Head of Delivery - Software

Xpertise Recruitment; Manchester, Leeds; Hybrid; GBP 166,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Xpertise Recruitment is seeking an Interim Director of Technology Delivery to lead a major change programme across a multi-disciplinary engineering and delivery function. The six-month role requires on-site work across Manchester, Leeds, or Thames Valley (3 days per week) and falls Inside IR35.

You will own technology delivery, align engineering, architecture and product, and build capability to outlast the interim period.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in technology, with seniority in delivery
• Hands-on credibility in modern engineering practices
• Experience leading through organisational or operating-model change
• Comfortable in regulated or high-governance environments
• Available now or on short notice for a 6-month term

Responsibilities

• Take operational ownership of technology delivery across a multi-disciplinary engineering organisation
• Lead platform, infrastructure and application teams
• Improve delivery discipline, automation, release discipline, quality and observability
• Act as a credible senior voice to leadership translating commercial priorities into engineering reality
• Build capability to outlast the interim period with hands-on leadership

Skills

Senior delivery leadership

Cloud platforms

Automation pipelines

Stakeholder management

Change management

CI/CD tooling

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Job description

Head of Delivery - Software

Key points

• 12/08/26
• London, Slough
• £900 - 1,000 per day
• Contract
• Senior IT Appointments
• Full time

Job role

Interim Director of Technology Delivery — 6 Month Contract
£900–£1,000 per day | Manchester, Leeds or Thames Valley (3 days on-site) | Inside IR35

Confidential search.

Based from whichever of Manchester, Leeds or Thames Valley suits you, with a 3 days/week on-site expectation at that hub.

THE BUSINESS

A UK-listed services organisation with a substantial internal technology function is bringing in an experienced interim leader to accelerate a period of change across its engineering and delivery organisation. This is a business with an established, well-resourced technology team looking to modernise how it builds and ships - not a start-from-scratch environment.

THE ROLE

You’ll take operational ownership of how technology gets delivered across a multi-disciplinary engineering organisation - spanning platform, infrastructure and application teams — during a defined period of change.

Core focus areas:

• Reshaping how engineering, architecture and product functions work together day to day, moving the organisation toward faster, more autonomous ways of working
• Raising the bar on engineering practice — automation, release discipline, quality and observability - across a sizeable in-house team
• Acting as a credible senior voice into the leadership team on technology delivery, translating between commercial priorities and engineering reality
• Building capability within the existing team so improvements outlast the interim period — this is a hands‑on leadership brief, not an advisory one
• Getting proper visibility and control over cost and risk as cloud usage scales, and using that to inform how the function is shaped going forward
• Bringing structure and pace to a team that has the technical depth but needs stronger delivery discipline layered in

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

• A strong track record leading engineering or delivery functions at senior/director level within a sizeable, complex organisation - 10+ years in technology, with real seniority in the last several
• Genuine hands‑on credibility in modern engineering practice: cloud platforms, automated delivery pipelines, and the operating models that go with scaled distributed teams
• Experience leading through a period of organisational or operating‑model change, not just running steady‑state delivery
• Comfortable operating in a regulated or high‑governance environment, and confident holding your own with senior stakeholders outside the technology function
• Available now or at very short notice, for an initial 6‑month term with realistic potential to extend or move to permanent.