Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering Department: Platform Engineering Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time Location: Milton Keynes Compensation: £95,000 / year Description Here’s what you need to know about Kinetic At Kinetic, we’re redefining operational excellence in higher education, conferencing, and events. As the leading provider of software solutions for student accommodation, event management, catering, and residential services, we help institutions streamline operations, elevate customer experiences, and unlock their full potential. With over 25 years of experience and trusted by more than 350 institutions worldwide, our software empowers universities and venues to run smarter, faster, and more collaboratively. From bustling campuses to dynamic corporate environments, our technology adapts to the rhythm of each organisation — helping them thrive in a fast-changing world. But we’re more than just software. We’re a team of passionate problem-solvers, innovators, and collaborators who care deeply about our customers and each other. Our culture is built on empowerment, community, and continuous growth. We believe in giving people the tools, support, and freedom to do their best work — and have fun while doing it. Joining Kinetic means being part of a purpose-driven business where your ideas matter, your development is supported, and your impact is real. If you’re ready to help shape the future of operational technology in education and events, we’d love to meet you. What will I be bringing to life in this role? We're seeking an exceptional Head of Engineering to lead our core product engineering organisation through a period of significant transformation and growth. This role will provide strategic and operational leadership across all development teams, quality assurance, and cloud operations as we execute our ambitious SaaS migration and AI enablement roadmap over the next 18-24 months. As Head of Engineering, you'll be responsible for building and leading high-performing teams that deliver world‑class software solutions to the higher education sector while navigating the complexity of multi‑cloud operations (Azure/AWS/GCP), PCI/DSS ISO27001 and GDPR compliance requirements, and the unique challenges of migrating established customers to new platforms without disruption. Key Responsibilities Team Leadership & Organisational Development (70%) Engineering Leadership Lead, mentor, and develop engineering managers and technical leads across multiple product development teams Build and maintain a strong engineering culture focused on quality, innovation, continuous improvement, and customer‑centricity Drive talent acquisition strategy and build teams capable of delivering on our SaaS and AI transformation objectives Establish clear career progression frameworks and development pathways for engineers at all levels Foster collaboration and knowledge sharing across product teams and with other departments Outsourced QA Management Own the relationship with our outsourced QA partner, ensuring quality standards, delivery excellence, and value optimisation Define quality metrics and SLAs that align with our product delivery cadence and customer expectations Integrate QA processes seamlessly within agile development workflows across all product teams Drive continuous improvement in test automation coverage and quality engineering practices Cloud Operations & SRE Transition Lead the evolution of the cloud operations team into a product‑aligned Site Reliability Engineering function Champion the adoption of Infrastructure as Code practices across all environments and further uses AI technologies to automate provisioning and self‑healing platform services Integrate SRE principles into product teams, establishing service level objectives and error budgets Drive the operational excellence agenda while balancing development velocity with system reliability Cross‑Functional Collaboration Partner closely with Product Management teams, CTO, and business stakeholders to align engineering delivery with business priorities Collaborate with Sales, Customer Experience, Professional Services, and Implementation teams to ensure smooth customer transitions to new platforms Work with Information Security and Compliance team to embed security‑by‑design principles into development processes Engage with Strategic Partners to enable successful platform integrations and ecosystem development Technical Leadership (30%) SaaS Transformation Provide technical vision and architectural guidance for the migration from on‑premise and hosted solutions to true multi‑tenant SaaS delivery models Champion best practices in cloud‑native development, microservices architecture, API design and AI Software Engineering methodologies Ensure technical decisions support scalability, security, and operational efficiency in a SaaS context Drive standardisation of technology stacks and development practices across product teams where appropriate AI Engineering Enablement Guide the integration of AI capabilities across our product portfolio Establish engineering practices and infrastructure to support responsible AI development and deployment Build technical capability within teams to leverage AI/ML technologies effectively Ensure AI implementations meet regulatory requirements and ethical standards for the education sector Platform Modernisation & Customer Migration Oversee the technical strategy for migrating existing customers to new products and platforms working in alignment with our AI development teams Ensure backward compatibility and data integrity throughout migration processes Drive technical excellence in areas critical to our transformation: API development, data migration tooling, integration frameworks Balance innovation with the stability required to maintain service to 700,000+ student bedrooms Technical Standards & Excellence Set and maintain engineering standards for code quality, security, testing, and documentation Drive adoption of modern software development practices including CI/CD, automated testing, and observability Champion technical debt management and strategic refactoring initiatives Ensure compliance with ISO27001, GDPR, PCI/DSS and sector‑specific requirements (e.g., HECVAT) Key Focus Areas: First 18‑24 Months Enablement Plan Delivery : Drive engineering execution against our strategic enablement roadmap, ensuring teams have the capabilities, tools, and processes to deliver on SaaS and AI objectives SaaS Migration Excellence : Oversee the technical and operational aspects of our SaaS transformation, ensuring reliable, secure, and scalable delivery models Customer Transition Success : Ensure smooth migration of existing customers to new products without service disruption, maintaining our reputation for reliability Team Evolution : Build organisational capability through strategic hiring, development programs, and the integration of cloud operations into product‑aligned SRE teams AI Engineering Maturity : Establish the foundations for AI‑enhanced products, including development practices, infrastructure, and team capabilities Operational Excellence : Drive improvements in deployment frequency, lead time, change failure rate, and MTTR while maintaining ISO27001 compliance What will I need to hit the ground running? Required Experience SaaS Leadership : Proven track record of leading engineering organisations delivering enterprise SaaS applications at scale, OR successfully leading the transformation of on‑premise/hosted solutions to SaaS delivery models Engineering Leadership : 8+ years in software engineering with at least 4 years in senior leadership roles managing multiple teams and engineering managers Team Building : Demonstrated success building, scaling, and developing high‑performing engineering organisations of 30+ engineers Technical Depth : Strong technical foundation with hands‑on experience in cloud platforms (Azure, AWS and/or GCP), modern development practices, and enterprise software architecture Complex Migrations : Experience managing large‑scale platform migrations and customer transitions with minimal disruption Continuous improvement in test automation coverage and quality engineering practices Highly Desirable Experience in highly regulated industries (education, financial services, healthcare) with compliance requirements Track record of integrating AI/ML capabilities into production software systems Experience with multi‑cloud architectures and operations Background in enterprise software serving the education sector or similar mission‑critical domains Experience with multi‑region deployments and international customer bases Understanding of API‑first architecture and platform ecosystem development Experience of AI development methodologies in legacy and new product development Leadership Qualities Strategic Thinking : Ability to translate business strategy into executable engineering roadmaps Change Leadership : Proven ability to lead organisations through significant transformation while maintaining team morale and productivity Stakeholder Management : Excellent communication and relationship‑building skills with technical and non‑technical stakeholders at all levels Data‑Driven : Uses metrics and evidence to drive decisions, measure progress, and demonstrate value Customer Focus : Deep commitment to delivering value to customers and understanding their needs Collaboration : Natural collaborator who builds trust across organisational boundaries Resilience : Comfortable with ambiguity and able to navigate complex technical and organisational challenges Integrity : Strong ethical foundation and commitment to doing what's right for customers, team, and company Technical Environment Cloud Platforms : Multi‑cloud environment (Microsoft Azure, AWS and GCP) Scale : 700...