Head of Engineering

Hybrid Working Pattern - 2 days per week from Tower Bridge office

At Houseful, we're here to help everyone make intelligent decisions about their home.

Do the best work of your life!

Houseful is home to trusted brands Zoopla, Alto, Hometrack, Calcasa and Prime location. Together we're creating the connections that power better property decisions, by unlocking the combined strength of software, data and insight.

We make moves with head and heart to achieve our big ambitions, and to drive progress in the property market. There's never been a better time to join us.

Zoopla is one of the most recognised and loved UK consumer property brands. Our mission is to connect everyone to their home and give them better choices around it, whether moving, managing or financing. Over 60 million people visit Zoopla every month to access comprehensive data and information on every UK property, search over 500,000 homes for sale and rent, find the best agents and secure the latest mortgage deals. Zoopla is part of Houseful, the leader in residential property software, data and insight, and is sister brand to Hometrack and Alto among others.

The consumer portal experience at Zoopla is a unique opportunity to work on creating a high performance website and other services. If you enjoy being in a commercially driven organisation, core web vitals, developer experience, APIs, pipelines, personalisation at the edge, or creating delightful UIs with the latest CSS, we have something for you.

Leadership & Team Management:

• Lead a team of 25 engineers, including Engineering Managers, fostering a high-performance, commercially driven engineering culture that emphasises proactivity, resilience, and collaboration.
• Continuously assess team structure and ways of working to optimise efficiency and team performance.
• Instil a sense of ownership within the team, promoting accountability for key metrics and focus on delivering value to the business.
• Lead the engineering team in building products to delight users, while also paying attention to building products that are stable, scalable, secure, observable, and performant.

Strategic Alignment & Collaboration:

• Collaborate closely with the VP of Engineering, Head of Engineering counterpart, and product management to guide Zoopla's technical direction and align engineering efforts with business goals.
• Translate Zoopla's overarching strategy into tangible goals and day-to-day tasks for the engineering teams, ensuring engineers understand how their contributions directly support Zoopla's objectives.
• Work with product management to ensure teams deliver quality products at pace and are aligned with business goals, maintaining transparency around progress, roadblocks, and performance metrics.

Technology & Innovation:

• Lead initiatives to update legacy technology and integrate new solutions that balance innovation with practicality, ensuring timely and effective delivery of modernisation projects.
• Evaluate new tools, frameworks, and technologies for potential adoption to improve software development processes.
• Maintain an active, hands-on approach to technology while managing and leading teams.

Performance & Metrics:

• Define and monitor key performance metrics such as code quality, bug resolution time, and customer satisfaction, ensuring alignment with KPIs, financial goals, and delivery timelines.
• Actively monitor the performance of engineering projects, ensuring alignment with Zoopla's goals and instilling accountability within the team.

Product & User Focus:

• Prioritise user feedback and collaborate with product management leadership to deliver features and improvements that meet user needs and expectations.
• Ensure technology decisions support broader business goals and drive overall strategy and growth objectives.

Experience and Skills Required:

• Experience in leading and developing resilient and commercially-driven engineering teams, with a strong focus on execution and delivery of technical solutions.
• Robust and outcome-oriented mindset and commercial understanding that balances engineering and business values.
• Adept at managing relationships with senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams, ensuring alignment on technical goals and initiatives.
• Exemplary people leadership skills that foster proactivity, resilience, and collaboration.
• Ability to respond to changes without missing a beat, and lead your teams through change initiatives with the ability to bring others along the journey.
• Demonstrated experience in hiring and developing high-performing engineering teams, ensuring alignment with desired culture and direction of travel.
• Champion a culture of radical candour and constructive feedback.

• Everyday Flex - greater flexibility over where and when you work.
• 25 days annual leave + extra days for years of service.
• Day off for volunteering & Digital detox day.
• Festive Closure - business closed for period between Christmas and New Year.
• Cycle to work and electric car schemes.
• Free Calm App membership.
• Enhanced Parental leave.
• Fertility Treatment Financial Support.
• Group Income Protection and private medical insurance.
• Gym on-site in London - or membership in regional offices.
• 7.5% pension contribution by the company.
• Discretionary annual bonus up to 15% of base salary.
• Talent referral bonus up to £5k.