Launched in 1998, this pioneering British-born brand has specialised in creating amazing experiences and unforgettable memories - from hotels, city breaks and holidays to theatre, entertainment and spa days. Experts in brightening up online travel, lastminute.com is among the worldwide leaders in the field, helping hundreds of thousands of customers every year find, and do, "whatever makes them pink".

lastminute.com is part of lm group, publicly traded multinational Group, among the worldwide leaders in the online travel industry. Every month, the Group reaches across all its websites and mobile apps (in 17 languages and 40 countries) 60 million unique users that search for and book their travel and leisure experiences. More than 1,200 people enjoy working with us and contribute to provide our audience with a comprehensive and inspiring offering of travel related products and services.

To support and drive the growth of our business and Technology function, we are looking for a Software Engineering Director. Reporting to CTO, Software Engineering Director is responsible for building a strong Engineering Department that spans across multiple domains. The position holder, together with other Software Engineering Directors, will set a clear Tech direction to deliver innovative, data driven, scalable solutions that meet business needs and align with Technology vision and strategy. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Build, scale and leads a highly capable, cohesive engineering teams focused on delivering great products across our core categories (e.g. hotels, flights, packages, backoffice);

• Drive impact through management of Engineering Managers; Foster alignment and coordination across the different teams and focus on career development, continuous improvement, adoption of engineering best practices and Agile techniques within the teams.

• Work closely with Product counterparts to define and implement product and technology strategy and KPIs with a strong focus on user, business impact, quality and constant emphasis on a data-driven approach; 

• Communicate strategy in a compelling manner to multiple teams and relevant stakeholders.

• Facilitate and encourage cross-functional collaboration to iterate on new product developments 

• Provide day-to-day leadership and operational management. 

• Implement department-wide plans, policies and practices focused on empowering engineering teams and promote productivity and  effectiveness

• Monitor budget, expenses, facilitate project delivery and support.

• Collaborate with senior leadership on a regular basis

Essential

• 8+ years of relevant hands-on technical management experience of software engineering teams to deliver high-quality products, with particular focus on recruiting, leading and motivating engineers in a fast-paced environment

• 5+ years of experience in leading highly-complex, high-traffic,

• technically-challenging software engineering projects from inception to delivery to maintenance

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills are essential

• Proven track record of individual technical achievement on software engineering

• Solid experience in software development in one of the major programming languages (Java, C/C++, Golang, ...) is preferred;

• Ability to lead through uncertainty and passion for technology

• Fluent English

Desirable

• Agile methods and SCRUM familiarity 

• BA/BS degree in Computer Science, similar technical field of study or equivalent practical experience