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