Engineering Operations Leader: Quality, Delivery & Scale

107632 Capital Markets Operations; Birmingham; Hybrid; GBP 81,000 - 99,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Bonus 30–60%

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Excellent pension

12x salary life assurance

Career breaks

Volunteering days

Job summary

Standard Life, a retirement specialist, seeks a Head of Engineering Operations in a senior, high-impact role. You will lead the capabilities for quality, environments, release readiness and operational resilience, shaping standards and governance to enable rapid, safe delivery across digital platforms.

You will partner across digital, data, cloud and governance teams to raise standards, automate controls, and implement metrics-driven delivery while navigating a complex regulatory landscape.

Qualifications

• Leadership experience in engineering operations, quality engineering, release management, environments or related tech leadership.
• Ability to balance pace with control by embedding standards and risk management.
• Practical knowledge of modern engineering practices like DevSecOps and automation.
• Strong commercial orientation, aligning engineering outcomes with business value.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and executives.
• Experience leading teams in a regulated, risk-aware environment.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the Engineering Operations capability across quality engineering, environments, release readiness, engineering assurance, operational controls, engineering risk and continuous improvement.
• Lead engineering risk management with clear ownership of controls, attestations and evidence alignment with risk frameworks.
• Drive automation including automated standards compliance, test automation, DevSecOps, IaC and deployment discipline.
• Provide leadership for QA, environment management and release governance to evidence standards compliance.
• Oversee engineering standards across partners and outsourcers with consistent metrics and controls.
• Use metrics and risk insights to drive informed decisions and continuous improvement across the function.

Skills

Engineering ops leadership

Quality & risk mindset

DevSecOps & automation

Commercial focus

Stakeholder influence

Regulated environment leadership

Job description

Standard Life, a retirement specialist, seeks a Head of Engineering Operations in a senior, high-impact role. You will lead the capabilities for quality, environments, release readiness and operational resilience, shaping standards and governance to enable rapid, safe delivery across digital platforms.

You will partner across digital, data, cloud and governance teams to raise standards, automate controls, and implement metrics-driven delivery while navigating a complex regulatory landscape.