Director of Engineering

Director of Product Engineering (Life Science IT)

Location: London (Hybrid 2-3 days per week in the office)

Regular international travel to India is required

Reporting to: CTO

Overview

We are seeking an accomplished Director of Engineering to lead and scale our engineering organisation within a high-growth, health-focused environment. This is a rare opportunity to shape the future of technology platforms that support critical healthcare services while driving operational excellence across distributed teams in the UK and India.

This role requires a rare blend of deep technical expertise, organisational leadership, and business partnership. You will operate as a senior technical authority, a people leader, and a trusted partner to the business-capable of shaping architecture, driving delivery across multiple initiatives, and building strong day-to-day relationships with senior stakeholders.

You will be joining a high-growth organisation that requires the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced, evolving environment with increasing scale and complexity.

The successful candidate will be a strategic leader, technical authority, and business partner capable of delivering secure, scalable, and compliant systems. You will operate at the intersection of architecture, delivery, and organisational leadership, influencing senior stakeholders and guiding high-performing teams to success.

Key Responsibilities:

Leadership & Delivery

Lead multiple engineering teams across the UK and India, delivering complex initiatives in parallel

Own end-to-end delivery across multiple projects, ensuring alignment, prioritisation, and predictability

Establish robust operating models for distributed teams and multiple workstreams

Drive clarity on dependencies, timelines, and outcomes to senior leadershipTechnical Leadership

Define architecture and platform strategy across mobile (Flutter), web (Next.js), and backend (Node.js, Python)

Lead and optimise AWS cloud infrastructure for scalability, resilience, and cost efficiency

Champion best practices in microservices, API-first design, DevOps, CI/CD, and infrastructure as code

Provide hands-on architectural guidance and challenge technical decisions as neededProduct & Business Partnership

Partner closely with Product and business leaders to translate priorities into actionable delivery plans.

Working closely with Heads of Product, Data, Security, Customer Experience & The COO

Advise on feasibility, trade-offs, and timelines with clarity and influence

Ensure engineering output aligns with business value and measurable user outcomesPeople & Culture

Build, mentor, and retain high-performing engineering teams across geographies

Develop engineering managers and technical leads, establishing clear ownership and accountability

Foster a cohesive, collaborative culture with consistent standards and ways of workingDelivery & Compliance

Oversee the delivery of secure, compliant healthcare systems

Ensure adherence to data privacy, security, and regulatory standards

Track and report engineering metrics, including quality, reliability, and performance

Requirements:

Experience

10+ years in software engineering, with 3-5 years in senior leadership roles

Proven track record in managing multiple teams or pods delivering in parallel

Hands-on engineering or architectural experience

Experience leading high-performing teams and partnering with Product and business stakeholders

Experience in regulated industries (healthcare is preferred)

Demonstrated success scaling teams, processes, and systems in fast-growth organisationsTechnical Skills

Deep knowledge of modern software architecture (cloud, microservices, APIs)

Experience with Flutter (mobile), Next.js (web), Node.js/Python (backend)

Extensive AWS cloud expertise

Ability to provide strategic guidance and challenge teams on design, scalability, and implementationLeadership Profile

A Hybrid leader: strategic, technical, and people-focused

Strong communicator capable of influencing senior stakeholders and distributed teams

Comfortable navigating ambiguity and driving clarity across complex programmesSuccess Metrics

High-performing pods delivering consistently against goals

Trusted partnerships with Product and business stakeholders

Cohesive, scalable AWS-based platform

Engaged, high-performing teams across the UK and India

Predictable delivery and clear technical direction

In Return

You will receive a market-leading salary of up to £150,000 plus generous company benefits and a forward-thinking and fast-growing business for you to excel in