Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering Help build the future of fair hiring in the AI era. At Arctic Shores, we’re creating a world of work where potential matters more than experience. Our market-leading, task-based psychometric assessments help organisations like Amazon, Siemens and Jet2 make fair, evidence-based hiring decisions. We’ve doubled ARR year-on-year for the past three years and are looking for a Head of Engineering to lead the next chapter. The opportunity This is a rare chance to lead engineering at a purpose-driven scale-up where technical excellence truly matters. You’ll lead a small, high-calibre team of Software Developers and DevSecOps engineers working on a microservice architecture running on Kubernetes in AWS. It's built following strict functional design principles, TDD and CI/CD pipelines to automatically deploy to production. You’ll combine people leadership with technical evolution of the platform through guiding team architecture discussions, balancing quality with pragmatism, and ensuring our platform remains secure, scalable, resilient and cost-efficient as we grow. If you’re excited by leading a team where you can genuinely shape the future of our platform and how it can evolve to support the business, this could be your role. Why this role might be a great fit for you You might already be a Head of Engineering looking for more autonomy and purpose. Or you might be an experienced Engineering Manager or Tech Lead ready for your first Head of role. You’ll thrive here if you: Have a strong JVM background (Scala, Kotlin or Java) particularly using functional programming principles Possess a strong testing mindset with experience in TDD and CI/CD practices. Are experienced with AWS and infrastructure as code (e.g., Terraform). Have knowledge of event-driven architecture and API design. Feel confident to jump into different aspects of our code base, orient yourself and remove blockers for the team Are motivated to coach and develop engineers through regular 1:1s and collaboration Think about platform reliability, security, and cost efficiency as much as feature delivery Like solving complex problems collaboratively and pragmatically If most of that resonates (even if your path has been unconventional) we’d love to hear from you. Our Stack Languages & Frameworks Scala, Kotlin, Typescript, Python Http4s, Http4k, Circe, Cats, Cats-Effect, Doobie, React, Exposed Testing Specs2, ScalaCheck Infrastructure & DevOps AWS (EKS, Lambda, RDS/Postgres, DynamoDB, SQS, Kinesis, S3, Cognito, Route53, VPC, EC2) Terraform, Kubernetes, Helm, Ansible, Puppet GitLab CI Observability & Data Prometheus, Grafana, OpenSearch Snowflake You don’t need experience in every tool, but you should feel confident in modern cloud-native, infrastructure-as-code environments. Our Engineering Philosophy We follow functional programming principles We run Kanban and focus on the smallest effort that delivers meaningful impact We practice TDD and maintain comprehensive automated test suites Everything is automated and version-controlled We evolve our ways of working through team retrospectives We favour simple, maintainable architectures over unnecessary complexity What you’ll do Lead and develop a high-performing engineering team, aligning capacity to the roadmap and closing capability gaps. Shape technical direction championing best practice, guiding architecture and code quality, and aligning engineering with company strategy. Own delivery and reliability ensuring secure, scalable releases while optimising AWS costs. Partner cross-functionally with Product and customer-facing teams to deliver roadmap outcomes and ensure technical excellence. What you’ll get at Arctic Shores Competitive salary - £100k-£115k depending on experience. Share Options scheme 28 days holiday + public holidays (plus extra for length of service) Private medical and mental health cover 2 mental wellbeing days per year Aviva pension (3% employer / 5% employee) Hybrid working and core hours flexibility Enhanced parental leave Fertility support Company sick pay Own Days — one day every month dedicated to your development Cycle2Work scheme Length of service awards Central Manchester office location A supportive team and a meaningful mission The closing date for applications is Monday 1 June 2026 Our values Make a difference We can’t change everything. But we can contribute to a world of work that’s truly fair and inclusive. Grow together We invest in our ability, learn from setbacks, and celebrate the people behind our progress. Explore, always Curiosity, drive and bravery help us break new ground and rethink how potential is measured. Applying for the role If this role excites you but you don’t tick every box - we’d still love to hear from you. Our hiring process includes but is not limited to: Short application form Our task-based assessment (you’ll receive instant feedback) “Get to know you” conversations Technical test and/or technical interview Panel interview, incl. Leadership style questions We’re interested in how you think, how you lead, and how you build, not just the logos on your CV. Using AI in your application Feel free to use AI tools to help structure your thinking or prepare but we want to see the real you. Equal Opportunities At Arctic Shores, giving people a fair chance is what we do — and that starts with hiring. We welcome people of any background, gender identification, race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, ability level, age, size, marital status, style, or music taste. If you need adjustments at any stage of the process, let us know — we’ll do everything we can to support you. Compliance ISO 27001 Cyber Essentials compliant Locations Manchester - Registered Office Remote status Hybrid Manchester - Registered Office Why Arctic Shores? A place to belong You'll join a team that's as driven as they are kind, focusing on one shared mission – to make hiring fairer, faster and (frankly) better. Dream of making a difference? You’ll be in good company. A product to believe in Our platform exists to give candidates of all backgrounds fair, equal access to the opportunities they'd otherwise miss. So far, we’ve helped almost 3m candidates land exactly where they should be. Help us take it further. A culture of freedom No two trailblazers work the same. That's why, at Arctic Shores, you'll enjoy all the flexibility and autonomy you need to get stuff done. Plus, you'll take an Own Day each month – a day for you to work on a personal project, to read, research, or develop new skills. However you want to work and grow, do it here. Company benefits 28 days holiday per year, plus public holidays. You'll also get an additional day for every year's service at Arctic Shores, up to four years. Private medical and mental health cover with Vitality for all our Explorers, as well as 2 mental wellbeing days each year. Aviva pension scheme, offering 3% employer and 5% employee contributions (calculated on full salary). Pension Salary Sacrifice scheme Hybrid working and core working hours Enhanced Parental Leave Fertility support programme Company Sick pay Share Options scheme Length of service awards Own Days – one day every month dedicated to your professional development. Whether you’re setting time aside for a personal project, some research, a course… it’s entirely up to you Cycle2Work scheme We’re always looking for new ways to celebrate our Explorers. You’ll be no different. Flexible & remote working We believe in giving you the autonomy to work in a way that suits you. Our hybrid model allows flexibility while ensuring collaboration. How often you are required in the office will be department dependent. We've got hubs in central London and Manchester, and they're there for you to make the most of. You can also shape work around your life at Arctic Shores, with our Core Hours. Whether you're fitting in a spin class or the school run, you'll have the flexibility for whatever matters most. Lastly, you'll get everything you need to do your work well. That means a laptop, monitor, and anything else you need to work comfortably and productively. About Arctic Shores Arctic Shores creates award-winning technologies that help companies make better people choices, and people better career choices. Since starting up in 2014, our pioneering task-based assessments have improved diversity, reduced time-to-hire and slashed recruitment costs at hundreds of organisations, including PwC, Siemens and the Ministry of Justice. Arctic Shores has also provided a unique, stress-free and unbiased experience to over 3m candidates. Founded in 2014 Co-workers 35+