Head of Engineering
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The Head of Engineering presides over the entire Frontend and Backend development teams, reporting directly to the Director Engineering. He drives the vision, design, strategy, and implementation of integrated web systems in order to support the business. The Head of Engineering leads the development teams and collaborates with other business departments in sales, marketing, and finance in order to roll out new web systems and implement the ongoing process improvements of the current systems.
The Head of Engineering keeps up with new technologies and identifies correct schema for the sites/software in development. This leader has a strong vision for the department and promotes the best organizational patterns and practices. He tackles high-level challenges and balances quality software with speed. He is responsible for feature deployment, stability of the business’s core platform stability, and the overall quality of the business’s web architecture.
Objectives and Responsibilities of the Head of Engineering
Supervisory/Leadership Role: The Head of Engineering plays a leadership role in the engineering department where he seeks excellence in all engineering disciplines inclusive of data processing, quality assurance, application development, analytics, machine learning, algorithms, and data warehousing.
In this position, the Head of Engineering manages the day-to-day activities of the engineering teams as well as the management and execution of site/software development projects against delivery commitments and project plans. The Head of Engineering is also in charge of the management of the department’s staffing, resources, and mentoring, and maintaining a best-in-class engineering department.
The Head of Engineering leads the engineering team in the delivery of platform functionality through a mix of development software and helps the team in achieving and surpassing departmental goals. He provides technical guidance and direction, as well as hands-on resource and project management, for all site/software development activities.
He takes the lead with a profound understanding of new and relevant technologies for the purpose of realizing efficiency. He ensures the optimal application of engineering resources in order to meet product development and consumer requirements and ensures the implementation of agile processes that support site/software development processes.
The Head of Engineering plays a leading role in the recruiting activities of the engineering department in order to ensure consistency in departmental efficiency. The Head of Engineering plays a mentorship role to key engineering personnel, assisting in their duties upon request, and constantly promoting the growth of their professional skills, readying them for the assumption of his duties in his absence or retirement.
Strategy: The Head of Engineering also plays a leading engineering role within the department where he is tasked with the planning, management, execution and implementation of site/software projects, inclusive of the day-to-day project management, scope management, issue and risk management, as well as regular status reporting.
In this capacity, the Head of Engineering develops strategic plans with regard to the technical development of sites/software and establishes the business’s technical vision that guides all aspects of technological development. He also oversees the strategic deployment of the departmental resources leading to optimal resource allocation and the smooth and successful development of sites/software.
The Head of Engineering, at this capacity is responsible for the overall system development life-cycle.
Collaboration and Support: The role of the Head of Engineering is also a highly collaborative one. The Head of Engineering will work closely with senior engineering teams in the management and development of strategic planning. He will also work closely with the user experience department in designing, developing, and deploying scalable technologies that will lead to increased consumer satisfaction.
The Head of Engineering also works with senior engineering management in ensuring that systems meet the overall business requirements and standards. The Head of Engineering will also report on status of site/software development, operations, quality, and system performance to senior engineering leadership.
Knowledge: The Head of Engineering stays abreast of leading and cutting-edge technologies and industry best practices. He absorbs relevant and suitable technology based on the projected benefits to the engineering development departments.
Other Duties: The Head of Engineering performs similar duties as he deems necessary for the proper execution of his duties and duties as delegated by the Director Engineer, Chief Technology Officer, or the Employer.
Required Qualifications of the Head of Engineering
Education: The Head of Engineering has to have a master’s degree (Phd preferred) in Computer Science or any other relevant field. An equivalent of the same in working experience is also acceptable for this position.
Experience: A candidate for this position must also have had at least 7 years of working experience in a senior frontend or backend development position, preferably working as Senior Frontend Developer or a Lead Backend Developer. He will have had vast experience in software engineering, site/software development and experience working with numerous software-industry business models inclusive of subscription, ecommerce, support and fulfillment.
He will also have a demonstrated experience in the management of a frontend or backend team through cross-functional projects and recording project progress. The candidate will also have a proven track-record of consistent project delivery, and designing and developing complex, interactive consumer sites/software.
He will also have had vast experience building consumer and developer facing products and services as well as the deployment of APIs. A suitable candidate will further have had vast experience in agile development practices and architectural knowledge of web-based and backend technologies.
Communication Skills: Communication skills both in written and verbal form are imperative for the Head of Engineering. He will need to have exceptionally good communication skills in his leadership position where the clarity of his communications to junior engineering personnel will determine the success or failure of sites/software within the business.
The Head of Engineering also plays a highly collaborative role where clarity in his communications will largely determine the effectiveness and efficiency with which cross-functional duties are executed. Communication skills will also be necessary in the drafting of progress reports for senior engineering management, which must be clear, concise, comprehensive, and easy-to-understand.
Technology/Software: The Head of Engineering, like his juniors, must be technologically adept and demonstrate outstanding computer skills. He will possess an innate understanding of data modeling and SQL for scalability and performance as well as a strong JavaScript, XHTML, CSS, and MVC framework.
The Head of Engineering must also demonstrate an expertise in full stack architecture technologies and be highly familiar with Javascript, Ruby, Rails, RDBMs, and HTML5 as well as knowledge of a variety of programming languages such as Java, Objective C, C, and C++.
Interpersonal Skills: A candidate for this position will also possess certain personal attributes. The candidate will be consumer and result-oriented, be a creative and strategic thinker, work comfortably in a highly collaborative environment, and will work comfortably in a constantly evolving environment.
He must also have a keen eye for detail, have a constant and insatiable trust for knowledge, and have an ability to remain calm and composed in times of uncertainty and stress, inspiring the same in his peers and juniors.
Leadership/People Skills: The candidate must also demonstrate outstanding leadership skills, having an ability to move a cross-functional group in a unified direction and with a common vision. He will also be a likable and relatable individual who is able to make meaningful and lasting connections with others. He will also be able to inspire confidence in others, making it easy for them to trust in his insights, directives, and judgments.
