Director of Engineering Practices

RELX; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 92,000 - 153,000; Full time

Job summary

Elsevier is seeking a Director of Engineering Practices to elevate product development by transforming architecture standards, engineering best practices, and technical strategy into practical tools and workflows embedded across the software development lifecycle.

You will work closely with engineering leadership, architects, innovation teams, and product development to drive quality, efficiency, and continuous improvement at scale.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of architectural design and governance practices.
• Familiarity with AI-enhanced software development and its impact on quality and speed.
• Ability to quickly learn new technologies and translate them into usable tools and processes.
• Proven track record implementing direction and standards across multiple product lines and teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical implementation of practices, processes, workflows, and tooling that improve product development.
• Translate architecture standards and guardrails into actionable artifacts to integrate across the SDLC.
• Build and maintain tooling that surfaces architectural and quality risks early in the SDLC.
• Stay hands-on with tools and AI coding capabilities, including code review and prototyping.
• Help product teams solve complex technical problems and escalate when necessary.
• Ensure Architecture Board decisions are implemented across the SDLC.
• Drive adoption of internal engineering platforms and reusable components.
• Identify and evaluate emerging technologies to inform standards and pilot improvements.

Skills

Architectural knowledge

AI-assisted development

SDLC tooling

cross-functional leadership

translating findings into actions

Job description

Are you passionate about shaping engineering excellence and embedding modern development practices across the software development lifecycle?

Would you enjoy working at the intersection of architecture, innovation, and AI-assisted software development to help engineering teams deliver high-quality solutions at scale?

About Our Team

Our global team support products education electronic health records that introduce students to digital charting and prepare them to document care in today’s modern clinical environment. We have a very stable product that we’ve worked to get to and strive to maintain. Our team values trust, respect, collaboration, agility, and quality.

About The Role

The Director of Engineering Practices plays a key role in improving product development by transforming architecture standards, engineering best practices, and technical strategy into practical tools, workflows, and capabilities embedded throughout the software development lifecycle. Working closely with engineering leadership, architects, innovation teams, and product development teams, you will help drive engineering consistency, quality, efficiency, and continuous improvement across the organization.

Responsibilities

• Lead the technical implementation of practices, processes, workflows, and tooling that improve product development, partnering with the Chief Engineer, Embedded Innovation team, Technology Architects, and product development teams.
• Own the translation of architecture standards, engineering best practices, and guardrails into actionable artifacts, such as tools, plugins, skills, and (agentic) workflows, that can be integrated throughout the SDLC.
• Build and maintain the tooling and processes that surface architectural and quality risks throughout the SDLC so issues can be identified and addressed early.
• Stay hands-on with the tools, techniques, and AI coding capabilities used across product development, including reviewing code, prototyping, and contributing pull requests where appropriate.
• Help product development teams work through complex technical problems to drive cost efficient solutions, escalating to the Chief Engineer or Technology Architects when needed.
• Own the technical implementation of decisions and best practices established by the Architecture Board, ensuring they are incorporated throughout the SDLC.
• Drive adoption of internal engineering platforms, developer tooling, and reusable components within assigned teams.
• Identify and evaluate emerging technologies and engineering approaches, and use relevant developments to inform engineering standards and best practices and to pilot improvements to product development workflows.

Requirements

• Solid knowledge of architectural and software development methodologies, with the ability to apply them in day-to-day practice.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering practices and AI-assisted development, including their impact on quality, delivery speed, maintainability, and developer effectiveness.
• Ability to quickly comprehend new technologies and translate them into workable tools and processes.
• Demonstrated ability to implement technical direction and standards across one or more product lines and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to translate technical findings into clear recommendations for engineering leadership.
• Strong working knowledge of architectural design and governance practices.
• Experience delivering complex projects and working directly with customers or internal stakeholders.
• Familiarity with modern software engineering practices, including AI-assisted development tools, and their impact on quality, speed, and maintainability.
• Please note: Exceptional global applications will be considered - not for relocation, but to work as appropriate from current location.

Work in a Way That Works for You

We promote a healthy work/life balance across the organisation. We offer an appealing working prospect for our people. With numerous wellbeing initiatives, shared parental leave, study assistance, and sabbaticals, we will help you meet your immediate responsibilities and your long-term goals.

Working Pattern

Working flexible hours - flexing the times when you work in the day to help you fit everything in and work when you are the most productive.

About The Business

A global leader in information and analytics, we help researchers and healthcare professionals advance science and improve health outcomes for the benefit of society. Building on our publishing heritage, we combine quality information and vast data sets with analytics to support visionary science and research, health education and interactive learning, as well as exceptional healthcare and clinical practice. At Elsevier, your work contributes to the world's grand challenges and a more sustainable future. We harness innovative technologies to support science and healthcare to partner for a better world.

If performed in NLD Amsterdam (Radarweg), the base pay range is €110,500 - €184,000.

We know your well-being and happiness are key to a long and successful career. We are delighted to offer country specific benefits. Click here to access benefits specific to your location.