Head of Engineering in Exeter
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Head of Engineering
About the Role
This role is the senior technical authority driving Lightfoot’s strategic evolution towards a scalable, software-first SaaS platform. It holds responsibility for the entire digital ecosystem (Web, Mobile, Cloud), ensuring our technical vision aggressively pursues software-led growth while continuing to improve the hardware solution which remains our core offering. It exists to champion technical excellence and lead the architectural transformation towards unified, platform-agnostic software solutions. This role is pivotal in unlocking high-impact, customer-centric outcomes to support sustained ~20% year-on-year growth.
Acting as a key partner to the Technology Director and the Head of Delivery, you will oversee all engineering disciplines, ensuring technical solutions are scalable cloud-, robust, and secure by design. The successful candidate will lead a multi-disciplinary engineering team, encompassing Frontend, Backend, Mobile, Hardware, DevOps, and QA; Fostering a culture of technical rigour that integrates software agility with the continued evolution of our core device technology.
Salary: £75,000-£90,000 depending on experience, plus company bonus, 20% long-term incentive plan and competitive benefits
Hybrid: ideally 1-2 days in the office
Key Responsibilities
Technical Vision & Architecture Strategy
Own the technical strategy, architecture roadmap, and technology selection process
Act as a recognised expert in SaaS architecture and platform engineering, providing hands-on technical leadership and the ability to directly influence and steer design decisions. Including at code, API, and systems-integration level where required
Lead the transition from the current web (PHP/React), mobile (PHP/) toward a unified, platform-agnostic system
Ensure all new and existing systems are designed for high scalability, security, and low latency, particularly within the telematics and IoT domain
Champion innovation by exploring new technologies and modern engineering practices to drive technical maturity and competitive advantage
Engineering & Quality Leadership
Oversee all software, cloud, and hardware engineering functions, ensuring alignment to best practices (e.g., CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, Automated Testing).
Provide strategic leadership to the Hardware function, ensuring the proprietary device, firmware, and embedded software development meet quality standards and integrate seamlessly with the cloud platform.
Define, measure, and manage key engineering metrics (e.g., system stability, deployment frequency, mean time to recovery) to drive continuous improvement in engineering velocity and quality.
Ensure the implementation of best practices for secure data transmission and storage, ensuring compliance with industry standards.
Team Management & Development
Provide coaching, career development, and performance management to elevate the capability of the engineering organization and build high-performing teams.
Foster a culture of technical rigor, collaboration, accountability, and trust.
Work with the Head of Delivery to resource teams efficiently, ensuring clear alignment between technical capacity and the project roadmap.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Governance
Act as the primary technical point of contact, ensuring alignment between Engineering, Delivery, Product, and the wider business.
Participate in system architecture discussions and Agile development processes to enhance software quality.
Ensure risks, issues, and technical dependencies are surfaced early and addressed effectively.
What we are looking for
Essential
Proven leadership experience leading a multidisciplinary technology function encompassing software development (Backend/Cloud) and preferably hardware/firmware exposure.
Extensive experience successfully driving large-scale architectural transformation and modernization projects (e.g., monolithic to microservices, legacy stack replacement).
Expertise in cloud-, scalable system design within a high-throughput, low-latency environment, preferably telematics/IoT.
Deep understanding of modern web and mobile architecture, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and serverless patterns.
Demonstrable ability to set and enforce high standards for code quality, technical documentation, and development practices.
Proven experience in leading and mentoring technical managers and managing a large engineering budget.
Excellent stakeholder and communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex technical concepts to executives.
Beneficial
Familiarity with the current Lightfoot tech stack (PHP, React, Mobile) and experience migrating off similar platforms.
Experience with Python and the AWS ecosystem (EC2, S3, Lambda, RDS, etc.).
Familiarity with ISO 9001 or ISO 27001 standards.
Familiarity with test-driven design methodologies.
Personal Attributes
Strategic thinker with strong execution discipline.
Able to simplify complexity and communicate with clarity.
Customer- and value-oriented mindset.
Positive, personable, and capable of building strong relationships across the organisation.
REF-(Apply online only)
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