Head of Software Engineering

The OVO Group’s purpose is to drive progress towards net zero carbon living. To reach Plan Zero, we need everyone to come together - not just as customers buying energy, but as members with a common goal. As part of this ambitious plan, our goal is to become the ‘Best Employer in the UK’ by 2030. If you think you could be the talent we’re looking for, then come and join the adventure!

This position will be working for our Kalzua, a collection of dynamic SaaS platforms that power OVO Energy and SSE. Launched in 2020 with a mission to create the most advanced and complete collection of services to support the next generation of energy products Kalua is well on the way. The Kaluza platforms are at the heart of our Groups ambition to become a net zero carbon business by 2030. 

Up for the challenge?

Where in the world of OVO will I be working?

You will be providing Engineering leadership for a collection of engineering  teams within Kaluza. These teams provide the customer-facing digital experiences, leverage other parts of the platform for industry interaction and agent tooling and allow our retail customers OVO Energy/SSE to realise Plan Zero by giving them an advanced and efficient platform.

What will I be doing?

• Providing technical leadership and line management of engineering teams between primarily London and Bristol 
• Working with product counterpart(s) and stakeholders to develop shared target outcomes and ensuring the technology team is set up to achieve these outcomes.
• Managing and developing Software Engineering Managers and Principal Engineers creating a small autonomous leadership team. 
• Defining the technology strategy within your area and influencing the larger Kaluza platform vision.
• Building and promoting our technology brand, including overseeing how we bring new talent to your technology teams.
• Continually working towards technical excellence and industry best practices.
• Building an excellent technology culture of highly autonomous, intrinsically motivated, well-aligned teams.
• Helping teams to make technical decisions that align with our business objectives and long term goals, including building strong relationships with the Product, Design and Commercial partners to your teams.
• Being ultimately responsible for technical decision making and budget.
• Building high performing teams and work with development managers to develop talent and build the succession plans of the next generation of thought leaders.

Is this the job for me? 

Ideally you will have:

• A strong technology background, ideally in scalable distributed applications.
• Experience building, running and leading high performing, autonomous engineering teams (ideally at least 20 people).
• A fundamental understanding of the principles of Agile and lean development.
• An excellent understanding of a broad set of modern technologies across front end, back end and data platforms.
• Excellent communication skills and experience working with senior leaders across the business.
• Experience integrating technology into the wider business strategy.
• Experience working in a fast paced, high growth, technology focussed organisation.
• Proven experience of creating a forward thinking technology culture.

From us you’ll get* 

• 4% of your salary to spend on flexible lifestyle benefits
• 5% matched employer contribution to your pension
• 25 days holiday + 1 for your birthday
• And many more... 

(*) Please note that certain benefits kick-in once you have passed probation which can be up to 6 months after your start date.

We want the best people

At Kaluza, we empower our people to have choice around where and when they work - flexible working arrangements can be discussed for all of our roles. Please speak to the Talent Acquisition team for more info.

We’re keen to meet people with varied backgrounds - our view is the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be. We want to build teams which represent a variety of experiences, perspectives and skills, and we recognise talent on the basis of merit and potential.

We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they tick every box. If you're excited about joining us and think you have much of what we're looking for, even if you're not 100% sure… we'd love to hear from you.

Learn more about working in the OVO family of companies on our careers page and Glassdoor. We’re also delighted to have received a Top Employers certificate in 2018, 2019 and 2020!