Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering at Harvey Nash IT Consulting Head of Engineering Our client is a SaaS company which is transitioning from a long‑established Oracle Forms legacy platform to a modern, modular, and more scalable product suite built on Oracle APEX, with the ambition to significantly elevate product quality, engineering performance, and customer experience. As a fast‑growing scale‑up, our client is strengthening its product and engineering foundations to support future growth, international expansion, and a more industrialised, reliable delivery model. Role Context: The Head of Engineering plays a central role in our client's evolution. You will lead a distributed engineering team (Belgium, Luxembourg, France) of ~14 FTE and progressively expand capabilities through onshore / nearshore / offshore models. Key challenges include: Building and scaling modern engineering processes and delivery practices. Leading the re‑architecture effort and driving the gradual migration away from the legacy platform. Implementing up‑to‑date engineering standards (DevSecOps, CI/CD, testing automation). Strengthening security, reliability, and overall technical quality. Creating a culture of ownership, documentation, and continuous improvement. Primary Mission: The Head of Engineering leads, structures, and professionalises all software development and technical activities. You ensure the quality, reliability, performance, security, and maintainability of all solutions. You define engineering standards, modernise the technical stack, and coordinate closely with Product, Customer Success, Support, and strategic clients. What’s in it for You A key role shaping the future of the product and engineering organisation. The freedom to build modern engineering foundations and influence long‑term delivery speed. Direct impact on product quality, delivery speed, and customer experience. A high‑responsibility position in a growing international environment. The opportunity to design the engineering organisation and delivery model of tomorrow. A culture that values autonomy, ownership, and technical excellence. Key Responsibilities Leadership & Organisation Lead, mentor, and structure engineering teams across three countries. Deploy an effective onshore / nearshore / offshore delivery model to improve flexibility and efficiency. Recruit, onboard, and develop key technical talents. Establish clear governance, responsibilities, and ownership. Promote a culture of excellence, documentation, and continuous improvement. Architecture & Technical Strategy Define, supervise, and validate all software and technical architecture decisions. Ensure performance, security, scalability, and maintainability across all platforms. Drive the modernisation of the technology stack and the progressive phase‑out of the legacy Oracle Forms platform. Maintain architectural documentation, standards, and Architecture Decision Records (ADRs). Provide strong technical leadership in solution design with Product Owners. Quality & Engineering Performance Define and enforce engineering quality standards and coding guidelines. Deploy structured quality control mechanisms: Technical audits. Systematic documentation. Ensure secure development practices aligned with OWASP Top 10. Monitor CVE exposure and coordinate remediation with the CTO and CISO. Reduce technical debt and ensure long‑term product sustainability. Testing & Automation Deploy a comprehensive testing strategy including: Integration tests. Automated end‑to‑end tests. Integrate automated testing in CI/CD pipelines (GitLab, Jenkins, SonarQube). Ensure delivery of stable, high‑quality releases. Define, structure, and optimise development and release processes. Ensure complete and up‑to‑date technical documentation. Implement data‑driven continuous improvement routines (velocity, lead time, defect). Ensure compliance with internal and external standards. Work closely with the Director of Engineering & Product to align technical strategy with the product roadmap. Collaborate with Product, Customer Success, Support, and Sales teams. Coordinate technical topics with nearshore/offshore partners and strategic clients. Ensure clear, structured, and proactive communication. Required Skills & Experience Professional Experience 10+ years of experience in software engineering, including proven leadership of engineering teams. Experience in migrating legacy applications. Experience in SME / scale‑up environments where processes and structures must be built and matured. Solid expertise in web application architecture (performance, scalability, security). Experience with Oracle APEX, Oracle Database, PL/SQL is a strong advantage. Hands‑on experience with DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, and engineering tooling. Experience building or managing nearshore/offshore delivery models. Leadership & Behavioural Skills Inspiring leader capable of elevating engineering standards. Excellent communicator able to simplify complex technical topics. Strong attention to detail, quality, and reliability. Ability to drive change and transform engineering practices. Structured, resilient, and highly delivery‑focused. Education & Languages Master’s degree in Computer Science / Engineering or equivalent. Fluent in French; proficient in technical English (written and spoken). Seniority level Mid‑Senior level Employment type Full‑time Job function and Industries Information Technology – Health and Human Services #J-18808-Ljbffr