Engineering Manager – Customer Data Management
About Envato
At Envato, everything we do is about empowering creatives to thrive.
We’re here to help creatives bring their ideas to life, supercharge their workflows, and equip them with an unparalleled toolkit they can use anywhere. With unlimited access to world-class assets, innovative AI tools, and hands-on tutorials, we deliver what creatives need today – and are continually evolving our offering. As AI transforms the creative landscape, we’re committed to building what’s next for the future.
We’re a purpose-driven company and we’ve long embraced flexible, inclusive ways of working. We’re proud of the connected culture we’ve built across our global team. Our values: Community Spirit, Build Our Future, Embrace Diversity, Make It Happen, and Make Envato Proud, guide everything we do, shaping how we work, grow, and succeed.
You can read more about us on our blog, including news of our acquisition by Shutterstock Inc in 2024.
About the role
The Engineering Manager for Customer Data Management (CDM) plays a critical role in unlocking and accelerating Envato’s data-driven growth. This role exists to establish and lead the new CDM engineering team, ensuring the accurate, compliant, and consistent flow of customer data across all our digital properties.Success in this role means defining and implementing a holistic and future-proof customer data architecture that integrates seamlessly with our wider data platform. It is measured by the team’s ability to reliably power product analytics, sophisticated marketing activation, and robust experimentation infrastructure while maintaining strict adherence to global data privacy standards. The manager’s leadership will directly enable product, marketing, and analytics teams to operate effectively and drive measurable business value from customer data.
What you’ll be doing
- Strategy and Roadmapping
- Define and evolve the CDM team’s long-term strategy, technical roadmap, and quarterly priorities in close partnership with Product, Marketing, and Analytics stakeholders.
- Ensure cross-functional alignment on data governance models, instrumentation standards, rollout plans, and overall success metrics for customer data initiatives.
- Drive project execution for key infrastructure projects, including the implementation of new Customer Data Platforms (CDPs), tag management systems, and experimentation toolsets.
- Architecture and Compliance
- Define a holistic technical architecture that spans our entire customer data management space, including event tagging, server-side tracking, compliance tooling, CDPs, and marketing technology (MarTech).
- Work closely with the Data Platform Architect and Business Analyst to ensure all CDM platforms integrate seamlessly with Envato’s core data warehouse and operational systems.
- Remain up-to-date with emerging technology trends and customer data compliance laws (e.g., GDPR, CCPA), recommending necessary infrastructure improvements and timely remediations.
- People and Team Leadership
- Lead, grow and mentor a high performing team of engineers, with plans to scale based on business needs.
- Oversee team performance, ensuring high velocity, technical excellence, and sustainable operating practices within the CDM team.
- Foster a high-performing culture by conducting regular 1:1 meetings, delivering effective feedback, and actively driving professional development and mentoring for team members.
- Contribute to hiring and capacity planning to build a highly skilled and resilient engineering team.
- Be aware and accountable to your responsibilities in relation to workplace health and safety obligations, both as an employee and manager.
- Commercial and Vendor Management
- Manage external vendors for critical platforms (including CDPs, tag-management systems, analytics and experimentation tools).
- Negotiate contracts, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and commercials to secure maximum value for the business.
- Monitor and manage the team’s budget, vendor spend, and the overall Return on Investment (ROI) of core data tooling.
- Assess capability gaps, build business cases for agency support, secure stakeholder buy-in, and manage relationships with implementation partners to ensure knowledge transfer to internal teams.
- Delivery and Execution
- Ensure effective prioritisation, execution, and delivery of complex, multi-stream data projects.
- Drive a culture of accountability, visibility, and continuous improvement in engineering delivery practices.
- Balance strategic priorities with operational stability, ensuring consistent high-quality outcomes and minimal disruption.
About you
- Proven Leadership Experience: Demonstrable history of successfully leading, mentoring, and scaling a high-performing engineering or data team.
- Customer Data Platforms (CDPs): Broad, hands-on experience with the implementation, architecture, and maintenance of modern CDPs (e.g., Segment, Amplitude, Hightouch, Tealium).
- Tagging and Tracking Technology: Deep technical knowledge of client-side and server-side tracking, tag management systems (e.g., Google Tag Manager, Tealium iQ), and analytics platforms (GA4, Amplitude, Mixpanel).
- Data Privacy & Compliance: Good working knowledge of global privacy and customer tracking legislation (GDPR, CCPA) and the technical solutions required to ensure continuous compliance.
- Technical Fundamentals: A solid grasp of core web technologies and data languages, including JavaScript, SQL, and Python fundamentals, paired with the ability to evaluate and guide event schema design, especially as they relate to data instrumentation and ETL/ELT processes.
- Stakeholder Management: Exceptional ability to build trust, influence decisions, and maintain clear communication with diverse groups, including senior leadership in Product, Marketing, and Engineering.
- Dealing with Ambiguity: Operate effectively amid uncertainty, making informed decisions when information is incomplete or unclear. Help teams progress through experimentation, iteration, and alignment.
- Agency and Proactive Ownership: Demonstrate initiative in identifying opportunities and driving meaningful outcomes. Model accountability and momentum across the team.
- Curiosity and Continuous Learning: Display a deep interest in technology, customers, and data systems. Actively seek new knowledge and share insights to elevate the technical and strategic capability of the team.
- Prioritisation & Project Management: Excellent capabilities in translating complex, business needs into clear, prioritised technical roadmaps and managing concurrent infrastructure projects to successful completion.
- Negotiation & Commercial Acumen: Proven ability to manage and negotiate contracts and partnerships with major technology vendors (CDPs, MarTech) effectively.
- Communication: Fluent verbal and written communication skills to clearly articulate complex technical concepts and data governance principles to both technical and non-technical audiences.