Head of Engineering

Job Description

The Head of Engineering leads multiple product engineering squads, leveraging both UK engineering resource and RecoTek (Reconomy’s near-shore technology scaling hub based in Bucharest), focused on delivering innovative data-centric products for Valpak and the wider Reconomy business.
Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer (Comply) and being an active member of the Comply Technology Senior Leadership Team (SLT), the Head of Engineering is responsible for all Valpak engineering operations and for the establishment of common engineering standards, modern and secure development practices, and platform capabilities across the Comply division and the wider Reconomy organisation.

This senior leadership role will be responsible for defining and driving the delivery of a modern data platform for Valpak and Comply, contributing to and aligning with the wider Reconomy Data Strategy; using Azure Cloud technologies, overseeing the development of data infrastructure, data pipelines, and data products with a strong emphasis on security, scalability, governance, and business impact.

The Head of Engineering will be a Technology Business Partner for Valpak, accountable not only for the data platform but also for multiple line of business software applications, operational systems including Dynamics 365 CRM, and upgrade projects to migrate legacy applications to modern Azure PaaS infrastructure.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership

• Lead and own all software engineering delivery for Valpak, reporting to the CTO (Comply).
• Act as Valpak’s senior software engineering leader, supporting strategic initiatives and bids.
• Lead, mentor and develop Tech Leads and product engineering squads.
• Build a high‑performance engineering culture aligned to Reconomy standards.
• Drive recruitment, retention and development of engineering talent, leveraging near‑shore capability.

Engineering Strategy

• Define and deliver Valpak’s engineering strategy aligned to Comply and Reconomy objectives.
• Own and maintain a multi‑year technology roadmap.
• Ensure technology investments enable scalability, efficiency and innovation.
• Continuously evolve strategy in line with market and technology trends.

Engineering Excellence

• Establish and uphold engineering, architectural and coding standards.
• Embed modern development practices including DevOps, CI/CD and automation.
• Improve delivery speed, quality and productivity through standardised tooling and AI.
• Ensure consistency and maintainability across all software products.

Data Strategy

• Define and deliver a multi‑year data strategy aligned to Reconomy’s Data Strategy.
• Support enterprise data architecture, governance, security and quality standards.
• Implement a Data as a Product approach, enabling reuse and potential monetisation of data assets.

Data Engineering & Platforms

• Set data engineering standards and governance across Valpak.
• Enable trusted self‑service analytics via Reconomy’s Datastream platform.
• Oversee the design, optimisation and scalability of Azure‑based data platforms.

Quality Assurance

• Implement Reconomy’s engineering quality strategy, standards and testing frameworks.
• Enforce quality gates across the full development lifecycle.
• Champion a culture of shared ownership for quality and continuous improvement.
• Provide assurance on product quality, release readiness and risk.

Cloud Engineering & Platform Operations

• Implement Reconomy’s cloud strategy across Valpak systems.
• Embed modern DevSecFinOps and shift‑left ownership within engineering teams.
• Ensure cloud platforms are secure, resilient, scalable and cost‑optimised.
• Drive automation and infrastructure‑as‑code adoption.

Delivery Enablement, AI Agentic Coding & Productivity

• Drive adoption of agentic AI across the software development lifecycle.
• Ensure AI‑assisted development is safe, secure and aligned to engineering standards.
• Track and improve engineering performance metrics and delivery predictability.

Valpak Technology Business Partner

• Act as the Technology Business Partner for Valpak senior leadership.
• Align engineering delivery with business priorities and growth objectives.
• Communicate strategy, progress and outcomes to technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• Lead resourcing, prioritisation and delivery of high‑impact initiatives.

Risk, Security & Resilience

• Ensure compliance with enterprise security, resilience and ISO27001 requirements.
• Embed secure‑by‑design principles into engineering practices.
• Support operational resilience through robust system and reliability engineering.
• Partner with security and infrastructure teams to manage and mitigate risk.

Skills, Knowledge & Expertise

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science or a related field.
• 10+ years of experience in data engineering, with at least 4–5 years in a leadership or managerial role and experience of managing multiple teams.
• Expertise in building and scaling data platforms, with a strong focus on Azure Cloud technologies (e.g., Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse, Azure Data Lake, Azure SQL Database, Databricks, Apache Spark).
• Proven experience leading the implementation of data platform strategies and managing large-scale data infrastructure initiatives using Azure.
• Demonstrated experience implementing modern engineering practices such as DevOps, CI/CD, automated testing, and platform engineering.
• Experience building and scaling cloud-native platforms in large enterprises.
• Strong background in enterprise architecture, integration patterns, and API-driven architectures.
• Experience operating within complex organisational structures, balancing centralised technology governance with business unit autonomy.
• Experience leading distributed engineering teams, including offshore or near-shore development centres.
• Experience managing major technology transformation or modernisation initiatives.

Job Benefits

• Dual Location / Hybrid worker Status
• Participation in our annual Incentive Plan (VIP) - up to 15% bonus
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, volunteering day and your birthday off!
• Option to buy and sell up to 9 days annual leave
• Access to voluntary benefits including private medical insurance, cycle to work scheme, and subsidised gym membership
• Automatic inclusion in Life Assurance, Critical Illness and Disability Income protection schemes
• Pension scheme up to 8% employer contribution
• Access to reward & discount platform
• Wellbeing initiatives