Head of Engineering

It's an exciting opportunity to join FixMyCar, the UK's leading online marketplace linking garages to customers. FixMyCar aims to ensure best value and service for drivers and offers great commercial opportunities to member garages and associated partners.

We are on the hunt for a strategic and quality-led Head of Engineering who can also bring their exceptional people management skills to align and drive all exciting technical initiatives that are part of our company vision. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in engineering management. This role will report directly to our Interim Chief Product and Technology Officer.

Please note this is a hybrid position.

Primary Purpose of the Position

• Ensure alignment with CPTO on the technology strategy and provide guidance/advice on any considerations which have/will have an impact on development and product roadmap
• Own development, implementation, and maintenance of current/new technology, which is key to our organization's deliverables, growth and continued success
• Understand the company's technology and product strategy, which includes reviewing the company's current processes and developments required to ensure these are considered in our long term planning
• Challenge and constructively contribute to the company's decision making process, ensuring mitigation of any negative exposure and supporting the management of the (technical) business risk profile.
• Ensure compliance with local legalisation, Niterra HQ and local policies/procedures.
• Ensure structure is applied appropriately or create & define new processes where required to ensure efficiency

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Strategy:

• Drive the technical vision and strategy for the company, aligning it with business objectives and market trends
• Review current technologies to assess suitability and explore new technologies to further enhance our services and generate competitive advantage
• Stay up to date with technology trends and developments
• Effectively manage the development output through effective time management and reporting
• Ensure the core architecture is maintained, efficient and scalable

Development:

• Oversee the development and delivery of high-quality products/solutions, ensuring they meet internal briefs, client requirements and quality standards
• Leading the businesses use of the AWS platform
• Adhere to best practices, quality standards, and regulatory requirements to maintain product integrity and client satisfaction
• Effectively manage priorities considering risk to business, roll-out deadlines and ROI
• Ensure scalability, security, and reliability
• Evaluate and implement suitable technologies that streamline operations and enhance performance

Collaboration:

• Collaborate with key internal stakeholders such as product management, design, and testing to align technical initiatives and ensure seamless integration
• Promote open communication and feedback, enhance current workflows to strength build quality and time frame
• Report key achievements, progress and delays to the CPTO (and SLT/Niterra/business as required)

Team Leadership and Management:

• Manage and mentor development/engineering teams, providing guidance, support, and fostering a collaborative and productive work environment
• Ensure consistent ways of working, timely SLAs and communication on progress
• Create accurate timelines for the development and deployment of any launches/improvements/fixes
• Foster a culture of personal development and team collaboration

Cybersecurity and Risk Management:

• Ensure robust cyber security measures are in place
• Develop and implement strategies to mitigate any risks to the company's systems/data

Requirements

Education

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field (Master's Degree in Computer Science or related field desirable)

Experience

• 10 years proven experience as an Engineering Manager or in a similar role
• Previous hands-on experience of web technologies, specifically Typescript (NextJS & NodeJS)
• Good understanding of AWS platforms & Kubernetes-based infrastructure
• Exceptional Leadership skills with a clear and concise communication style and passion for developing a management team
• Excellent problem-solving skills and the ability to strategies and devise solutions
• Strong interpersonal and relationship building skills with networking abilities to drive results
• Willingness to partner, collaborate and influence across functional areas (E.g. Product, Marketing and Sales)
• Knowledge of technological trends to build strategy
• Passionate problem solver
• Experience of working in a matrix organisation with reporting to both operational and functional leadership is essential
• Experience working closely with product leaders in an Agile environment
• Extensive experience optimising AWS infrastructure for maximum technical and business efficiency
• History of maintaining and ensuring the technology stack is both maintained and in-line with technology advancements, including optimal emerging approaches within the product-technology implementation space

Knowledge & Skills

• Exceptional People Manager
• Experience with driving an organisation's technological vision, strategies, and execution
• Skilled in management processes such as business and organisation planning, change management, influencing multi-functional teams, communication and training
• High level of initiative, creativity, perseverance and flexibility
• Able to influence people and take decisions
• Good listening and communication skills across all levels
• Strong experience in EU/global technology roll-outs is an advantage
• Pro-active and hands-on mentality
• Coaching/ mentoring experience
• Adaptable mindset to change and evolving market/ business priorities

Benefits

• Flexible working
• Holidays: 25 days per annum + Birthday Leave (1 day)
• Private Medical Insurance (70% Company funded)
• Life Assurance (4x basic salary)
• Pension: 5.5% Employer contribution (5% Employee contribution)
• Employee Assistance Programme
• Flu vaccinations allowance
• Eye test allowance
• 2 volunteering days
• Elective work location change (work from anywhere)
• Holiday Buy-Back Scheme: Buy 5 days additional holiday (After 1 years' service)