in stream-aligned Mission Teams across iOS, Android, Web, Backend, and DevOps (currently there are five such Mission Teams). These teams thrive on taking full ownership of technical challenges, collaborating closely with Product Managers and stakeholders to ensure we’re always aligned with the bigger picture.

By adopting a flat and lean structure without Engineering Managers, we promote agility, direct ownership, and a culture where everyone contributes to our shared success. The role of the Engineering Talent and Operations Lead is being introduced to support the CTO and the Mission Teams, helping them clear obstacles, stay focused, and ultimately enjoy the process of delivering great value together.

Why This Role is Perfect for You

Are you a seasoned engineering leader who's ready to make a meaningful impact without the traditional managerial constraints? We are looking for someone who wants to step away from direct line management and focus their talents as a high-impact, expert / senior individual contributor. This role is perfect if you're not aiming to become a CTO but want to leverage your expertise to drive business outcomes and support engineering excellence. You will act as the right-hand person to the CTO, with an emphasis on creating value without being restricted by management hierarchy.

This role is ideal for someone who loves operational challenges, enjoys solving complex problems, and is interested in contributing directly rather than managing a team. If you want to be a trusted advisor to the CTO and the developers, understanding their technical challenges without needing to be hands-on coding, this role will provide exactly that opportunity.

Apply if you're someone who:

Takes ownership and doesn’t get bogged down by traditional role boundaries, focusing on what needs to be done.
Is driven by accountability for Engineering as a whole.
Has empathy, excellent communication skills, and a genuine interest in team success.
Enjoys working in a dynamic environment where proactive problem-solving is encouraged and valued.
Believes in the power of constructive feedback to foster personal and team growth.

Check out the hiring process for this position here: https://jobs.blinkist.com/e5i 🚀

What You’ll Do

Talent Strategy and Acquisition: Partner with the CTO on talent strategy, focusing on growth, engagement, and talent density. Lead efforts in identifying talent gaps, work closely with recruiters, and actively participate in hiring processes, including interviews and onboarding, to ensure we bring in top talent. Provide commercially sound suggestions for team composition, identify talent, and establish a mentoring system to facilitate mentoring opportunities that help developers grow their careers and impact.
People Operations & Culture: Be the primary point of contact for all people-related needs within the engineering team. Establish at least one direct conversation with each engineer once a month to maintain strong connections and understand their progress and challenges. Help run performance and development cycles that are scalable and impactful.
Operational Enablement: Facilitate regular tactical meetings with Technical Leads and the CTO to discuss progress, challenges, and next steps, ensuring discussions are focused on business priorities. Attend all team dailies and retros on a rotating basis to stay in touch with the teams and ensure they’re progressing. Help drive initiatives to improve team efficiency, align capabilities with business needs, and ensure that operational tasks are handled effectively.
Hands-On Problem Solving: Identify and address issues within teams proactively, removing obstacles that impede productivity and ensuring that solutions align with business objectives. Support Technical Leads in managing operational issues and resolving tensions within their teams.
Strategy Alignment: Support the CTO with financial reporting, budgets, and ensuring progress on the engineering strategy. Maintain a clear overview of team contributions and ensure alignment with broader business goals.

What You Need to Have

More than 5 years of experience leading engineering teams, whether as a Senior Engineering Manager, Chapter Lead, or similar leadership role.
Excellent communication skills, capable of facilitating clear communication between developers, Team Leads, and the CTO, ensuring alignment, transparency, and business focus.
Background in software development (Computer Science degree or equivalent experience). This background is primarily important for being a trustworthy partner to the developers, understanding their technical issues, and providing guidance. You don't need to be a senior developer, but you should have enough understanding of software development to evaluate technical discussions and support the team effectively.
Profound talent acquisition experience, particularly within a software development environment. You should be hands-on in sourcing, interviewing, and onboarding talent to grow the team.
Strong ability to identify talent gaps with a focus on increasing the talent density of the team.
Ability to navigate ambiguity with a natural curiosity and drive to solve complex problems.
Strong business acumen, with an ability to align decisions with business objectives for commercially viable outcomes.
Hands-on approach to operational challenges and an ego-free mindset that prioritizes team success over personal accolades.

Why Blinkist/Go1

Our unique culture of empowerment, mutual respect, and transparency has always been our defining characteristic. We support each other and carve out opportunities for every individual to develop and grow. We strongly believe that diversity powers innovation, thus we celebrate and support our differences, providing equal opportunities for employment and career growth. We embrace a flexible, remote-friendly way of working that supports different needs and lifestyles.

These are some of our most valued benefits:

30 PTO days + Wellbeing days + Learning days
Flexible approach to work
Monthly work-from-home or transport reimbursement
One time work from home office set up budget
Employee Stock Option Plan
Unlimited access to the Go1 Learning Hub and Blinkist app
Professional development fund
Volunteer leave to give back to the community
Family planning & parental leave, plus support for parents returning to work
Wellness initiatives and an Employee Assistance Program

If you choose to join our team in Berlin, you'll have access to our modern office space in Neukölln and enjoy healthy plant-based meals prepared fresh every day by our very own chef. 🥑

Apply Now

If we’ve captured your interest and you want to take part in changing the world through the power of ideas – apply now and tell us what got you excited about this opportunity.

We look forward to hearing from you! ☀️

🔎 Research shows that while men apply to jobs when they meet an average of 60% of the criteria, women and other marginalised folks tend to only apply when they check every box. If you think you have what it takes, even if you don't meet every single point on the job description, please still get in touch. We’d love to have a chat and see if you could be a great fit.

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