Technical Lead - SmartOps

Whitbread; Houghton Regis; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare (BUPA)

10% matched pension

Discounts on Premier Inn stays and our

Restaurant brand discounts

Job summary

Whitbread is seeking an experienced Smart Operations Technical Lead to shape the technical direction across Navigator, housekeeping and automation technology. This senior role combines delivery and architecture, ensuring secure, resilient, and maintainable solutions across hotel and restaurant operations.

You will set technical direction, translate requirements into designs and delivery plans, and oversee the full lifecycle while coaching engineers and aligning with business needs.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in software development and architecture.
• Experience making or overseeing significant technical and architectural decisions.
• Understand development process and full technology delivery lifecycle.
• Experience owning and managing major incidents and stakeholder comms.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction across Navigator, housekeeping and automation.
• Translate requirements into clear technical designs, delivery plans and standards.
• Oversee full delivery lifecycle and guide architectural decisions.
• Provide technical oversight of partners and coach engineers to high standards.
• Bridge delivery and architecture to resolve complex challenges.

Skills

Software development

Technical architecture

Delivery lifecycle

Incident management

Requirements translation

Tools

Microsoft technology stack

Systems integration

Job description

Here at Whitbread, We’re looking for an experienced Smart Operations Technical Lead to shape and lead the technical direction across our Navigator, housekeeping and automation technology.

This is a senior technical leadership role that brings delivery and architecture together. You’ll oversee the design and technical quality of solutions throughout the full delivery lifecycle, making sure user and operational needs are translated into clear, buildable technical requirements.

Working alongside a Tech Specialist who will focus on detailed implementation, you’ll establish the technical standards and direction required to deliver secure, resilient and supportable technology across our hotel and restaurant operations.

Role:

Technical Lead - SmartOps

Contract Type:

Full time, Permanent

Location:

Whitbread Court, Dunstable (Hybrid, 3 days per week)

Why You’ll Love It Here

• Healthcare: Family BUPA healthcare
• 10% matched pension
• Discounts: Up to 60% discount on Premier Inn stays and 25% discount on our Restaurant brand
• Annual Incentive of up to 30% Bonus

Check out all our benefits here: https://www.whitbreadcareers.com/about-us/benefits/

What you’ll be doing:

You’ll set the technical direction across Navigator, housekeeping and automation, ensuring solutions meet business, user and operational needs. Working closely with product, delivery, architecture and engineering teams, you'll translate requirements into clear technical designs, delivery plans and quality standards.

As the technical lead, you'll oversee the full delivery lifecycle, guiding key architectural decisions, managing technical risks and ensuring solutions are secure, resilient and supportable. You'll also provide technical oversight of systems integration partners and suppliers, while coaching technical colleagues and maintaining high engineering standards. Finally, you'll bridge delivery and architecture, helping resolve complex technical challenges and ensuring solutions are both strategically aligned and practically deliverable.

What you’ll need:

• Deep knowledge of the Microsoft technology stack and experience working across Microsoft-based products, platforms or services.
• Extensive experience in software development, technical architecture, solution design or a closely related technical discipline.
• Experience making or overseeing significant technical and architectural decisions.
• A strong understanding of the development process and the complete technology delivery lifecycle.
• Experience owning and managing major incidents, including stakeholder communications and the restoration of critical services.

Be part of our Technology Team at Whitbread

Through collaboration, passion and hiring the smartest minds, our Technology team builds products and services that are used by 38,000 of us at Whitbread and millions of guests. Everything from an eCommerce website that handles £2 billion in transactions per year, applications that are scalable across our 1,200 hotel and restaurants, devices that enable our teams and guests to have a seamless experience, all whilst keeping data secure. Together we’re building the hotel of the future.