Remote Engineering Manager, Agent- Simulation; C++

At Hadean, we are building the next generation of defence technology. As a key player in the UK’s defence tech ecosystem, our world-leading software is trusted by defence organisations and militaries worldwide.

We specialise in AI-powered digital wargaming and Command & Control systems that help users understand complexity, make better decisions, and operate ning Hadean means working on technology with real-world impact, alongside a team that is driven to push the limits of what’s possible.

The Team:

populAI is the simulation that makes continent-scale defence training feel like the real world. It fills a scenario with the pedestrians, traffic, shipping, aircraft, satellites and critical national infrastructure that trainees would face in reality, and it reacts to their decisions with the emergent chaos of real people and systems. Without it, an exercise is little more than a map overlay.

At its core populAI is a C++ simulation engine driving the behaviour and decision-making of huge numbers of actors. A custom distribution framework partitions that simulation across a compute cluster while keeping it coherent. A Type Script/React front end and Node.js services put it in the hands of Simulation Operators. The team is also bringing LLM-backed capabilities into the engine: natural language control, richer actor generation and simulated social media.

The team is cross-functional, with Software, QA and Dev Ops Engineers, including seasoned simulation specialists. It ships into live customer exercises, demonstrators and integration hackathons to give a tight feedback loop on the work it’s delivered.

The Role:

As Engineering Manager for populAI, you will own the team's people leadership and delivery. You will create the conditions for a highly capable, multidisciplinary team to do its best work. That means setting clear expectations, developing individuals, removing blockers, and turning product priorities into reliable execution. You'll partner closely with the Product Manager and the team's technical leadership, and you'll pull in customer and business context from Field Engineering and senior stakeholders.

This role is deliberately weighted towards people, delivery and product partnership. You will lead the people and own the output, drawing on deep specialists for architecture and implementation decisions. A strong engineering foundation is still essential, though. You'll need enough technical context across the stack to earn credibility, understand performance, ask incisive questions and give candid, evidence-based feedback.

Key Responsibilities:

• Own delivery end-to-end for populAI — turning product goals into plans the team can execute and commitments stakeholders can rely on, and renegotiating early when they can't.
• Line-manage a multidisciplinary team: set expectations, give direct feedback, hold real performance and development conversations, and grow the next set of technical leaders.
• Stay hands-on. Pick up delivery work when the pressure demands it, and when you need first-hand understanding of the codebase and the process you are trying to improve.
• Own hiring for the team — define the profile, run the process, and make the case for the headcount the roadmap will need before it becomes a blocker.
• Partner with the Product Manager to understand the commercial environment, challenge assumptions, negotiate scope and timeline, and argue for the technical investment that keeps future delivery possible.
• Work with the team's technical lead and senior specialists on technical direction, making sure design and architecture decisions get made and hold up against what is coming next.
• Shape the environment your team works in rather than just operating inside it, pulling customer and business context in…