Head of Engineering - Operations

Description

The company is UW, a utilities provider that puts energy, broadband, mobile and insurance in one place with a single bill. It is aiming to double in size.

You will bridge engineering and business strategy to build resilient, high-performing systems for the operational side of the business.

You will report directly to the Chief Technology Officer and work closely with the Operations Directors. You will lead the engineering teams behind end-to-end customer journeys, billing, payments, collections and customer services.

You will also work with peers in Commercial, Product, Operations, Finance and Customer Support to line up technical roadmaps with business priorities.

Martyna Zbyszewska is your point of contact throughout recruitment.

The company is remote-first, and a few days in the London office may be valuable for People Leaders joining, to support collaboration and team connection.

Not sure you meet every requirement? Apply anyway. Research suggests women and members of other underrepresented groups often skip applications they could have succeeded in.

The company is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applicants of any age, disability, gender, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy or maternity status, race, religion or belief, or sexual orientation. Ask about any support you need; requests are considered carefully and fairly.

Responsibilities

• Own and deliver the technical strategy and roadmap for operational systems, tied directly to business priorities.
• Guide and approve architecture decisions, and make build-versus-buy calls based on Total Cost of Ownership.
• Lead the development, delivery, standards and architecture of customer-facing AI and agentic services.
• Make sure engineering teams deliver high-quality, valuable work at a steady, sustainable pace.
• Set Service Level Objectives (SLOs) and use data to measure and improve the impact of your teams on customers and the business.
• Lead up to 6 direct reports, set clear expectations, recognise good work, deal with performance issues quickly, and give teams the context they need to make decisions.
• Oversee headcount, forecasting and budgets for your engineering area.

Requirements

• Proven ability to lead, inspire and grow large teams of up to 6 direct reports, including Senior Engineering Managers and Engineering Managers, while driving high engagement and performance.
• Skill at cutting through complexity to simplify things, using Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as a main measure in build-versus-buy decisions.
• Demonstrable experience taking customer-facing AI or LLM-based agentic services into production, with a clear view of where automation helps and where humans must stay involved.
• Deep commitment to good engineering practice, including agile, TDD, continuous delivery, microservices, event-driven architecture, domain-driven design and operability.
• Enough hands-on knowledge of Go, React, Kubernetes, Terraform and AWS to guide architectures built on them.
• Experience in energy, telecoms, payments, insurance or finance is ideal but not essential.
• Data-led decision making, and strong skill at building relationships and influencing stakeholders across the business.

Conditions

Remote-first model, with some time in the London office anticipated.

Salary is competitive, benchmarked against the industry, and shared openly in the first conversation.

Holiday: 25 days plus bank holidays, rising with tenure, with the option to trade up to five days each year.

Benefits

• Annual discretionary performance bonus of 15-40%.
• Work abroad for up to three weeks, twice every tax year.
• Matched-contribution pension scheme and life assurance of up to 4x salary.
• Policies designed to support you and your family.
• Allowance for private health insurance, dental insurance or gym membership.
• Dedicated learning and development budget and bi-annual promotion cycles.
• Discounts on the company's services and a free Cashback Card.
• Belonging groups that help shape company culture.
• Company-wide celebrations, including the Great Big Get Together and the Good Hearted Go-Getter Awards.