New girl in town, joining Deliveroo as a Senior Engineering Manager
Learn about joining Deliveroo as a Senior Engineering Manager from Liz Mackie, Senior Engineering Manager.
Liz, thanks a lot for taking the time to answer our questions. It would be great if you could start by introducing yourself and your role.
Thanks! My name is Liz Mackie and I am a Senior Engineering Manager within the Restaurants space! I have now been with Deliveroo for a mighty 6 weeks as of time of writing! I am based near Edinburgh in Scotland.
Could you please tell us a bit more about the responsibilities of a Senior Engineering Manager at Deliveroo & the difference between an EM and SEM at the organisation?
So an SEM has a few responsibilities in place, and I will try to cover some of what I think are the most important parts. Firstly it is about working with one or more teams which, with your help, are high-performing teams as a manager of managers. Secondly it is thinking ahead strategically, not just about what your teams look like today, or next quarter, but where you want your teams to be in 6, 12 or more months ahead, and setting a North Star and making sure they have the maximum tactical impact possible. The third thing I want to highlight is that an SEM needs to be a beacon of the culture they want to instil in their space and bring the values of Deliveroo to life and make sure those values are habitual in practice. I could go on, but I think these are the most important points for an SEM role!
What does the promotion and evaluation process look like? How can managers progress in their career?
Great question! While I am not that experienced in the promotion cycle of Deliveroo just yet, I will say that once you reach the levels of EM/SEM+ there should be an expectation of owning your destiny while surrounded by support. Your managers are there to mentor and help, but owning your journey should be something you are comfortable to do, as you guide others on theirs. Luckily, what I can definitely say is the level of support I have had has been tremendous with my short time here. Deliveroo has a tech levelling guide for their engineers and managers to help guide what the expectations are at each level, which really helps you understand the difference between where you are, and where you want to aim for.
You joined us earlier this year, what made you decide to join Deliveroo? What excites you about the company?
Deliveroo has been a real shock to the space of food delivery and has taken on some amazing challenges in its existence, as well as some amazing technical challenges. The concept of a three sided marketplace sounded wonderfully complex and the more I thought about the challenges of delivering food with customers, riders and restaurants and getting it right, the more I realised how much I wanted to be part of the solution to that.
How do you think Deliveroo celebrates diversity of ideas and people? Are there any initiatives you’d like to get involved in?
In my short time here, I have seen some great initiatives which demonstrate Deliveroo’s commitment to diversity of ideas and people. For example not long ago there was the relaunching of the ERGs in their community building week. I was also immediately invited to Women in Tech in Deliveroo. That combined with the award that Deliveroo won for LGBTQI+ Network of the year made me really impressed by the people and inclusion I see here, and really excited to dive in head first!
What are the differences between Deliveroo and some of the previous organisations you’ve worked with?
I think firstly the biggest difference I have noticed is how truly remote-friendly the company is. Being based in Scotland, with colleagues across the world, I feel part of the community without feeling hindered by distance or a lack of office. The world of work has changed a lot and if you told me in 2019 I would be working remotely I would never have believed you. Now more than ever I think remote working is not something to be tolerated, but to be embraced by companies and critical to success, and Deliveroo really is a great example of how to do it right.
Secondly, Deliveroo really holds their values up. In every conversation I have about priorities, or workload, or cross team initiatives there is always a mention of the values, whether someone asking about best customer value, or if this is simple enough. That really speaks to the culture of Deliveroo where the values have meaning beyond a poster on a wall.
What are you looking forward to the most in the h2 of 2022?
So many things! There are some really exciting projects going on in Deliveroo, whether they are exciting technical challenges, being more involved in our ERGs, or really immersing myself in what we do at Deliveroo. I am really excited to be here, and I can’t wait to look back in a year’s time and see how far Deliveroo and I have come!
About Liz Mackie
Liz is a Senior Engineering Manager at Deliveroo. Before joining here, she was a Director of Software Engineering at Fanduel and has worked in both the energy and fintech sectors in her time. Outside of work, Liz is a proud nerd either playing boardgames or trying to beat her PB pool laps!