Head of Software Engineering
Full Time, Permanent or Temporary (immediate start) considered
Office based with WFH provision - minimum 3 days per week in office
Salary: Competitive / Negotiable
Benefits: 25 days holiday plus bank holidays, Private Medical Insurance, 5% Pension, Death in Service, EMI Share Options, Free Parking, On Site Cafe, Electric Vehicle Charge Points.
A unique opportunity to shape the future of quantum
Step up and shape the future of technology as Head of Software Engineering at one of the UK’s most innovative, VC-backed scaleups. This is your chance to build and lead a new in-house engineering function, delivering cutting-edge products that will transform civil engineering,security and defence.
You’ll architect the next generation of our product and customer facing cloud software, grow your own team, and drive the transition from outsourced to in-house capability, all while working at the forefront of quantum technology.
What You Bring
Board level: You are comfortable working with founders, boards and investors and you can communicate progress, risks and decisions clearly, taking full responsibility for delivering the engineering goals (software and hardware). Ideally you will have contributed to board packs or sat on board meetings, presenting the plan and progress.Alternatively you have sat on a Senior Leadership Team (SLT).
Management: You have managed and grown teams to ten or more and you have experience handling the full management cycle including hiring, coaching and performance management. If you have only coached and mentored juniors, this role is not for you.
Senior Responsibility: You have been ultimately in charge of budgets, roadmaps and architecture.
Outsourced teams: You have also managed outsourced teams and built business cases for internalising capability where possible.
Technology: You have delivered complex products that are a mix of hardware, embedded software C++and science. Cloud / SaaS experience would also be advantageous but this alone will not qualify you for the role.
Security: You will have a strong grasp of security and will have either implemented ISO27001 or worked with outsourced partners to plug security gaps in tech products.
Where You Add Value
Planning: You have experience of delivering on company milestones, defining roadmaps and architectures across products incorporating hardware and embedded software.
Delivery: You have delivered projects on time and budget,which have led to demonstrable commercial success.
Coding / review: You enjoy hands on contribution when needed - as a minimum you will be proficient in C++ version 17 upwards. In a perfect world you should also be familiar with Python, Rust and other relevant programming languages. You are able to review and appraise other people’s code across C++ / Python / Rust as a minimum.
Management: You enjoy getting the best out of a team and developing people to a high standard. You will have examples of how you have led teams and been pivotal in leading the people to success in their careers.
Technical Requirements
You should have experience with:
- C++17 or later, Python, Rust
- Embedded Linux including Yocto and Petalinux
- Drivers, firmware and ADC pathways
- STM32, Raspberry Pi and Arduino
- Sensor fusion or PNT technologies
- Git, GitHub, Bitbucket and branching discipline
- CI and CD with GitHub Actions or Jenkins
- Automated testing with Robot, GoogleTest or Selenium, Zephyr Scale for test case management
- Jira, Confluence, Miro, Monday
Desirable but not essential:
- FPGA including Vivado, Quartus and VHDL and Spartan class devices
- Hardware interfaces such as SPI, I2C, UART, RS485 and Ethernet
How You Work
- You collaborate well, with high integrity and excellent communication skills
- You bring no ego, and high-trust management
- You are strategic and commercial, yet still capable of leading by example and getting hands-on
- You know how to prioritise work, develop people and lead teams to success