About tonies:

tonies is the globally leading interactive audio platform for children with more than 10 million Tonieboxes and 125 million Tonies sold. The intuitive and award-winning audio system has changed the way young children play and learn independently with its child-safe, wireless, and screen-free approach. Tonieboxes have been activated in over 100 countries, the content portfolio includes around 1,400 Tonies in several languages. Since its inception, tonies has achieved significant milestones, including listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in November 2021 as well as a globally present team of over 550 dedicated professionals operating from various countries.

Joining our tonies team means being part of an inspiring mission to create innovative and meaningful experiences for children around the world. Together, we’re shaping the future of play, learning, and imagination

You as part of tonies:

As Engineering Manager (all genders) for Tonies OS, you are the catalyst for our technological foundation. Leading a dedicated team of experts, you bridge the gap between hardware and magic. Together, you build an operating system that brings joy to millions of children worldwide—combining elegant code, robust architecture, and a shared passion for embedded software. Ready to help us create the future of audio play?

Your tasks and responsibilities will include:

Your Responsibilities as a Leader:

• Team Leadership: You nurture the professional growth of your engineers, ensuring a high-level of collaboration and a culture where inclusive mentorship and continuous learning are the norm.
• Architectural Oversight: You oversee the structural integrity of the Tonies OS, ensuring the system remains scalable through clean modularization and low-coupling principles to support future hardware generations.
• Product Sync & Strategy: You synchronize with Product Management to prioritize features and technical debt, ensuring that every engineering sprint directly fuels the overarching tonies® product vision.
• Tactical Execution & Coding: You maintain a hands-on connection to the codebase by conducting high-impact code reviews or tackling critical C/C++ challenges to ensure our quality standards remain uncompromised.
• Delivery Excellence: You manage the end-to-end delivery process, applying lean principles to streamline workflows and ensure stable, reliable software releases for our customers.

Your Team’s Responsibilities:

• Designing, refining, and maintaining the Tonies OS—our platform that provides a reliable foundation for product-specific applications across multiple hardware platforms.
  • Developing a solid, extensible, and maintainable OS architecture featuring reusable modules.
  • Specifying interfaces (APIs) for the lower-level Core SDK and delivering application APIs requested by our Experience teams.
  • Ensuring high quality through shared ownership and test automation.
• Partnering with suppliers for the continuous integration of external Core SDK deliveries.
• Enabling Experience teams through flexible adaptations of application APIs and efficient CI/CD pipelines.

What we are looking for:

• Leadership & Team Empowerment: You bring initial experience in leading engineers and a natural talent for fostering a high-performance culture. You empower your team by turning complex challenges into a clear vision and collaborative growth.
• Technical Acumen & Hands-on Depth: With a strong background as an embedded software engineer, you remain proficient in C/C++. While your focus is on leadership and design, you can still dive into the codebase to ensure quality and solve critical bottlenecks.
• Architectural Vision: You are a master of system design. You advocate for modular, flexibly extendable, and loosely coupled architectures with strong cohesion, ensuring our OS remains a robust and future-proof foundation.
• Strategic Product Alignment: You act as the bridge between engineering and product strategy. You translate business goals into technical reality and collaborate seamlessly across departments to ensure our roadmap is both ambitious and achievable.
• The Toolbox: Solid experience with embedded software platforms, OS architecture, and managing ODM setups. Linux is your home ground; Git and GitLab are integral to your daily workflow.
• Clean Design & Simplicity: You champion lean structures and have a knack for solving complex problems with simple, elegant solutions—both in code and in organizational processes.
• Work Style: Your approach is defined by agility, empathy, and creativity, especially when exploring new solutions or navigating change.
• Communication & Collaboration: Fluent in professional English willing to visit the office on a regular basis.

Why tonies?

• Global Teamwork: We collaborate across departmental and country borders on our vision to bring the Toniebox into every child's room in the world.
• Come as you are: This applies not only to the dress code but also to everything else. Because only where you truly feel comfortable can you give your best.
• Mobility: Choose the option that suits you best - a Deutschlandticket (public transport ticket) for unlimited mobility, a monthly contribution for an office parking space, a leasing bicycle, or a remote work subsidy.
• Enhanced Security: Benefit from subsidies for company pension plans, occupational pension schemes, and occupational disability insurance.
• Rest & Time Off: Enjoy 30 days of paid annual leave as well as three additional days off such as Rosenmontag, Christmas Eve, and New Year's Eve. After one year of employment, you can also use up to 10 "toniecation days" (unpaid leave days).
• Continuous Learning: Benefit from our internal and external training opportunities as well as an individual learning budget to continuously expand your knowledge.
• Language Learning & Relaxation: Improve your communication skills with the language learning app Babbel and find relaxation through our access to the meditation app Calm.
• Discounts: Benefit from attractive discounts on our entire range of tonies products.

Good to know:

As part of our principles, we are committed to supporting inclusion and diversity at tonies. We actively celebrate our colleagues’ different abilities, ethnicities, faith and gender. Everyone is welcome and supported in their development at all stages in their journey with us. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Sabine Schykowski
Talent Acquisition Manager