Engineering Manager - Frontend

Engineering Manager

We're hiring an Engineering Manager to lead our frontend engineering organization - two development teams and a frontend QA team, totaling ~16 engineers. This is a people-first leadership role for someone with deep technical credibility: you'll spend approximately 60% of your time on people management (coaching, development, team building) and 40% on technical oversight (architecture, code reviews, technical strategy).

You don't need to write production code daily, but you should be comfortable diving into technical discussions, reviewing complex pull requests, making informed architectural decisions, and debugging critical issues when needed. Hands-on coding ability is a strong plus.

You'll own the evolution of our frontend platforms (React-based Rhino Play and Next.js-based Rhino Next) while building a culture of quality, velocity, and continuous improvement across all brands.

Work Arrangement: Candidates based in Malta or Bitola will work in a hybrid arrangement. Remote candidates from other European locations are welcome and expected to work aligned with Central European Time (CET).

You'll Be Responsible For

People Leadership & Development (60%)

• Lead, mentor, and develop ~12 frontend engineers and 4 frontend QA engineers across distributed locations (Malta, Bitola, and remote)
• Conduct regular 1:1s, provide actionable feedback, and create personalized career development plans that help engineers reach their potential
• Build a high-trust, high-performance culture where engineers feel challenged, supported, and excited to grow
• Manage the frontend QA team, focusing on their professional development, test strategy, automation, and integration with development workflows
• Own recruitment, onboarding, and retention for frontend and QA roles
• Foster a culture aligned with Rhino's values: Community, Curiosity, and Achievers
• Support diverse, dynamic teams and ensure fairness in career development opportunities

Technical Strategy & Oversight (40%)

• Shape the future of Rhino's frontend architecture in partnership with Product, Design, and Backend leadership
• Make informed technical decisions on Next.js architecture, Server/Client Components, SSR strategies, and performance optimization
• Review complex technical designs and pull requests; provide technical guidance and unblock challenging problems
• Champion modern practices and tools: component libraries, Storybook, Redux Toolkit, Jest, service workers, CI/CD pipeline enhancements, performance monitoring
• Ensure consistent approaches to authentication/authorization, session handling, and secure SSR patterns across brands
• Guide decisions around build systems (Webpack, Turbopack, Turborepo) and monorepo architecture
• Stay technically credible enough to earn respect from senior engineers and guide technical direction effectively
• Debug complex frontend and server-side issues when your expertise is needed

Delivery & Quality

• Drive predictable delivery through clear goals, effective processes, and team rituals
• Elevate code quality through strong review culture (acting as a gatekeeper when needed), testing standards, and automation
• Partner with frontend QA team to strengthen test coverage (Jest, integration testing), reduce regressions, and increase release confidence
• Oversee and optimize the release process to ensure smooth product deployments across all brands
• Establish and track metrics that matter: team health, velocity trends, quality indicators, deployment frequency, and player-facing performance
• Proactively identify patterns in production errors and drive systematic improvements

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Translate product priorities into clear, achievable technical plans
• Facilitate smooth collaboration between frontend, backend, design, product, and QA teams
• Communicate technical tradeoffs, progress, and risks to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Act as the voice of frontend engineering in leadership discussions
• Bridge gaps and resolve blockers across teams