Interim Engineering Manager – Software Product Development

We are looking for an experienced interim manager/consultant to lead a large software development team during a period of parental leave.

The team is on a journey towards becoming a high-performing product team. The ambition is clear: move towards stronger end-to-end ownership, shorter feedback loops, and a way of working where continuous delivery is the normal state rather than an ambition.

We need a leader who can help the team stay focused on that journey while building the autonomy and ownership needed to sustain it.

The Team

We are a distributed team of about 25 people; most are in the Greater Stockholm area and some remote within EU. We’re composed of Design, frontend, backend, full-stack and devops.

You will also belong to a Management Team with managers from the other teams within the department. This group is about 7-8 people, providing support and collaboration with other managers.

The role

You will lead a large group of software professionals responsible for developing and evolving software products.

The team has significant competence and should have a high degree of ownership. Your role is not to manage their day-to-day work or provide all the answers. Instead, you need to create clarity, maintain direction, and help the team take increasing ownership of both the product and how they deliver it.

An important part of the assignment is to continue the transition towards a product-oriented way of working. This means helping the team move away from dependencies, handovers, long feedback cycles, and project-oriented delivery towards end-to-end ownership and continuous delivery.

There will be obstacles along the way. You need to be comfortable identifying what is preventing the team from moving forward, challenging existing ways of working, and maintaining momentum without taking ownership away from the team.

What we are looking for

We are looking for someone who:

• Has previous experience leading software teams working with digital/software products.

• Has experience helping teams transition towards a product-oriented operating model, rather than only managing already mature product teams.

• Understands what is required to achieve continuous delivery in practice, including the organizational and leadership changes around the technology.

• Can maintain a clear direction and keep teams focused on improving their ability to deliver.

• Leads through trust, delegation, and high ownership, while being prepared to challenge when progress stalls.

• Can give teams significant autonomy without becoming passive or losing sight of the desired outcome.

• Understands the collaboration needed between engineering, product, and other stakeholders to create true end-to-end ownership.

• Has strong people-leadership skills and is comfortable coaching both individuals and teams.

• Can navigate dependencies and organizational obstacles in a larger organization.

• Is pragmatic and knows when to step in, when to challenge, and when to get out of the team's way.

Leadership approach

We are looking for a leader who can combine autonomy with a strong sense of direction.

The team should own its solutions, decisions, and way of working. At the same time, the manager needs to keep the destination visible and ensure that the organization continues moving towards it.

Success in this assignment means continuing to build a team that can own, build, release, operate, learn, and improve its product continuously—with increasingly less dependency on management or surrounding functions to make that happen.

Start of assignment is as soon as possible.
Length of the contract would be around 12 months.
Workplace: Stockholm around 3 days onsite.