Frank Fava

Engineering Manager

Why Engineering Manager, why now

After 18 years building software, Engineering Manager is where my two careers meet. Before I was a developer I spent five years as a professional coach. Management isn't a pivot away from what I'm good at. It's the thread that has run through every engineering role I've had, from training juniors to owning delivery as a part-time CTO, made the main job.

Concretely: I've led and grown developers, run code reviews and retros, contributed to hiring, and owned the technical direction and delivery of production systems as a part-time CTO. The move into EM makes the people-and-delivery half of that work the centre of the role, while staying close enough to the code to keep a team's trust.

An EM's job is to build a team that ships: growing engineers, creating clarity, and keeping delivery healthy while staying technically credible. That sits at the intersection of the two things I've spent longest doing: leading engineering work, and coaching people to be better at theirs.

Coaching is the core skill, not a management veneer

Five years as a professional coach before I was a developer. Growing people through 1:1s, honest feedback and career conversations isn't a skill I'm picking up for the title. It's my original craft, now pointed at engineers.

Leading engineers, not just projects

Lead Full-stack Developer at iGoMoon, where I ran code reviews and retros, trained junior developers, and contributed to hiring, including the coding task used to screen candidates. At National Auto Service I brought in, managed and trained a small dev team through larger builds.

Owning technical direction and delivery

Part-time CTO at National Auto Service for nearly four years. Owned architecture, security, sprint delivery and product strategy for a platform now used across ~90% of Australia. I set the direction and stayed accountable for what shipped, not just for my own diffs.

Technically credible, and AI-native

18 years and multi-stack (Laravel, Vue, React, Astro), most recently Senior Software Engineer at SAVR. Daily Claude Code + Cursor user who's published AI tooling. I lead from technical credibility, and I know where AI genuinely helps a team ship and where it doesn't.

What translates into engineering management

Five years as a professional coach before I wrote code → growing individuals through 1:1s, feedback and career development.
Trained juniors and built the hiring screen at iGoMoon → hiring, onboarding, and raising the bar of a team.
Part-time CTO owning delivery at National Auto Service → owning a team's priorities, delivery health and technical direction.
Brought in and managed a temporary dev team through larger builds → coordinating and unblocking engineers to hit a deadline.
18 years shipping multi-stack production code → the technical credibility to lead engineers and earn their trust.

This page is curated for the Engineering Manager role specifically.

Full Version of this CV

Please note, this is only a summarised version of my full CV. For the full picture, the complete CV is one click away.

Featured Skills

The technical skills most relevant to this role.

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Laravel
PHP
VueJS
TypeScript
AWS
Docker
Claude
REST API
PostgreSQL
FilamentPHP

Featured Projects

Projects most relevant to this role.

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National Auto Service

An internal asset-management platform for vehicle lifecycle tracking - customer portals, contractor coordination, and cashflow workflow automation. Built with Laravel and VueJS.

SAVR - Operability Tools

Three production operability tools at SAVR (Stockholm fintech) - FilamentPHP admin panels for the data and customer-service teams, plus a Streamlit data-analysis tool for the analyst team.

AI Skill: Create MVP

Productized my consulting methodology as a Claude Code skill - discovery → planning → implementation, resumable across sessions.

Source

Certifications

Certifications relevant to this role.

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Advanced Practitioner of Executive and Leadership Coaching

The International Coaching Institute (ICI)
Certificate IV in Life Coaching

The International Coaching Institute (ICI)
Leadership

TestDome · Top 10%
People Management

TestDome · Top 10%
AI Literacy

TestDome · Top 10%

Transferable Skills

Non-technical skills that translate directly to this role.

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Coaching Skills

5+ years guiding individuals and business owners to expand their internal map and drive performance through communication.
Ability to Lead

Bridging cross-functional teams and motivating people to do their best work, informed by years of coaching.
Project Management

Goal-based delivery on time and budget - clear goals, accurate estimates, agile iteration, reusable foundations.
Team Player

Adaptability, trust and shared goals - leading developers while collaborating with sales and design under deadline pressure.

What I bring → What this role needs

Specific examples - each line connects something I've done to something this role calls for.

Lead Full-stack Developer at iGoMoon (Stockholm digital agency)

maps to

Leading, mentoring and growing a team of engineers

Ran code reviews and retros, trained junior developers, and contributed to hiring, including the coding task used to screen candidates.

Five years as a professional coach before I was a developer

maps to

The people-development core of engineering management

The 1:1s, feedback and career-growth work an EM lives on is my original profession.

Part-time CTO at National Auto Service (nearly 4 years)

maps to

Owning a team's technical direction, delivery and priorities

Set architecture, security and product strategy and stayed accountable for delivery on a platform now used across ~90% of Australia.

Brought in, managed and trained a temporary dev team for larger builds

maps to

Coordinating engineers and unblocking delivery under a deadline

Multi-stack production work + Senior Software Engineer at SAVR

maps to

Technical credibility to lead engineers, not just administer them

I can run an architecture discussion and review at a high bar, which is what earns a strong team's trust.

AI-native workflow: daily Claude Code + Cursor, published custom skills

maps to

Championing AI-assisted engineering within a team

First-hand practice with agentic coding tools, the exact capability the current wave of AI-forward EM roles asks a leader to bring.

Case Studies

End-to-end engagements: problem → solution → build → outcome.

End-to-end ownership: read the actual problem, agree the solution, build it, ship the outcome.

National Auto Service

Part-time CTO + Product Owner

Problem: Asset management workflows ran on paper and spreadsheets, forcing manual coordination between the internal team, contractors, and customers - and slowing cashflow.
Solution: A purpose-built internal platform with customer + contractor interaction layers, replacing the legacy workflow.
Build: Designed, built, and operated the system as part-time CTO across nearly 4 years - full ownership of architecture, security, sprint delivery, and product strategy. Brought in a small temporary dev team for larger features.
Outcome: Now used across ~90% of Australia. Cashflow workflow significantly improved. Customer relationship maintained over the full engagement.

SAVR - Operability Tools

Senior Software Engineer

Problem: Operability gaps for the data and customer-service teams - no usable internal tooling for managing platform data, leaving non-engineering teams blocked on routine workflows.
Solution: Three operability tools - two FilamentPHP admin panels (data service + customer service) and a Streamlit data-analysis tool for the analyst team.
Build: Spear-headed admin panel work from a paired exploration in my first month at SAVR into three production tools across the engagement.
Outcome: Three production operability tools shipped. Non-engineering teams (data, customer service, analytics) unblocked on workflows that previously required engineering involvement.