Head of Engineering - APAC in London

Collinson is a global loyalty and benefits company. We use our expertise and products to craft customer experiences which enable some of the world's best known brands to acquire, engage and retain the most demanding and choice‐rich customers. In particular, our unique expertise and insight into high earning, frequent travellers allows us to create products and solutions for our clients that inspire greater customer engagement to drive more profitable relationships, enrich their travel experiences, protect what matters and assist in times of need.

While specialising in Financial Services, Travel and Retail, we also support clients in multiple sectors. We have worked with over 90 airlines, 20 hotel groups and more than 600 financial institutions and banks, with clients including Accor Hotels, Air France KLM, American Express, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Diners Club, Mandarin Oriental, Mastercard, Radisson Hotel Group, Sephora, Visa and Vhi.

We take our 30 years' experience working with these kinds of household names in over 170 countries, and help our clients to deliver the smarter experiences it takes to differentiate their propositions, and help them win deeper devotion with their customers.

Collinson is a privately‐owned entrepreneurial business with 2,000 passionate people working in 20 locations worldwide. Our solutions include Priority Pass, the world's best known airport experiences program, while we are also the trusted partner behind many of the leading financial services, airline and hotel brand's reward programs and loyalty initiatives.

Purpose of the job

The Head of Engineering role will manage regional technical deliverables, oversee supplier management, and support the VP of Software Engineering with oversight over the Engineering Management function. The individual will oversee recruitment and onboarding processes for Software Engineers, wider engineering standards across the global team (implemented via Engineering Managers), and work to ensure Engineering Management operates at a high and consistent standard across the team. Finally, the role is the principal technical architect of region‐specific requirements (APAC), accountable for the solution and implementation through either our global technology team or an external partner.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead, mentor, and support the Engineering Management team.
• Create an environment where engineers are empowered, engaged, and genuinely love what they do.
• Foster a culture of continuous learning and technical excellence—where engineers aren't just delivering, they're levelling up.
• Drive hiring, ensuring we attract and retain top‐tier engineering talent who thrive in a high‐impact environment.
• Work with Product, Delivery, and other Engineering leaders to ensure the team is focused on the right things.
• Oversee the end‐to‐end software development lifecycle (design, development, testing, deployment).
• Ensure delivery of high‐quality, scalable, and maintainable software systems.
• Drive best practices in coding, design patterns, and technical standards.
• Ensure timely and efficient delivery of projects and product releases.
• Help teams prioritise, so we're delivering real value.
• Cut through blockers, eliminate unnecessary complexity, and create an environment where teams can ship at speed.
• Champion a fail‐fast, learn‐fast mindset.
• Ensure the Engineering Management team acts with consistency, standardising ways‐of‐working and our software development lifecycle (SDLC) across all squads and regions.
• Feel at home working across a range of systems and technologies, excited by the diversity of our product portfolio.
• Be a voice for engineering best practices, while staying practical and always remembering our customers.
• Design, document and present architectural solutions relevant to regional propositions, overseeing any integration points with our core central platform.
• Manage 3rd party suppliers and partners (either outsourced or embedded), tracking consultant quality, timesheeting, and financials.

Knowledge, skills and experience required

• Hands-on experience as a software engineer before moving into leadership.
• A strong track record of leading, mentoring, and growing engineering teams.
• Experience in hiring and retaining world‐class engineers.
• A passion for modern software engineering—cloud, automation, testing strategies, and continuous delivery.
• A natural ability to remove barriers, cut through noise, and create clarity so teams can do their best work.
• A mindset that values learning, experimentation, and adaptability over rigid processes.
• Experience with AWS and Typescript would be great to have as well.