Director of Software Engineering

If you love beauty, you’re in the right place.

As the ultimate curator of over 100 of the most in-demand, highly innovative and boundary-pushing beauty brands, we are the go-to destination for worldwide beauty discovery.

Together through our neighbourhood stores, online presence and loyalty scheme, Space NK has built a flourishing community in which to discover beauty. The customer is at the heart of everything we do, and we will always endeavour to offer everything they need to help them explore, experiment, and enjoy our brands.

Director of Software Engineering FTC | Space NK, Capper Street, London

Job title: Director of Software Engineering FTC

Reports to: Chief Technology Officer

Location: London/hybrid remote

Fixed Term Contract until August 2027

Role Overview

The Director of Software Engineering is responsible for leading and evolving Space NK's software engineering capability across customer facing and enterprise technology platforms. This role provides strategic and operational leadership for multiple engineering teams covering Ecommerce, Mobile App, Loyalty, ERP, POS, WMS integrations and Quality Engineering (SDET).

The role is accountable for delivering secure, scalable and resilient technology solutions that support Space NK's digital growth, retail operations and business transformation initiatives. The Director of Software Engineering will work closely with Product, Data, Architecture, Infrastructure, Security and Business stakeholders to define technology strategy, improve engineering maturity and ensure successful delivery of key programmes.

As a senior technology leader, the role plays a critical part in shaping engineering culture, attracting and developing talent, driving innovation and embedding modern software engineering practices across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities:

· Engineering Leadership:

o Lead multiple engineering teams across Ecommerce, Mobile App, Loyalty, Enterprise Systems and Quality Engineering.

o Establish a high-performance engineering culture focused on ownership, accountability, continuous improvement and delivery excellence.

o Build and develop engineering managers and technical leaders, creating succession and career development pathways.

o Foster collaboration across Technology and business functions to ensure alignment on priorities and outcomes.

· Technology Strategy & Delivery:

o Define and execute software engineering strategy aligned to Space NK's wider technology roadmap and business objectives.

o Oversee the delivery of software development initiatives across customer-facing and enterprise platforms.

o Ensure solutions are scalable, secure, maintainable and aligned with architectural standards.

o Support major transformation initiatives including ERP, POS, WMS, Ecommerce and Loyalty platform evolution.

o Drive adoption of modern engineering practices, tooling and automation.

· Customer & Digital Platforms:

o Lead engineering delivery for the Ecommerce platform, Mobile Application and Loyalty ecosystem.

o Partner with Product and Digital teams to improve customer experience, conversion, engagement and retention.

o Ensure digital platforms deliver high levels of availability, performance and security.

· Enterprise Engineering:

o Oversee engineering capabilities supporting ERP, POS and WMS integrations.

o Ensure enterprise applications and integrations support operational efficiency, business scalability and data consistency.

o Collaborate with business stakeholders to identify opportunities for automation and process optimisation.

· Quality Engineering & Platform Excellence:

o Lead the Software Development Engineer in Test (SDET) function and quality engineering strategy.

o Embed quality throughout the software development lifecycle using automation, shift-left testing and continuous validation practices.

o Drive DevOps maturity, CI/CD adoption and engineering productivity improvements.

· Delivery & Governance:

o Establish effective governance, planning and prioritisation processes across engineering teams.

o Manage engineering budgets, resource planning and third-party delivery partners where required.

o Ensure compliance with security, privacy, regulatory and risk management requirements.

o Monitor delivery performance through appropriate metrics and continuous improvement initiatives.

· Stakeholder Management:

o Act as a trusted technology partner to business and executive stakeholders.

o Communicate engineering priorities, risks, dependencies and progress to senior leadership.

o Build strong relationships across Product, Operations, Retail, Supply Chain, Finance and external technology partners.

Qualifications, Knowledge, and Experience:

· Essential:

o Significant experience leading large-scale software engineering organisations within retail, ecommerce or similar customer-centric industries.

o Proven experience managing multiple engineering teams through engineering managers and technical leads.

o Strong understanding of modern software engineering practices including Agile, DevOps, CI/CD and cloud-native development.

o Experience delivering customer-facing digital platforms including ecommerce, web, mobile and loyalty solutions.

o Experience leading enterprise engineering teams supporting ERP, POS, WMS and integration platforms.

o Strong understanding of software architecture, APIs, integration patterns and distributed systems.

o Demonstrable experience driving engineering transformation, organisational maturity and cultural change.

o Experience managing technology budgets, suppliers and outsourced delivery partners.

o Excellent communication, stakeholder management and leadership skills.

· Desirable:

o Experience within retail, luxury retail or omnichannel commerce organisations.

o Knowledge of Microsoft Azure and modern cloud platforms.

o Experience with Salesforce Commerce Cloud, retail POS systems, ERP modernisation programmes or warehouse management solutions.

o Familiarity with data driven engineering approaches and platform engineering practices.

o Experience supporting mergers, acquisitions or large scale transformation programmes.

Please note that only successful candidates will be contacted.

All applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK.

If you want to find out more about us, what it is like to work for us, all about our benefits, and our pledges on Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging, please visit our website.

Space NK are an equal opportunities employer.

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Please note that our current system does not use an automated filtering system.

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