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As the Head of Engineering, you will be the strategic and technical anchor for our engineering department. You will lead multiple agile teams, driving technical excellence while ensuring we build scalable, high-quality SaaS solutions for the e-commerce sector. You won't just manage; you will lead by example.
Job Responsibility:
Lead, mentor, and grow multiple cross-functional engineering teams
Manage Engineering Managers, fostering a culture of ownership, psychological safety, and continuous improvement
Combine high-level architectural strategy with a hands-on mentality
Ensure systems are scalable and robust
Dive into code or architecture discussions to unblock teams or solve critical technical challenges
Work closely with Product Leadership to align technical roadmaps with business goals
Translate complex e-commerce requirements into a solid technical vision
Ensure timely delivery of high-value features
Deepen expertise in building modern SaaS applications
Champion cloud-native best practices (AWS), microservices architecture, and operational excellence to handle high-load e-commerce scenarios
Define and enforce engineering standards across the department
Ensure CI/CD pipelines and testing strategies (TDD/E2E) are in place
Actively shape the team structure, identify talent gaps, and drive the hiring process to attract top-tier engineers
Requirements:
Proven track record of leading multiple engineering teams in a fast-paced SaaS or E-commerce environment
Leadership: proven experience managing multiple teams or 'leaders of leaders'
Ideally, experience with e-commerce or SaaS
Hands-on Mentality: can conduct code reviews, participate in architectural decisions
Strong Engineering Roots: solid background in Software Engineering (originally from Java, Python, or similar modern stack)
Mastery of modern architecture patterns (Microservices, Event-Driven Architecture, REST/OpenAPI)
Deep understanding of AWS services (Lambda, EC2, SQS/Kinesis, RDS/DynamoDB) and containerization (Docker/Kubernetes)
Strong advocate for DevOps culture, CI/CD (GitLab/, ArgoCD), and Infrastructure as Code
Solution Oriented: put the customer first and solve customer requirements with a product-led approach
Business Acumen: can translate technical debt and architectural needs into business value
Excellent communication skills and a very good command of English (written and spoken)
Act as a bridge between Engineering, Product, and Business
What we offer:
Employee shares program
40% off fashion and beauty products sold and shipped by Zalando, 30% off Lounge by Zalando, discounts from external partners
2 paid volunteering days a year
Hybrid working model - work where it works for you within Germany or the UK, with occasional office attendance required
Work from abroad for up to 30 working days a year
27 days of holiday a year to start for full-time employees (+1 day for every calendar year up to 30 days)
Relocation assistance available (subject to prior agreement)
Family services, including counseling and support
Health and wellbeing options (including Wellhub, formerly Gympass)
Mental health support and coaching available
Drive your development with our training offerings and biannual peer-to-peer review