Senior Manager Digital Domain & Principal Engineering

Odido Nederland; Den Haag; Hybrid; EUR 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Role-based bonus

30 days of annual leave

Hybrid working model

€350 mobile phone voucher

Learning budget

Pension plan

Discounts on Odido services

Bike lease scheme

Gym membership contribution

Various discounts on products and ser-

Job summary

Odido Nederland seeks a Senior Manager Digital & Principal Engineering to lead a team of Principal Software Engineers and shape the technical direction of Digital IT. You will drive modernization across multiple domains, champion engineering excellence and collaborate with senior stakeholders to deliver measurable impact.

You’ll influence a community of 400+ professionals, manage cross-domain initiatives and create an environment that fosters learning and innovation in a technology-driven

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant field and extensive leadership experience.
• Approximately 15 years of relevant work experience with line-management.
• Proven track record in leading senior technical professionals and shaping architecture.
• Strong software engineering and architectural expertise across modern practices.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop technical leaders, coaching Principal Software Engineers.
• Drive modernization, reduce debt and improve engineering maturity.
• Shape engineering principles and operating model for Digital IT.
• Drive cross-domain innovations and AI-enabled productivity.
• Influence senior stakeholders and align technical strategy with business goals.

Skills

.NET

C#

Java

JavaScript/TypeScript

Node.js

React

Go

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Strategic thinking

Education

Master’s degree (WO) in Computer Science, Software Engineering or equivalent

Tools

.NET

C#

Java

JavaScript/TypeScript

Job description

This Is What You Will Do

At Odido, we connect with millions of people every day. Behind those connections is a complex technology landscape that we're continuously transforming. Our ambition goes beyond being a leading telecom provider. We're building engineering capabilities, digital experiences and culture that will help us evolve into a true technology-driven company. Within Digital IT, we've wanted to accelerate this further. Now it's time to accelerate. Modernizing our technology, refreshing our existing IT environment, reducing technical debt, embracing AI and creating an engineering culture where innovation and quality go hand in hand. As Senior Manager Digital & Principal Engineering, you'll lead a team of highly experienced Principal Software Engineers who help shape the technical direction of our digital organization. Not simply to manage what's already there, but to question assumptions, connect perspectives and inspire meaningful change. Challenging the status quo in a pleasant way is your second nature. This is a role for someone who understands that real leadership isn't about having all the answers. It's about bringing together the people who can find better ones. You are able to give directions to real leaders.

The Role

You’ll be responsible for advancing engineering excellence, cross-domain innovation and technical modernization across Digital IT.

Leading a team of approximately 5–6 Principal Software Engineers, your influence will extend far beyond your direct reports. You’ll help shape the engineering direction of a community of more than 400 professionals, working across multiple domains, technologies and teams. You’ll be part of the management team of Digital IT, report into the Head of Digital IT, and work closely with the wider leadership team within Digital IT and the rest of Odido.

Your challenge is to turn technical vision into practical progress, while creating an environment where experienced engineers continue to learn, challenge and inspire one another.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Lead and develop technical leaders. Coach, challenge and inspire our Principal Software Engineers, helping them grow their influence and strengthen engineering practices across Digital IT.
• Create impact. You’ll drive special technical changes and are able to drive across the entire business.
• Shape engineering excellence. Establish and evolve engineering principles, practices and an operating model that improves quality, scalability, consistency and delivery.
• Drive modernization. Lead cross-domain initiatives that reduce technical debt, modernize legacy technology and strengthen our digital foundations.
• Accelerate innovation. Explore how emerging technologies, data, automation and Generative AI can improve engineering productivity, customer experiences and business performance.
• Connect architecture and engineering. Translate strategic ambitions into technical direction, aligning engineering decisions across domains while maintaining security, resilience and architectural integrity.
• Influence beyond your own team. Work with senior leadership, architects, engineers and business stakeholders to challenge existing approaches, build alignment and turn ideas into measurable results.
• Build a lasting engineering culture. Encourage knowledge sharing, technical ownership and continuous improvement, creating an environment where engineering talent can thrive.

The Team

You’ll join Digital IT, reporting directly to the Head of Digital IT. Your team consists of highly experienced Principal Software Engineers who provide technical leadership across our digital domains. Together, you’ll help advance our engineering practices, strengthen cross-domain collaboration and accelerate the modernization of Odido's technology landscape. You’ll work closely with engineering managers, architects, product leaders and senior stakeholders across IT and the wider business. This is a highly visible leadership role with significant influence on the future of Digital IT and Odido's broader technology transformation.

At Odido, we believe in people. We personally review every application, without keyword filters or automated AI hiring decisions. That’s why we’d appreciate a short motivation explaining why this specific role connects with your experience and ambitions. And short means short and personal; We do not hire your AI (yet)

We’re Especially Interested In Three Things

• How your career has shaped your perspective on the connection between customers, business and technology.
• An example of when you challenged an established technical or organizational approach and helped people see a different possibility.
• What makes your leadership style recognizably yours, beyond the theories and methodologies found in management books.

