Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering – Large B2C – Birmingham/Nottingham, Hybrid

Are you the kind of engineering leader who wants to build something, not just inherit it?

We’re working with a large, well-established UK business that’s in the middle of pulling three separate tech organisations into one. It’s not tidy yet. That’s the point – whoever takes this on gets to shape what it becomes.

What you’ll be doing

This isn’t a “keep the lights on” kind of role.

You’ll be:

• Leading engineering across Cloud Platforms, Frontend, SaaS Platforms, and Backend Engineering & Architecture – as one connected function, not four separate silos
• Managing managers, not just teams – think engineering managers and functional leads reporting into you, with 60-70 people within your scope
• Bringing three distinct tech cultures together without anyone feeling like they’ve been swallowed up
• Embedding modern engineering practice and DevOps discipline, with real metrics behind it
• Helping the business figure out where AI-enabled delivery actually fits, not just talking about it
• Working closely with Product, AI and Data leadership to keep capacity and strategy aligned

What they care about

Yes, they want someone with a serious engineering leadership pedigree.

But more than that, they want:

• Confidence. Someone who doesn’t need every decision rubber-stamped
• Someone who can make the call, then tell people after – not before
• A genuine focus on culture, not just delivery metrics
• Someone who accepts AI is now just part of how engineering works, without needing to be sold on it

The technical bit

• Real experience leading leaders within engineering functions inside a complex, enterprise-scale environment
• Track record managing senior engineering managers across multiple disciplines and locations
• Comfortable across cloud (mostly AWS, some Azure, a bit of Google thrown in)
• Experience balancing in-house teams, strategic vendors and commercial platforms – buy vs. build calls
• Retail or B2C background is a genuine plus here, though not essential – broad experience in a complex, large-scale environment counts just as much

Why this is worth a look

Most Head of Engineering roles are about protecting what’s already there.

This one isn’t.

• You’re joining while the org is being reshaped, which means you help define it
• You’ll sit close to genuinely senior leadership from day one
• There’s real scope here – this function is only going to grow, and AI/Data are just down the corridor

If you’ve led at this scale before and want to build something rather than maintain it, this is worth a proper look.