Head of Engineering
- Recruiter
- JobLeads
- Location
- London
- Salary
- Competitive
- Posted
- 08 Aug 2018
- Closes
- 27 Aug 2018
- Sectors
- Engineering
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
Blenheim Chalcot is the UK's leading digital venture builder. We build tech start-ups that are geared to disrupt and transform sectors. We invest more than just funds, we invest our knowledge and experience, our ideas and our infrastructure. Our ventures are at the forefront of a multitude of industries covering FinTech, EdTech, Media, Sport and more. It is a cohesive group and we have a strong culture built around curious, engaging and innovative people. Working alongside entrepreneurs and co-founders, we support our ventures from start-up to scale to exit, giving them access to the global networks and services they need to grow. Our portfolio represents sales of over GBP300 million, GBP500 million of assets under management, more than 3,000 employees and a successful track record of over 40 companies. We host our start-ups in our incubator spaces located in Hammersmith and White City, home to a buzzing mix of fast growth digital start-ups. We currently have 19 companies in the portfolio which vary in stage from seed to international scale., Blenheim Chalcot are partnering with the most recognised international brand in English language testing and teaching to launch a disruptive mobile-first proficiency test, which will further act as an unbiased marketplace for English language learning courses with recommendations personalised to an individual's profile. The venture will be based in London, but with customers in almost any country, many aspects of the execution will be international. Customer acquisition campaigns will be carried out at a market level; technology and customer support will likely be provided from India; and we would expect to integrate to third party platforms in many countries (e.g. payment methods, social media platforms, referral partners). The global English language market is booming, with the number of learners increasing from 1.4bn to 2bn by 2020, which much of that growth coming from Asia and in particular China. We are looking for a dynamic Head of Engineering to lead the design and development of a high-profile new digital English platform which will impact millions of users in different countries around the world., We are looking for a dynamic Head of Engineering to lead the design and development of this high-profile new platform. This role, reporting directly into the CEO, will lead on all technical aspects of this new venture, including the systems infrastructure, architecture, development, release management, and operational performance. * Lead the tech team, which could include in-house resources, satellite teams and suppliers. * Define the architecture, and how we will source, build and maintain each component. * Oversee the design, development and release management of all elements of the platform. * Ensure, with support from the others in the team, a world-class UX. * Define, establish, maintain and evolve a system infrastructure that meets the needs of the business model, and the large scale highly-distributed user base. * Define and establish operational processes to ensure performance and continuity of service. You will be the go-to expert and play an integral role in setting the new venture's strategic direction, development and future growth. In this position, you will oversee our overall technology development and technology utilisation plan and manage all information technology resources of the company., * Define, and rapidly iterate, technical architectures for growing small businesses. * Know when to build and when to buy technology solutions to get new products and features to market quickly. * Design, monitor and drive the architecture of our mobile applications * Engage and contract with suppliers and service businesses. You might: * Know Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, .NET, Java, Python, Ruby, SQL, DocumentDB, RedShift, AWS, Azure - we don't mind, we're more interested in your ability to identify the right technologies and deliver with them, but you'll need to be able to demonstrate that you've done this before - which is likely to include some of these. * Have experience in start-ups or venture backed businesses, but equally you might have demonstrated flexible thinking and drive to get things done in a larger business - we're looking for someone who can make things happen. You will: * Have been through the cycles of hiring, developing and leading a successful cross functional engineering team, being knowledgeable of both software and infrastructure * Use your skills and experience to plan and execute technology strategies to get products to market * Work effectively with our Product team to plan and deliver against our product roadmap, defining key milestones and translating them into manageable projects and tasks * Oversee and provide hands on support for the technical delivery of products and features * Manage the day-to-day activities of the engineering team within an Agile/Scrum environment * Use your knowledge of technology to support and provide guidance to early product decisions * Apply best practice security techniques to ensure new products are fit for purpose, and compliant with relevant regulations * Produce and track against a budget for each stage of a product's lifecycle as it grows * Maintain a current knowledge of the technology market to ensure the businesses that you're working with are using the best technologies available Management, Project management, Agile, Analytics, Android, Architecture, New business, Communication, Confident, Design, Dynamic, Flexible, highly motivated, Research, proactive, * Experience working on Android or iOS mobile platforms, including design of new mobile software solutions or extending an existing suite of mobile application * Broad technology experience across a variety of disciplines, including software engineering and managing engineering teams * Experience of implementing agile development methods across a number of teams including Scrum, Kanban, XP, TDD, automated builds and continuous integration & deployment * Hands on technical skills to deliver working prototypes for new business ideas, as well as full featured products. * A Computer Science bachelor's degree, relevant technical degree or equivalent experience, * An experienced technologist with 10+ years of experience in the field of Mobile and/or Software Engineering; You've developed a solid understanding of the architecture of mobile applications thanks to several successful products you've built or scaled * Good understanding of the concepts and importance of User Interface and User Experience * Ability to conduct technological analyses and research * Hands on experience with complex project management * Energetic, highly motivated, with an enquiring mind and passion for excellence and innovation in pursuit of business growth and success; * Be comfortable in a fluid, progressive and dynamic, change orientated environment, and able to deploy + a proactive and confident approach; + excellent communication and organisation skills; * Dynamic, insightful and influential with the ability to operate at strategic and operational levels; * Excellent stakeholder management experience and ability to prioritise effectively * Never stop looking for a better way of doing things; be curious * Building businesses is fast-paced and fluid; be nimble * Sharing knowledge and networks builds better businesses; be generous * Understand getting the best out of people is better for everyone; be supportive * The best ideas aren't always your own; seek diversity * Decisions should be driven by analytics and customer insight; embrace data., * The opportunity to build a global mobile application with ambitions to acquire millions of users, from scratch. * Chance to be a part of, impact and learn from the UK's leading digital venture builder * The right mix of challenges, learning and development opportunities * Dynamic start-up environment * Starting salary of: GBP80-100k depending on experience * Discretionary 20% bonus * 25 days of paid holidays * Life Assurance - 4 x annual salary. Pension Scheme, Cycle to Work Scheme, Childcare Vouchers * Flexible Benefits: Private Medical, Gym Subsidiaries * Free fruit every day