Head of Technology
Better Placed Tech have partnered with a well-known 60m turnover eCommerce business based in Surrey, that currently employs over 150 people. They are looking to capitalise on two record years to drive their digital offering both in the Uk and globally. To fuel this growth they are seeking a proven Technical lead to take up a newly created role within the business. The business is very stable and cash rich meaning all of their growth has been organic and self-funded, the intention is to continue this expansion without outside investment.
The Role
The newly created Head of Technology role will allow the successful candidate to truly make their mark on the business with full autonomy given to guide the future tech direction in terms of tools, recruitment and strategy. The business already has an outstanding reputation across the globe being voted "Best Online Engagement" 5 times in a row and a huge following on YouTube with many videos often exceeding over 1 million views. The business wants to leverage this following and turn more of these visits and engagements into sales and subscriptions by harnessing the power of technology.
Core Responsibilities
- Define or identify all core eCommerce technologies in order to scale
- Manage tech budget and be accountable for scoping and delivery of roadmap
- Overall management of the dev function - an understanding of code (ideally, you'll be from a dev background)
- Act as technical lead on the roll out of IT and tech solutions which support the eCommerce operation across all business functions (e.g WMS & ERP systems)
- Responsible for recruitment and scaling the internal dev and IT teams
The Person
- You'll be strong technically and ideally come from a Head of IT, Head of software Development or Senior PM background with a sound understanding with eCommerce
- A good track record of person management and knowledge of software development
- Stakeholder management experience that will allow you to confidently present technology solutions to non-technical team members
- Able to balance hands-on input with bigger picture thinking, and understand where solutions should be externalised vs where our internal team adds most value.
- A commercial thinker with proven ability to balance operational risk/requirements with technology innovation
Nice to Have
- Previous experience of defining and delivering a technology or digital transformation strategy & roadmap and managing a technology budget is highly desirable
- Experience of implementing DevOps practices/infrastructure and working with Agile software delivery teams would be a bonus
- A passion for music would help but not essential!
Current Tech Stack / Products
You will be joining partway through a fast-paced and exciting digital transformation journey where technology agility is seen as the main way of unlocking the potential of our brand.
Their current tech landscape features a range of specialist software products and back-office systems, some of which are mature and some of which are recently integrated. Notable components include their ecommerce platform (HCL Commerce - formerly IBM Websphere Commerce), Zendesk, and specialised ERP software.
Their initial priority is to "go headless" by building a newly-designed PWA website storefront. They're using an isomorphic (hybrid server & client-side rendered) React/NodeJS stack, and integrating this with the HCL back end platform.
Once this API-led architecture is fully delivered, the internal team will have more control than ever to make their website a delightful and exciting ecommerce experience for our many customers, and you will be positioned to start taking advantage of the technology you have built to incorporate best-of-breed technology solutions, changing and scaling technology quickly, with lower risk.
Interested?
The business is located in an ideal spot for most areas of south London, Surrey and Sussex - ideally you'll be able to come to the office 1-2 days per week but this is by no means a deal breaker for the right candidate. In addition the business is offering a strong package with numerous benefits / bonus schemes.
To hear more about this role please apply with an up to date copy of your CV
