Engineering Manager (PHP)

Who we are

At Help Scout, we’re on a mission to help businesses delight more customers. We’ve been on this journey since 2011, and today more than 12,000 companies use our platform to provide outstanding customer support. We’ve been fully remote from the beginning, and have a team of 140+ people all over the world.

We love crafting beautiful products and growing a business together, but we're also trying to do something bigger. We're building a company that brings out your best and leaves the world a better place — a company that seeks balance between profit and purpose. That's why we've been a Certified B Corporation since 2019 and have pledged 1% of our equity back to the community.

Help Scout’s success hinges on hiring talented, high-accountability people who want to be part of creating a culture where we all feel challenged and supported to do our best work. We hope that excites you to join us! 

Company values

Happy to Help

Help is our first name. We show up for others, not because we have to, but because we want to. We share knowledge and give freely by default, and operate with generosity and empathy for each other, our customers, and our community. After all, there is no I in team (or software).

Craft over Convention

Although it’s tempting to follow a well-worn path, we push ourselves to run beyond it — even when that sets us apart from our peers. We’re building a culture where it’s safe to be ambitious and hold each other to high standards. That’s why we obsess over the last 10%, because it shows up for our customers and the business in powerful ways.

Progress not Perfection

The work of building a product, culture, and brand is never done – we ship our best effort, listen, iterate, then repeat. Seeking progress requires the vulnerability to be curious, humble, and hungry to learn. Great ideas can come from anywhere, so we share our work openly, welcome the perspective of others, and continuously search for what can be improved.

Own the Outcome 

Ownership is key to our collective success. We consider the impact on our team and our community before we act, and believe that trust and integrity are non-negotiable. To create a better future, our decisions are made with stakeholders today and ten years from now in mind.

Read more about how we define, share, and live these values here. 

Your impact

Few things are more professionally gratifying than assembling a team of people that can do big things. They deliver ambitious projects, make their teammates better, and contribute to a culture of excellence. That, in a nutshell, is the job of an Engineering Manager at Help Scout.

About the role

• Your mission is to develop a team of high-performing engineers. When a team is doing great work, happiness and engagement is a byproduct. You measure performance not only in terms of quality, accessibility, reliability, performance, and security, but also in terms of attitude, creativity, communication, and collaboration. You hold each member accountable to a high bar across all of these competencies.

• This is a hands-on role. Comfort with PHP is a must. We assume that you’ll spend a portion of your time coding — pairing with engineers, reviewing PRs, taking on guild-level priorities, building a prototype, or even jumping in to help with a project if a team is shorthanded. One of the most valuable things you can do is model what great looks like. 

• Most of our engineering teams are organized by function, so you will lead a team of 5-8 PHP engineers. Every four months (we do triannual planning), engineers on your team will be distributed among cross-functional initiatives that map to the company’s biggest priorities. Although you aren’t responsible for project managing these initiatives, you’ll  still be coaching the engineers in their craft, the complexities of working in a diverse codebase, and being a great teammate.

• Since you are focused by function instead of product/area, it’s your responsibility to develop best practices and cohesion at the guild level by spearheading strategic initiatives and resolving technical debt that impacts pace of delivery. Your work enables engineers to move to different areas of the codebase every four months and get up to speed quickly.

• You’ll be collaborating with several other stakeholders to support the success of each team member, such as Product Managers, Designers, and Technical Program Managers (TPMs). Perspective from these folks will enable you to solve hard problems and help folks on your team do even better work. 

• Since we have remote team members based in EU and North American timezones, ideal working hours are roughly 9a-5p ET. As long as the team consistently has four hours of overlap each day, you’re all set.

About you

• You are an excellent engineer, with a required proficiency as a Software Engineer—especially PHP—in your function. We’ll ask you to pass the same project as we give to senior engineers. We believe it’s necessary for managers to be skilled practitioners so they can accurately assess performance and help their team members grow in their craft.

• You’ve managed teams before. It energizes you to see people grow and succeed. You love the mentorship aspect of the work, whether it’s helping someone figure out a tough problem, take the next step in their craft, or become a better teammate. 

• You are an outstanding communicator, both verbally and in writing. Help Scout is fully remote and relies heavily on written communication, so it’s critical to your success in the role. You are organized, efficient, and disciplined in your communication, whether it’s a meeting agenda, PR comment, project proposal or performance assessment.

• You understand the nuance between micromanagement and operating in the details. We’re not asking you to manage tasks or projects. We’re asking you to invest in the people with your time and expertise. You are skilled at providing the mentorship and critical feedback necessary to help members of your team do their best work. 

• You are determined to operate in such a way that minimizes unnecessary bureaucracy and process. These things limit the business’ potential. You are skilled at removing these obstacles and empowering the team to run fast.

• You lean into hard things. That’s being a manager, right? You don’t shy from a difficult conversation, but you do approach it with curiosity and compassion. As a result, you’re able to build trust and confidence with teammates. 

Perks & Benefits

Help Scout offers a variety of perks and benefits to support you and your family. Our offerings include healthcare coverage, wellness resources, and so much more. Visit our careers page to learn more.

Hiring Guidelines: 

All of our roles are remote, however, some roles may carry specific location-based eligibility requirements. Additionally, because Help Scout is a fully remote company and we hire from many countries, we do not sponsor visas. Help Scout teammates need to be authorized to work from their home location. 

For our Sales roles, we are only able to hire in the United States.

For other roles, we are only able to hire in the following countries: United States, Canada, Australia, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and Norway.

We’re working on expanding this list. Our Talent Acquisition team can help answer any questions about location after starting the recruiting process.

We are an equal opportunity employer and are committed to building a company that embraces and celebrates diversity and inclusion. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We have read the studies and understand that diverse teams build better products, bring more perspective to the table, contribute to a company’s financial success, and help foster a more inclusive environment for all employees, but the bottom line is that it's the right thing to do.

To provide you with the best experience, we can support you with accommodations or adjustments at any stage of the recruitment process. Simply inform our recruitment team during your conversation with them.

A note on the use of AI in our interview process

While we understand that AI in an important tool in a modern skillset, we ask that you do not utilize AI assistants live on our interviews. Of course, use any tools you need to prepare! But we'd like for you to have a real human-to-human conversation with our team.

On our end, we utilize a platform called Brighthire as a notetaker and review tool to ensure a fair and transparent hiring process.

About Help Scout

We're on a mission to help businesses delight more customers. We love crafting beautiful products and resources to solve that challenge, but we're also trying to do something bigger. We're trying to build a company that brings out your best and leaves the world a better place — a company that seeks balance between profit and purpose. That's why we've been a Certified B Corporation since 2019, have pledged 1% of our equity back to the community, and have been remote since day one, now with 140+ people in 115 cities worldwide.

To learn more about who we are, visit the About page.