Head of Software Engineering - Platform and Product Engineering

Head of Software Engineering - Platform Evolution and Product Engineering

Up to £160,000 per annum plus bonus

London - Hybrid - 3 days a week in the office

Head of Software Engineering - A well-established UK tech company with millions of users is looking for a Head of Software Engineering to shape the next phase of its platform evolution at a time of significant growth for the business. This is a senior leadership role focused on enabling product teams through strong architectural direction, modern platform capabilities and pragmatic technical strategy.

Working closely with executive stakeholders across Product and Technology, the Head of Software Engineering will lead 7 teams evolving core domains and APIs that power multiple product teams, helping the organisation scale sustainably while increasing engineering velocity.

Head of Software Engineering role

The Head of Software Engineering sits at the heart of platform strategy and engineering effectiveness. You will be responsible for building foundations that improve product throughput, reduce duplication and allow teams to experiment faster - while modernising legacy architecture through safe, incremental change.

The business is investing heavily in AI and data driven capabilities, and you will play a key role in embedding an AI forward mindset into how platforms are built and operated.

Key Responsibilities

• Define and evolve platform architecture, core services, and shared domains used across product teams.
• Improve engineering throughput by simplifying systems and reducing complexity as the organisation scales.
• Lead the incremental evolution of monolithic systems into modern, flexible architectures.
• Partner with senior leadership to communicate technical trade offs in clear, business focused language.
• Enable growth across users, teams, and product lines through scalable platform design.
• Foster a high agency culture focused on measurable outcomes rather than process overhead.
• Support the adoption of AI capabilities across the engineering ecosystem.

What We're Looking For

• Strong architectural judgement with hands on technical credibility.
• Experience building or evolving platforms within scaling technology environments.
• A growth oriented mindset, viewing technology decisions through a commercial and product lens.
• Confidence operating at executive level, influencing senior stakeholders with clarity and pragmatism.
• A strategic thinker who understands how platform choices shape long term product capability and delivery speed.
• A leader who challenges assumptions, makes difficult decisions and operates close to the work.

What Success Looks Like

• Platform improvements directly increase engineering velocity and product delivery.
• Growth in teams and users does not create disproportionate technical complexity.
• Architectural modernisation that happens safely and incrementally.
• Technical decisions are transparent and grounded in measurable outcomes.
• Executive stakeholders clearly understand trade offs and direction.

This is an amazing opportunity for a technically strong Head of Software Engineering to join a well-established technology at a moment of exciting growth. Please reply with your CV or call Simon for more details.

Burns Sheehan Ltd will consider applications based only on skills and ability and will not discriminate on any grounds.