Head of Engineering

Our priority is to match the right person to the right role, and we never want salary to be a barrier to applying. Regardless of your current pay, we’ll ask about your salary expectations during the application process, and our Talent Team will have an open, honest conversation during the talent call to understand your skills and explore our salary options. If you have questions around salary, please feel free to ask us!

Location : Chiswick, London - Hybrid

Sponsorship: We are unable to offer sponsorship for this role

The Role

We’re looking for a hands-on Head of Engineering to own engineering delivery at So Energy and shape how modern, high-impact engineering is done in an AI-accelerated world. Reporting into the Director of Technology, you’ll be accountable for the end-to-end effectiveness of Software Engineering, DevOps, and Quality Assurance across 6–8 squads and 30+ engineers. This is a senior leadership role with real authority and real accountability, focused on outcomes, not activity. This is not a distant leadership role. You will stay close to the code, close to teams, and close to delivery, stepping in to unblock engineers, guide technical decisions, and get complex work over the line. You balance hands-on problem solving with shaping the systems, standards, and ways of working that allow engineering to scale. You’ll lead the practical adoption of AI-assisted development, turning new tools into safe, repeatable workflows that materially improve speed, quality, and business impact. You’ll be comfortable operating with ambiguity, learning fast, and evolving how engineering works as the landscape changes. Alongside delivery, you’ll partner deeply with Product and the business to shape roadmaps, make clear trade-offs, and ensure engineering effort is focused on the highest-value outcomes. You’ll play a defining role in building a high-performing engineering organisation where people are supported, challenged, and proud of the impact they deliver.

Reporting to Muhammad Khan 👋

⭐ Why So Energy?

So Energy was created in 2015 because we knew energy suppliers could be better . Since then, we’ve grown rapidly but sustainably, with 300,000 customers and over 450 Energists (what we call our people). But we’re not done! We’re on the road to a net-zero future, and thanks to our partnership with ESB, we’re well on the way. We’re customer-centric, tech-led, and passionate about sustainability.

We’re driven to do our best for our customers, for each other, and for our planet. That’s why we’ve built a workplace culture that’s supportive, empowering, inclusive, and full of opportunities to grow and make an impact.

At So Energy, we take pride in our values-driven culture. We live and breathe by our six core values that guide everything we do:

• Clear

• Honest

• Ambitious

• Inquisitive

• Caring

• Sustainable
  

What you’ll be getting up to in this role:

Engineering Accountability & Delivery

• Own delivery accountability across Software Engineering, DevOps, and Quality Assurance, spanning multiple squads and parallel initiatives.

• Ensure engineering operates as a single, coherent delivery system — optimised for speed, reliability, and quality.

• Make clear, timely trade-offs when capacity is constrained, and stand behind delivery decisions.

• Actively remove technical, organisational, and dependency constraints that slow teams down.

• Establish clear ownership, operating rhythms, and expectations across squads.

Velocity, AI & Modern Engineering Practices

• Improve engineering velocity, flow, and predictability without compromising quality, resilience, or sustainability.

• Lead the practical adoption of AI-assisted development across coding, testing, refactoring, debugging, and documentation.

• Define clear standards and guardrails for AI use that engineers trust and actually use.

• Use meaningful delivery metrics (e.g. DORA, flow, reliability) to drive learning and improvement — not performative reporting.

• Continuously evolve engineering workflows in response to new tools, constraints, and business needs.

Product & Business Partnership

• Partner closely with Product and senior stakeholders to shape roadmaps and delivery plans.

• Translate commercial and operational goals into clear technical priorities and sequencing.

• Act as a pragmatic voice on feasibility, risk, and trade-offs — bringing clarity where there is ambiguity.

• Ensure engineering capacity is focused on the work that delivers the highest customer and business impact.

Engineering Leadership, Growth & Culture

• Lead and coach Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, and senior engineers (leaders of leaders).

• Build a high-performing engineering organisation with strong engagement, growth, and retention.

• Set clear expectations around leadership effectiveness, delivery ownership, and team health.

• Support career development, succession planning, and progression across engineering.

• Foster a culture of trust, ownership, continuous improvement, and healthy challenge.

