Director of Engineering

Overview

As Director of Engineering, you will lead and evolve the charity’s digital and data engineering capability to deliver reliable, scalable, and secure products that support end-of-life care. You will oversee multiple engineering functions, including AI Centre of Excellence, data & insights, web channels, and CRM/Dynamics, reporting to the CTO. You will shape engineering standards, architecture, and governance in a mission-critical, regulated context. You will partner with executives to drive an agile, value-led engineering culture that improves outcomes for patients and supporters.

Pay / Benefits

• pension
• life assurance
• 25 days’ annual leave
• hybrid work (home-based and London office)
• additional benefits

Responsibilities

• Lead and integrate multiple engineering teams (web, CRM/Dynamics, data/insights, AI CoE) to deliver on roadmaps and budgets
• Define and enforce engineering standards, security, testing, and resilience across the stack
• Drive AI strategy and responsible adoption, including human-in-the-loop accountability and governance
• Develop product-based delivery roadmaps and implement squad-based agile delivery
• Ensure data architecture supports insights and AI initiatives and maintains data quality
• Oversee platform security, performance, and accessibility; ensure scalable, compliant solutions
• Collaborate with product, UX, fundraising, and operations to translate needs into robust technical solutions
• Champion reuse of components and reduce technical debt while improving productivity and morale
• Advise executives on architecture strategy, risk, and technology direction

Key requirements

• Proven experience leading senior engineering teams and delivering results in a complex, regulated environment
• Staff management and ability to motivate and empower teams
• Experience establishing or leading AI engineering teams and delivering real-world outcomes with Agentic and Gen AI
• Experience implementing Agile, squad-based delivery and enterprise-scale architecture in AI contexts
• Strong background in web and digital platform engineering and CRM/Dynamics experience
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms and modern integration patterns; modernising legacy systems
• Track record of improving delivery quality, reliability, and operational risk management
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management with the ability to advise executives and Trustees
• Degree-level education or equivalent through extensive experience

• leadership
• change management
• strong communication
• AI engineering and responsible AI adoption
• Agile/squad-based delivery
• Enterprise architecture and platform engineering

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