Head of Software Engineering CONTRACT

Itecopeople; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 129,000 - 203,000; Full time

Job summary

Itecopeople is recruiting an experienced Head of Software Engineering on a hybrid contract in London, starting ASAP. You will lead a multidisciplinary function spanning software, integration, data and platform engineering, and set engineering standards to improve quality, delivery and resilience.

You'll work with senior technology leaders to shape engineering direction while staying hands-on with architecture and technical decisions, guiding managers and engineers across multiple teams.

Qualifications

• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary engineering functions within large organisations.
• Strong track record of setting engineering standards and embedding them across teams.
• Deep understanding of modern engineering practices, cloud-native architecture and DevOps, ideally in Azure.
• Technical credibility to challenge decisions and guide managers, architects and engineers.
• Strong stakeholder management skills to influence technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Define engineering standards, governance and ways of working across the function.
• Establish best practices across software development, testing, DevOps, CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code.
• Guide architecture and platform decisions for scalable, resilient services.
• Lead engineering managers and senior engineers across multiple teams.
• Assess engineering maturity, identify improvements and drive changes during the assignment.
• Support cloud-native transformation across Azure, event-driven architecture and platform engineering.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Cloud architecture

DevOps

Stakeholder management

Architecture decisions

Cross-functional leadership

Tools

Microsoft Azure

CI/CD tooling

IaC (Terraform/ARM)

Job description

Hybrid: 2 days per week in London | Start ASAP

We're partnering with a large, complex and purpose-driven organisation undergoing a major technology and engineering transformation to get an experienced Head of Software Engineering contractor.

You'll lead a multidisciplinary function spanning software, integration, data and platform engineering. A key priority will be setting clear engineering standards and embedding consistent practices that improve quality, delivery and operational resilience.

This assignment combines leadership with strong technical credibility. You'll work closely with senior technology leaders, engineering managers and senior engineers to shape engineering direction while remaining involved in architecture and technical decisions.

The role

• Define engineering standards, governance and ways of working across the function.
• Establish best practice across software development, testing, code quality, DevOps, CI/CD and Infrastructure as Code.
• Guide architecture and platform decisions, ensuring services are scalable, resilient, secure and maintainable.
• Lead engineering managers and senior engineers across multiple teams, building collaboration and accountability.
• Assess engineering maturity, identify priority improvements and drive practical changes during the assignment.
• Support cloud-native transformation across Microsoft Azure, event-driven architecture, platform engineering and automation.
• Work with senior stakeholders to balance delivery priorities, engineering quality, technical health and cost.

What we're looking for

• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary engineering functions within large, complex organisations.
• A strong track record of setting engineering standards and embedding them successfully across teams.
• Deep understanding of modern engineering practices, cloud-native architecture and DevOps, ideally within Microsoft Azure environments.
• The technical credibility to challenge decisions constructively and guide managers, architects and senior engineers.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence technical and non-technical audiences.
• A collaborative, pragmatic leadership style and the ability to make an impact quickly.

Experience in AI is a significant advantage, particularly applying AI to engineering workflows, automation or the delivery of AI-enabled services.

Experience within regulated or operationally critical environments—such as public sector, education, healthcare or financial services—would also be key.

This is an opportunity to shape a growing engineering function and establish standards that support a substantial technology transformation.