Engineering Operations Lead in Woking

Bring more to life. Are you ready to accelerate your potential and make a real difference within life sciences, diagnostics and biotechnology? At IDBS, one of Danaher’s 15+ operating companies, our work saves lives—and we’re all united by a shared commitment to innovate for tangible impact. You’ll thrive in a culture of belonging where you and your unique viewpoint matter. And by harnessing Danaher’s system of continuous improvement, you help turn ideas into impact – innovating at the speed of life.

At IDBS, we are at the cutting edge of providing innovative software solutions and services that empower scientists and researchers to accelerate their discoveries by helping them design, execute and orchestrate processes, manage, contextualize and structure their data and gain valuable insights throughout the drug lifecycle, from R&D through manufacturing. We work with 80% of the top 20 global BioPharma companies. Our customers engage in groundbreaking work, from pioneering biological research to developing new therapies and medicines. Join us at IDBS to continuously grow and make a real impact, working alongside passionate colleagues who care deeply about our mission and each other.

We are seeking an experienced and highly motivated Software Engineering Operations Lead to lead and optimize engineering operations. In this highly visible role reporting directly to IDBS’ CTO, you will enable the engineering leadership team to focus on scaling the organisation by driving operational excellence and delivering strategic initiatives. You will be responsible for aligning priorities, optimizing processes and managing cross-functional programs, ensuring seamless cross-functional collaboration in a modern and rapidly evolving Software Engineering environment.

The ideal candidate will have a strong understanding of modern Agile engineering practices, the tools which enable this, exceptional change management skills, and a passion for scaling and optimising operations in a fast paced, high-growth environment.

What we’ll get you doing:

• Drive engineering strategy execution by supporting the CTO and Engineering Leadership Team to plan, execute and track strategic initiatives aligned to business growth.
• Embed operational excellence by designing and scaling engineering operating models, processes, tooling and governance that improve predictability, efficiency and delivery.
• Lead cross‑functional programmes that improve time to value, product quality and organisational effectiveness across Engineering, Product and Operations.
• Establish data‑driven insights through KPIs, metrics, reporting and capacity planning to inform decisions and proactively manage risks.
• Enable leadership effectiveness and culture by facilitating leadership forums, communications, change initiatives and special projects on behalf of the CTO.

Here are some examples of what success in this role looks like:

• Engineering leaders are enabled to focus on scaling the organisation through clear priorities, strong operational cadence and effective execution of change programmes.
• Cross‑engineering change and improvement initiatives are well governed, clearly communicated, tracked and delivering measurable outcomes.
• Engineering communications, events and engagement activities (e.g. All Hands, Town Halls, Hackathons, leadership off‑sites) are coherent, well planned and consistently executed.
• Engineering and business KPIs are clearly defined, monitored and reported, with risks and impediments proactively surfaced and addressed.
• Organisational health insights (skills, engagement, capability gaps) are analysed and translated into targeted improvement actions with visible progress.

Preferred Skills:

• Engineering operations & programme leadership: Proven experience leading complex, cross‑functional programmes in a SaaS or technology environment, with strong delivery and change management capability.
• Operational & technical acumen: Deep understanding of Agile/Lean practices, modern cloud and SaaS delivery models, CI/CD pipelines, and engineering tooling.
• Data‑driven leadership & communication: Strong analytical skills to define and use KPIs, combined with excellent stakeholder management and executive‑level communication.

Join our winning team today. Together, we’ll accelerate the real-life impact of tomorrow’s science and technology. We partner with customers across the globe to help them solve their most complex challenges, architecting solutions that bring the power of science to life.