Software Engineering Director (eCommerce)

Location: Munich, Germany OR Krakow, Poland (Hybrid working – 2 days/week in the office)
TR Ref: RCDB/13585

This multi-€bn eCommerce company is already clear market leader in Europe but they’re not slowing up any time soon! With significant PE investment they’re now doubling headcount and targeting a staggering €10bn turnover.

To achieve these ambitious goals they have re-organised their engineering function creating new Software Engineering leadership roles. These two roles will each lead an existing team of either 40 or 75 Software Engineers (through 5-6 domain specific Engineering Managers and Team Leads), spread across multiple European city offices, with a further 20% (min.) headcount being added over the coming months. We’re looking for Software Engineering Directors who have led similar sized teams through periods of significant transformation and growth.

Both roles report to the VP of Engineering and will work closely with other Software Engineering and Product Directors, along with other senior stakeholders, to deliver sophisticated software solutions to meet their client’s requirements. You will be accountable for the creation and delivery of the strategic, software and IT architecture vision and leadership and all aspects of the development of the software.

DUTIES:

• Manage your team, ensuring effective talent management (career paths, hiring, balancing teams, training etc) and optimising other resources
• Manage, align and make clear your IT costs and budgets
• Align engineering activities with company goals and objectives
• Ensure the IT strategy and guidelines are transparent, implemented and followed
• Develop and implement the engineering strategy, together with the CIO and other Heads of Engineering, including methodologies, practices and technologies.
• Drive continuous improvement processes (Kaizen)
• Ensure the IT system landscape is transparent, stable and reliable inc SLAs, standby organisations, stability KPIs etc
• Foster a collaborative, cross-location culture

EXPERIENCE NEEDED (Mandatory):

• Demonstrable experience as a software engineering leader, with a successful track record building, leading and motivating high performing software engineering teams of approx. 50 heads.
• Previous e-commerce experience is essential. 
• Extensive experience building complex B2C (and internal) digital products across web and mobile applications.
• Passionate about software engineering best practice include agile, continuous delivery, micro services and measurement.
• Strong analytical skills, able to manage complex problems using several techniques.
• Effective communication of complex ideas to a range of stakeholders, both verbal and written, along with outstanding influencing and negotiating skills, to align potentially conflicting views.
• Senior stakeholder management, both internal and external.
• Confident setting challenging objectives (team and individual) and trusting people to get on with them. You will need to share clear expectations on required performance levels, reward success and address performance issues quickly and fairly, treating team members with honesty, respect and compassion.
• Apply your expertise to continuously challenge systems, processes and people to achieve business objectives.
• You will be comfortable defining and setting in place a vision, along with the plan, to meet your teams goals. You will evaluate situations and take accountability for decisions and issues, in the short, medium and long term.
• Degree in Computer Science or equivalent level of knowledge.

These Engineering Director roles are truly career-defining opportunities that will see you connecting people, ideas, processes and issues to deliver the products needed to achieve their ambitious growth plans. We’re looking for people who will thrive in a collaborative environment, sharing resources, knowledge, ideas and skills and building helpful, productive relationships across the organisation. You will be a naturally positive, optimistic person, who can be diplomatic, patient and open-minded with your team but concise and transparent with the VP and CIO.

Salary will be commensurate with a senior software leadership role, along with an annual 25% bonus (which pays from 0-140%, based on individual and company performance) and car allowance.

These are hybrid working roles requiring you to be in their office (city centre) 2 days a week, but you can work from home the other days. You will enjoy 28 days’ vacation (+ another 2 days off over Christmas/New Year), along with a range of big company benefits.