Engineering Manager

Job Description

The Role

The Manager, Engineering leads the frontend and backend engineering team at A3Distrib. Based in Cholet, this role is the primary technical and people leadership position for the team that builds and maintains A3Distrib's customer-facing products: the client portal, back-office tooling, dashboards, and retail intelligence interfaces that underpin French FMCG client delivery.

Reporting to the Senior Manager, Engineering (A3D), the Manager, Engineering is accountable for reliable technical project delivery, team performance, and the ongoing modernization of A3Distrib's frontend technology estate. The role requires hands-on technical engagement alongside people management responsibility, and operates across both French and English, French being A3Distrib main language.

What You Will Do

Drive Technical Project Delivery

• Own end-to-end delivery accountability for the frontend team, from backlog health and sprint cadence to production release and client-facing quality.
• Translate product and business priorities — set by the Senior Manager and stakeholders — into clear engineering plans, milestones, and team commitments.
• Maintain a healthy, well-prioritized backlog: ensure tickets are clear, estimated, and linked to deliverable outcomes.
• Identify delivery risks early, communicate them to the Senior Manager proactively, and drive mitigations before they escalate.
• Ensure on-time, on-quality releases of the A3Distrib customer portal, BO/FO tools, dashboards, and supporting interfaces.
• Maintain and improve incident management for frontend products: fast response, clear communication, structured post-mortems.

Lead and Develop the Frontend Team

• Manage direct reports with regular 1:1s, structured feedback, and individual development plans aligned with NIQ WFA career tracks.
• Support the growth of senior engineers within the team, increasing their autonomy in technical decision-making and sprint organization.
• Coach engineers on technical best practices, code quality, and professional development.
• Manage performance proactively: set clear expectations, review outcomes consistently, and address underperformance early.
• Support retention of key talent through meaningful development conversations and a positive, collaborative team environment.
• Champion NIQ's principles — accountability, client obsession, and integrity — within the team's day-to-day culture.

Modernize the Frontend Engineering Practice

• Lead the reduction of technical debt across the legacy C# frontend estate, prioritizing work with the greatest impact on reliability, maintainability, and development velocity.
• Drive the team's transition from legacy C# interfaces toward modern JavaScript-based frontend technologies, aligned with A3Distrib's platform roadmap.
• Promote engineering excellence: code reviews, automated testing, observability, version control discipline, and CI/CD adoption in line with NIQ standards.
• Ensure A3Distrib frontend products progressively align with NIQ security controls, including Dependabot coverage and WAF compliance.
• Champion AI-driven tooling and practices within the team to improve development speed and code quality.

Collaborate Across A3Distrib and NIQ

• Work closely with the Senior Manager, Engineering to align delivery plans and resourcing with the broader A3D organizational strategy.
• Collaborate with the A3Distrib IT Support, Product, and data teams to ensure frontend engineering supports client commitments and internal operational needs.
• Partner with NIQ Digital Engineering and infrastructure teams on cross-cutting platform dependencies, migration milestones, and shared tooling.
• Represent frontend engineering delivery health transparently in internal A3D and NIQ forums as required.

Measures of Success

• Reliable, on-time delivery of frontend product releases against committed plans, with measurable improvement in sprint predictability.
• Demonstrable reduction in legacy C# surface area and measurable progress in JavaScript modernization milestones.
• Reduction in critical frontend incidents and improvement in mean time to resolution.
• Strong engineer retention and visible growth in team members' skills, autonomy, and career progression.
• Sustained and improving security posture for A3Distrib frontend products, aligned with NIQ standards.
• Clear, consistent delivery reporting to the Senior Manager with no surprise escalations.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Proven experience managing a software engineering team, including structured 1:1s, performance management, and team development.
• Strong proficiency in JavaScript — sufficient to credibly review technical decisions, coach engineers, and understand frontend architecture trade-offs.
• Working knowledge of C# — the legacy A3Distrib codebase is C#-based and the Manager will need to engage meaningfully with it during modernization.
• Demonstrated experience delivering technical projects end-to-end: from planning and backlog management through to release and production support.
• Ability to balance hands-on technical engagement with team management and stakeholder communication responsibilities.
• Good level of English — the role operates in a bilingual French/English environment; written and verbal English communication with NIQ colleagues is required.
• Genuine commitment to team development: the Manager is expected to actively grow the capability and autonomy of their engineers, including senior engineers.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience managing or contributing to frontend engineering in a French retail, FMCG, or data-driven product context.
• Familiarity with legacy-to-modern frontend migration — particularly C# to JavaScript frameworks — including the people and technical challenges involved.
• Experience with Agile delivery practices (Scrum or Kanban), backlog management tooling, and sprint review rituals.
• Exposure to security practices relevant to web applications: dependency management, WAF configuration, vulnerability tracking.
• Familiarity with NIQ's Workforce Architecture (WFA) or an equivalent competency framework used for people management and career development.
• Experience operating within a post-acquisition or corporate integration context, adapting inherited engineering practices to group standards.

Additional Information

Our Benefits

• Flexible working environment
• Volunteer time off
• LinkedIn Learning
• Employee-Assistance-Program (EAP)

NIQ may utilize artificial intelligence (AI) tools at various stages of the recruitment process, including résumé screening, candidate assessments, interview scheduling, job matching, communication support, and certain administrative tasks that help streamline workflows. These tools are intended to improve efficiency and support fair and consistent evaluation based on job-related criteria. All use of AI is governed by NIQ’s principles of fairness, transparency, human oversight, and inclusion. Final hiring decisions are made exclusively by humans. NIQ regularly reviews its AI tools to help mitigate bias and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. If you have questions, require accommodations, or wish to request human review were permitted by law, please contact your local HR representative. For more information, please visit NIQ’s AI Safety Policies and Guiding Principles: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/info/niqs-ai-safety-policies/

About NIQ

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