What Success Looks Like

• Engineering delivers meaningful business outcomes faster — not just more output.

• Time-to-impact is reduced, with ideas moving reliably from concept to customer value.

• Teams ship at pace without sacrificing quality, reliability, security, or sustainability.

• AI-assisted development is embedded, trusted, and measurably improving business impact.

• Product and business stakeholders see Engineering as a strategic partner.

• Engineering Managers and engineers feel supported, unblocked, and accountable.

• Engineers are engaged, growing, and proud of the impact of their work.

Working Style

• Hands-on, pragmatic, and outcome-focused.

• Comfortable moving between code, people, and strategy.

• Curious and experimental, especially with AI-driven productivity.

• Direct, collaborative, and delivery-oriented.

• Willing to challenge and be challenged in pursuit of better outcomes
  

You’re a great match if:

• Proven experience leading engineering teams in a product-led environment, with accountability for delivery across multiple squads.

• Strong hands-on technical background, with the ability to write, review, and reason about production code in a JVM-based language (e.g. Kotlin or Java) and a modern frontend framework (e.g. Vue.js or React).

• Practical experience improving engineering velocity, flow, and predictability while maintaining high standards of quality and resilience.

• Real-world experience applying AI-assisted engineering tools within day-to-day workflows.

• Strong judgement balancing short-term delivery with long-term technical health and team wellbeing.

• Experience leading leaders, developing managers, and setting clear expectations.

• Bias for action and clarity comfortable making decisions with incomplete information and adjusting as you learn.

Our Stack

• Cloud & Platform: GCP, Kubernetes, cloud-native infrastructure

• Languages & Frameworks: Kotlin, JavaScript, Vue.js

• Delivery: CI/CD pipelines, microservices, modern testing practices

• Quality: Strong emphasis on observability, resilience, and automated QA (no manual QA)

You don’t need to be the deepest specialist in every area, but you must be comfortable working close to platforms, pipelines, and quality concerns and guiding teams through real delivery decisions.

Research shows that some underrepresented people are less likely to apply for a role unless they are 100% qualified. We believe your experience, skills, and passion will set you apart. We encourage you to apply and tell us about your journey, even if you don’t tick all the boxes.

📅 Our Hiring Process:

1. Talent Screen - 20 minutes Teams call

2. Hiring Manager competency-based Interview

3. Final stage interview and technical assessment

APPLICATIONS CLOSE ON 31st MARCH

🤝What’s in it for you?

Smart Working Charters

• Hybrid working – Each team has its own Smart Working Charter. Ask your talent partner for more details.

Growth & Development

• Personalised learning & development budgets – to support your growth journey, L&D buddies to guide you along the way.

• Educational Sponsorships – like Code First Girls.

• Internal learning platform – with thousands of valuable resources.

Pay & Reward

• Up to 10% performance bonus – based on company and personal performance.

• Annual Salary Reviews – to ensure we remain competitive in the market.

• Commitment to being a real living wage provider .

Time Off That Matters

• Your birthday off – it only comes once a year, so enjoy it!

• 3 So Giving Days – spend time supporting a cause you care about.

• Enhanced family leave – supporting you through every life chapter.

Health & Wellbeing

• Unmind – Access to personalised coaching or therapy to support your mental wellbeing.

• Physical Support – Free eye tests, flu vaccinations.

• Access to Perkbox – Additional wellbeing & savings benefits.
  

• Menopause Policy – To ensure all employees are being taken care off.

Belonging & Recognition

• Affinity Groups – join one of our employee groups to foster meaningful connections.

• Bi-annual Value Awards – because your hard work deserves recognition.

• Monthly events – to find balance and bring our team together.

• Charitable Fundraising – to give back to our communities.
  

🧩 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging

As a Disability Confident Committed employer, we encourage applications from everyone, and we will ensure fair and accessible recruitment for all. At So Energy, we’re committed to cultivating an environment that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. We are a global community, and we believe our unique qualities should be celebrated as they are critical to our innovation. It’s essential to us that you bring your authentic self to work every single day, no matter your age, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, caring responsibilities, neurodiversity, or otherwise . Inclusion isn’t just an initiative at So Energy. We strive to embed it throughout our entire culture.