Head of Software Development – Colleague Transformation Programme @ Tesco Technology

Tesco Technology; Kraków; Hybrid; PLN 240,000 - 320,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading retail technology provider is seeking a Head of Software Development in Kraków. This senior role involves managing multiple teams, driving technical strategies, and empowering your engineering managers. Candidates should have extensive experience in enterprise systems and a strong technical background in modern software technologies. This position offers hybrid work and various employee benefits.

Benefits

Permanent contract from the go

Up to 45% yearly salary bonus

Car allowance

Additional 4 days of paid leave

Extensive private healthcare

Cafeteria & Multisport allowance

Learning opportunities

Referral bonus

Optional life insurance

Qualifications

• 15-20 years in developing and managing enterprise scale systems.
• Strong experience in system design and code reviews.
• Familiarity with Agile and Scrum methodologies.

Responsibilities

• Manage other managers and lead engineering teams.
• Drive technical strategy and align teams with business goals.
• Budget owner for your domain, ensuring effective use of resources.

Skills

Managing other managers

Leading design, development and operation of software systems

Designing and running scalable distributed systems

Technical leadership

Java

SpringBoot

React

NodeJS

Kafka

PostgreSQL

Couchbase

Docker

Kubernetes

Jenkins

Azure

DevOps

Communication & Influencing

Job description

You will need

Experience relevant for this job

• Experience of managing other managers.
• Experience leading the design, development and operation of domain areas, comprised of multiple software systems.
• Demonstrated experience designing, developing and running highly‑scalable distributed systems. Experience implementing a range of design and architecture patterns.
• Experience of technical leadership within a team.

Key Technical Skills and Experience

• 15‑20 years of experience in developing and managing enterprise scale systems.
• Proficiency in modern software development technologies, which may include:
• Java, RxJava, SpringBoot
• React and Node JS
• Kafka, PostgreSQL and Couchbase
• Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins, Azure DevOps, Splunk, AppDynamics, New Relic
• Azure Cloud
• Strong experience in system design and code reviews.
• Familiarity with Agile and Scrum methodologies.
• A proven record of accomplishment in delivering technology; having done so across multiple teams in multiple geographies.

Operational skills relevant for this job

• Programming
• System Design
• Development Practise
• Infrastructure Software Security
• Operations and Maintenance
• Core Technology
• Development Lifecycle
• Product Methodologies
• Retail Technology Awareness
• Communication & Influencing

About the role

About The Colleague Transformation Programme

Tesco is the UK’s largest private employer and a world leader in Retail. Securing, managing & optimising colleague data and payroll is a huge operation and gives us great opportunity to create some fantastic propositions for our colleagues. This programme aims to deliver/maintain several systems for our colleagues to create these propositions.

Job Summary

As Head of Software Development at Tesco you hold a senior engineering management role and is the first level at which you manage other managers. You impact positively the teams you lead, the people you manage and the domain you are responsible for, leading the plans to drive the team forward, ensuring a clear sense of purpose and vision. You hire, retain, and engage engineering managers and senior engineering talent. You develop the environment to enable your teams to succeed in delivering and operating quality software, empowering teams to own technical decisions. Comfortable with software economics, you are the budget owner for your domain. You lead and drive the technical strategy for teams you manage, ensuring they are aligned to the wider technology strategy. You are a strong decision maker who can act decisively when required. You work with key stakeholders, ensuring teams deliver the right value.

Key people and teams you’ll work with within and outside of Tesco

• Engineering managers and teams that report to me.
• Technology wide engineering leadership.
• Product leadership for the teams that partner with me.
• Programme teams.
• Key business stakeholders.
• 3rd party engineering, product and programme teams when applicable.

What is in it for you

Hybrid work

We know life looks a little different for each of us. That’s why at Tesco, we always welcome chats about different flexible working options. Some people are at the start of their careers, some want the freedom to do the things they love. Others are going through life‑changing moments like becoming a carer, adapting to parenthood, or something else. So, talk to us throughout your application about how we can support.

This role requires you to be based in or near Kraków, as you will spend 60% (3 days) of your week collaborating with colleagues at our office locations or local sites and the rest remotely.

Benefits

• Permanent contract from the go – as a sign of our trust in your abilities.
• Up to 45% yearly salary bonus – based on both individual and business performance
• Car allowance
• Additional 4 days of paid leave to support your well‑being and family life
• Extensive private healthcare – complex care package including a wide range of specialists, medical services and free flu vaccination
• Cafeteria & Multisport – subsidized MyBenefit cafeteria platform with option to use the funds n multisport card.
• IP Tax Deductible Costs
• Learning opportunities – certified technical training and learning platforms like Udemy
• Referral Bonus – You’ll get 4500 PLN for each colleague you successfully refer to work with us.
• Optional life insurance – wide variety of insurance options from our partner, available optionally at a significant discount

If that sounds exciting, then we'd love to hear from you!

Tesco is committed to celebrating diversity and everyone is welcome at Tesco. As a Disability Confident Employer, we’re committed to providing a fully inclusive and accessible recruitment process, allowing candidates the opportunity to thrive and inform us of any reasonable adjustments they may require.

In this job, I am accountable for

• I am accountable for delivering impact across teams of teams within a directorate, as well as for effecting and leading change across the wider Technology organisation.
• I take responsibility to lead my team with a clear sense of purpose & vision.
• I am a strong decision maker, enabling and protecting the people working within my teams so they can contribute their best.
• I promote a culture of inclusion, autonomy, mastery and delivery through directing, mentoring, coaching and facilitation aligned to the broader technology organisation and Tesco values.
• I ensure all colleagues are supported in their careers, with personal/professional development objectives and through continuous feedback and training.
• I hire, retain, and engage engineering managers and senior engineering talent by creating and framing the right opportunities and challenges.
• I balance organisational needs, current capabilities of my team and technology strategy, owning plans to drive my team forward.
• I build an effective execution process to ensure my teams have awareness of overarching strategy, enabling them to be responsive during planning, development, and operational issues.
• I work with key stakeholders to ensure my teams deliver business value.
• I act decisively when required and am comfortable with managing ambiguity. As the budget owner for my domain, I am comfortable with software economics, deciding when to buy or build a given solution, justify expenditure and manage internal costs.
• I have a good view of engineering process best practice, productivity, and quality metrics.
• I drive continuous improvement of engineering practises, efficiency of development and foster innovation.
• I empower my engineers to own technical decisions whilst providing guidance and am responsible for best practices.

Requirements

• Communication skills
• Azure
• Agile
• SDLC
• Java
• Spring Boot
• React
• Node.js
• Kafka
• Docker
• Kubernetes
• PostgreSQL
• Couchbase Server
• Product development
• DevOps
• New Relic

Additional Benefits

• Private healthcare
• Company car
• Bike parking
• Shower
• Free parking
• In‑house trainings
• Modern office
• Playroom