Head of Software Engineering

Head of Software Engineering, ELS

Job Family: Technology

Job Category: Engineering
Career Architecture Role: Software Engineer
 

Role Summary

Leads a multidisciplinary Innovation Engineering capability, accountable for translating emerging technologies into scalable, enterprise-ready products and platforms. Sets strategic direction, prioritization, and execution standards across innovation squads, ensuring alignment with business objectives, product strategy, and enterprise architecture.

Drives technical excellence, accelerates experimentation-to-production cycles, and builds organizational capability across engineering, data science, and AI—delivering measurable commercial and operational impact.

Key Responsibilities

1. Strategic & Functional Leadership

• Define and execute the innovation engineering strategy, aligning with ELS business priorities, product roadmaps, and enterprise technology standards

• Set multi-quarter priorities, investment focus, and capacity planning across innovation initiatives

• Act as a senior technical authority across innovation domains (AI, platforms, emerging tech), influencing enterprise-wide direction

2. Innovation Delivery & Execution

• Lead delivery of complex, cross-functional innovation programmes, from concept through to scaled deployment

• Drive experimentation, prototyping, and MVP development, accelerating time-to-value and adoption

• Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, and production-grade, aligned with enterprise architecture and governance

3. Team Leadership & Capability Building

• Build, lead, and develop a high-performing, cross-functional team (engineering, data science, AI, and specialists)

• Foster a culture of collaboration, learning, and continuous improvement, strengthening innovation capability across squads

• Coach and develop senior technical leaders, creating succession pipelines and future capability depth

4. Technical Excellence & Standards

• Establish and uphold engineering best practices, including architecture, DevOps, CI/CD, and platform reliability

• Drive improvements in release velocity, quality, and defect reduction through modern engineering practices

• Ensure alignment with security, data governance, and compliance standards

5. Cross-Functional Influence & Stakeholder Alignment

• Partner closely with Product, Platform, and Business leadership to prioritise and deliver high-impact innovation outcomes

• Influence decision-making at senior levels, translating technical possibilities into commercial value propositions

• Represent Innovation Engineering in executive and cross-functional forums

Skills & Competencies

Leadership & Collaboration

• Collaboration (Advanced): Influences and aligns multiple senior stakeholders across Engineering, Product, and Business

• People Leadership (Advanced): Builds inclusive, high-performing teams and develops future leaders

Technical Expertise

• Software Design & Architecture (Advanced)

• Cloud Computing, API & Platform Engineering (Advanced)

• Deep understanding of scalable, distributed systems and enterprise integration
  Innovation & Problem Solving

• Innovation & Strategic Thinking (Advanced): Applies emerging technologies (AI, automation, data) to business problems

• Problem Solving (Advanced): Navigates ambiguity and drives breakthrough solutions

Risk, Security & Compliance

• Data Security & Information Security (Advanced)

• Strong understanding of enterprise governance and regulatory frameworks

Future-Focused Capabilities

• Artificial Intelligence & AI Agents (Advanced)

• Learning Agility & Adaptability (Advanced): Continuously evolves capability in line with emerging technologies

Qualifications & Experience

• Significant experience leading software engineering and innovation teams in complex enterprise environments

• Proven track record delivering large-scale, cross-functional technical programmes

• Deep expertise in software architecture, cloud-native systems, and emerging technologies (AI/ML platforms)

• Experience influencing and operating at senior leadership / executive level

• Demonstrated ability to build and scale multidisciplinary technical teams globally