Head of Software

Head of Software 📍 Near Saffron Walden – 3 days per week onsite 💰 Up to £120,000 🔒 Must be eligible for UK Security Clearance I’m recruiting a Head of Software for a highly respected engineering and technology consultancy delivering complex, multidisciplinary projects across defence, communications, healthcare and other high-tech sectors. Reporting directly to the senior engineering leadership team, you’ll take overall responsibility for a multidisciplinary software department spanning embedded software, DSP, FPGA firmware and AI/ML. This is a broad leadership position combining people development, technical oversight, operational improvement and commercial input. You’ll lead senior managers and engineers while ensuring the department has the capability, capacity and processes required to deliver exceptional work for its customers. Key responsibilities: Leading and developing a multidisciplinary software and firmware departmentManaging senior team members and supporting the development of future leadersDriving recruitment, succession planning and capability developmentImproving software engineering processes, governance and delivery qualityOverseeing technical activities and identifying project risksSupporting resource and capacity planning across multiple concurrent projectsContributing to technical proposals, project costing and customer bidsBuilding strong relationships with clients and senior internal stakeholdersEncouraging collaboration and knowledge sharing across engineering disciplines We’re looking for someone with: Significant software engineering leadership experienceExperience managing managers and multidisciplinary technical teamsA strong technical background in at least one of embedded software, DSP, FPGA, cloud or AI/MLThe breadth to understand and oversee projects across several engineering disciplinesExperience delivering complex software or technology projects for external customersA track record of improving engineering processes, quality and productivityStrong commercial awareness and experience supporting proposals or bidsExposure to consultancy, product development or fee-for-service engineering environmentsDefence-sector exposure and eligibility for UK Security Clearance This would suit an established Head of Software, Software Engineering Director or senior Engineering Manager who wants ownership of a technically diverse department while remaining close to customers, delivery and engineering strategy.