Engineering Manager - Herts

Haven & Warner Hotels; Hemel Hempstead; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading hotel management company in Hemel Hempstead is looking for an experienced engineering leader. You will drive a high-performance team, ensure scalable and secure solutions, and collaborate with stakeholders to achieve strategic goals. The candidate should have strong knowledge of Microsoft technologies and modern development practices while fostering an inclusive culture. This role offers a hybrid working model with great benefits.

Benefits

Annual bonus

20% discount on holiday bookings

Comprehensive wellbeing support

Access to corporate box at the O2 Arena

Exclusive discounts with corporate partners

Career pathways and development opportunities

Enhanced family-friendly policies

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading software engineering teams in an agile environment.
• Strong background in .NET, C#, Azure, and JavaScript frameworks.
• Experience with cloud-native systems and API integrations.

Responsibilities

• Lead a cross-functional team of engineers.
• Provide architectural oversight on scalable solutions.
• Collaborate with stakeholders on technical delivery plans.

Skills

Leading software engineering teams

Microsoft technology stack (.NET, C#, Azure)

JavaScript/TypeScript frameworks (Node.js, React)

Evaluating third-party or SaaS systems

Building robust APIs

Knowledge of DevOps practices

Communication and stakeholder management

Job description

Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and support a cross‑functional team of engineers, fostering a high‑performance and inclusive engineering culture.
• Provide architectural oversight across the systems the team owns, ensuring scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions aligned with business objectives.
• Review and guide the non‑functional requirements (e.g. performance, security, reliability, scalability) and integration capabilities of third‑party systems, ensuring they meet enterprise and operational standards.
• Oversee the design, build, testing, and long‑term management of integrations between in‑house and vendor platforms.
• Ensure responsible stewardship of data—maintaining data quality, access controls, protection, and lifecycle management.
• Collaborate with product leaders and business stakeholders to shape technical delivery plans that support strategic goals.
• Drive engineering best practices including sustainable engineering, DevOps, test automation, continuous integration, and modern deployment pipelines.
• Balance technical debt, feature delivery, and platform health, making informed trade‑offs where necessary.
• Support hiring and onboarding, contributing to the growth and capability development of the team.
• Use metrics and monitoring tools to assess system health and team performance, and lead improvements as needed.
• Drive a Product Operating Model culture.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading and growing software engineering teams in a collaborative, agile, product‑driven environment.
• Strong hands‑on background in software engineering, with deep knowledge of the Microsoft technology stack (.NET, C#, Azure) as well as experience with modern JavaScript/TypeScript frameworks (e.g. Node.js, React).
• Solid experience in evaluating, integrating, and managing third‑party or SaaS systems within a broader IT estate.
• Strong understanding of non‑functional requirements and architectural principles for distributed, cloud‑native systems.
• Experience building and maintaining robust APIs, data pipelines, and secure system integrations.
• Knowledge of DevOps practices, CI/CD, infrastructure‑as‑code, and cloud platforms (preferably Azure).
• Excellent communication, influencing, and stakeholder management skills.
• Ability to bring teams and disparate working groups together to balance demand and changing business requirements.

Desirable

• Experience modernising legacy systems or leading through complex system transitions.
• Familiarity with UK data protection regulations (e.g. GDPR) and enterprise information governance.
• Previous experience in hybrid estates combining custom applications and commercial off‑the‑shelf solutions.

About Us

We’re part of an award‑winning Bourne Leisure family, which includes Haven & Warner Hotels. We have 9,000 fantastic team members and 39 beautiful seaside locations and our HQ based in Hemel Hempstead.

Work Culture

Working with us is ultimately defined by our exceptional people and teams. At Haven, we take pride in our Breath of Fresh Air culture, which focuses on valuing and supporting every team member. We prioritise openness and transparency in our interactions allowing our team members to be their authentic selves.

We operate a hybrid working model, meaning 50% of your working week will be spent at the office, occasionally on Park, or at external events.

Recruitment Process

The interview process will be up to 3 stages and may contain a presentation or skills test, depending on the role. If you require any support or reasonable adjustments to help you perform at your best during this process, please let us know.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are at the heart of who we are and what we do. Our commitment to these values is unwavering and they are central to our mission. We encourage applications from all backgrounds, communities and industries and we are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments or flexibility that you may require, including whether a role can be part‑time or a job‑share.

Benefits

• Annual bonus
• 20% discount on both Haven and Warner Hotels holiday for you, family and friends
• Comprehensive wellbeing support
• Access to the Bourne Leisure corporate box at the O2 Arena, London
• Exclusive discounts with corporate partners
• Exciting career pathways, including Learning and Development opportunities such as Apprenticeships and Degrees
• Enhanced family friendly policies and pay (eligibility criteria applied)