No lengthy motivation letters or AI-generated biographies, please. We’d rather get to know the person behind the CV.

We’re not necessarily looking for the most traditional candidate. We’re looking for someone who can help us think differently, lead naturally and make things happen.

Together we are

We want to become the most human-centred telecom provider in the Netherlands. That might sound odd from an IT or network role, but that’s exactly where it starts. Because without stable systems, a reliable network and smart technology there’s no conversation, no connection, no trust. You make sure everything runs, even when nobody notices. And that’s precisely the point. Even if the customer doesn’t see you, your impact is felt in every conversation, every connection and every moment it just works. Because when the technology is solid, people can work, customers can be helped, and trust is built.

This Is What We Stand For

At Odido we’re there for each other. We see each other’s talents. We listen and always look at what’s possible, technically, personally and in the way we work together. Because you’re at your best when you can grow, Odido gives you all the space you need for that. Together we look at where your ambition and talent lie and make sure you get the opportunities to grow in your own way, whether that’s deeper technical specialisation, a broader architect role, or a step towards tech leadership.

What We Offer

At Odido, you build and manage critical infrastructure at a national scale; ensuring reliability, performance, and security for millions of customers. You work on technology that truly matters, with a direct impact on how our network and IT services perform every day.

In return, we offer a competitive salary and a well-balanced total rewards package, including:

• A role-based bonus aligned with your performance;
• 30 days of annual leave (full-time), plus an extra day off after Ascension Day;
• Hybrid working model: 3 days in the office and 2 days from home;
• A €350 voucher to choose your own mobile phone; yours to keep;
• A personal learning budget and access to more than 200 training courses;
• Solid pension plan through Zwitserleven;
• Discounts on your Odido Internet & TV or Klik & Klaar subscription;
• A bike lease scheme for sustainable commuting;
• Employer contribution to your gym membership;
• Access to a wide range of discounts on products and services.

We work together to deliver stable, scalable, and future-proof technology; and we celebrate the impact we make.

In short: you build what keeps us running, your work is visible, and you’re supported to keep growing.

You bring this

Some things you cannot learn at university, but you possess them by nature. You’re curious, authentic and comfortable challenging conventional thinking. You naturally connect with people, recognize potential in others and know when to listen, when to question and when to provide direction. You don’t need to be the loudest person in the room to have influence. Your credibility comes from your knowledge, your actions and the trust you build. You enjoy working with people who know more than you do about certain subjects. In fact, that’s exactly what makes leadership interesting to you. You combine technical depth with commercial awareness and understand that great engineering isn’t an end. It should ultimately make life better for customers, colleagues and the business.

You Bring The Following Experience And Expertise

• A Master’s degree (WO) in Computer Science, Software Engineering or equivalent experience, combined with approximately 15 years of relevant experience, including substantial line-management responsibility, formal management experience is a must.
• Strong conceptual understanding of technology, as well as commercial aspects, combined with good creative skills.
• Demonstrated experience leading, coaching and developing senior technical professionals, ideally Principal Engineers, architects or other technical leaders or management teams.
• Strong software engineering and architectural expertise, with practical understanding of modern development practices, distributed systems, integration, automation and cloud technologies.
• Broad technical knowledge across technologies such as .NET, C#, Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Node.js, React or Go, with the ability to challenge and guide architectural and engineering decisions.
• Experience driving technology modernization, reducing technical debt and improving engineering maturity in complex organizations.
• An understanding of AI, data-driven engineering, security principles and how emerging technologies can create business value.
• A credible track record in influencing senior stakeholders (preferably on C-level/board level). The ability to influence senior stakeholders, connect technical strategy with commercial objectives and lead transformation across organizational boundaries.
• Good understanding of the Dutch IT market, as well as a good understanding of the Dutch labor market.

You will be our ideal candidate when…

• You've worked in a large-scale, technology-driven environment where engineering quality, operational stability and customer experience are equally important.
• Experience in telecommunications or similarly complex, high-volume digital environments would be valuable. However, we are looking for someone who understands we don’t want to be copy-cats, but someone who brings fresh ideas in from other industries (e.g. banking, finance).
• You understand how to introduce engineering standards without creating unnecessary bureaucracy, how to challenge experienced professionals without diminishing their expertise, and how to create change that people genuinely want to be part of.
• You believe that technical excellence starts with the passion and creativity of people.

When do you fit (and when do you not)?

• Even though we have many different colleagues, we look for a few typical Odido traits in every new team member. You need to be able to handle a changing organisation. The world of communications changes every day, and we need to grow along with it. Being naturally curious and interested in the technology we work with and the industry we’re in helps enormously.