Director of Engineering, Platform & Growth

A global EdTech business - publicly backed, 20M+ learners taught, 2M classes delivered a year, is at an inflection point. AI is moving from pilot to mandate. eCommerce is scaling from early-stage to core channel. The technology function that sits behind it all needs a leader who can build for the future without breaking what already works today.

The opportunity

Most of the revenue today comes through a mature, well-established telesales and lead-generation engine. Ecommerce is growing, but growing over time, not overnight. You'll be the leader who's comfortable changing the engine while flying: driving AI-enabled and ecommerce transformation while protecting and supporting a live, revenue-critical business. You won't own the core learning product, that sits with a dedicated central product and engineering team. What you'll own is everything that powers the commercial engine around it: ecommerce, sales technology, marketing platforms, customer-facing systems, data, and how a market-leading AI-powered platform gets integrated and configured for customers.

What you'll own

• Translate business priorities into technology roadmaps, delivery plans and investment recommendations, with clear visibility on feasibility, dependencies, risk and trade-offs.
• Identify, evaluate and deliver AI-enabled capabilities across marketing, sales, customer experience and operations, in partnership with central product teams.
• Own the commercial technology stack: ecommerce, CRM and sales tooling, marketing and omnichannel platforms, customer-facing business systems and data platforms.
• Own the integration and configuration of the core learning platform for customers, working closely with the central product and engineering organisation.
• Lead a multi-disciplinary technology team of c.15, spanning web engineering, data engineering, CRM administration, system ownership and marketing technology, primarily through managers and team leads.
• Embed AI-native ways of working as the default across the technology function and the wider business.
• Hold the line on privacy, security, governance and operational resilience as the AI and ecommerce surface area expands.
• Own vendor and platform strategy: procurement, evaluation and total cost of ownership across the commercial technology estate.

What we’re looking for

• A senior leader with a strong technical & commercial instinct, someone who thinks in business outcomes, not just systems.
• Proven experience owning ecommerce, CRM/sales technology, marketing platforms or commercial data infrastructure at scale.
• A strategic, pragmatic view on AI, automation and LLM-based technologies, balancing value, complexity, risk and long-term maintainability.
• Strong grounding in data architecture, data engineering and analytics platforms.
• Experience operating with real rigour around privacy, security, risk and governance (e.g. GDPR), not as an afterthought, but as core to how you build.
• A track record of leading through managers and team leads across a multi-disciplinary organisation.
• Comfort partnering with an external product organisation rather than owning the full stack solo; you'll need to influence without direct control.
• Resilience and pragmatism: this is a role for someone who can drive transformation while keeping a live, revenue-critical engine running.

Why this role

• A seat at the leadership table. You'll report directly to the CEO and act as the primary technology voice within the senior leadership team, shaping strategy, not just executing it.
• Real scale, real stakes. This isn't a greenfield build. The product is real, the revenue is real, and the technology decisions you make will directly shape commercial outcomes.
• A genuine inflection point. AI is a mandate from the top, not a side project. You'll have the backing to build it into every layer of the technology estate, from day one.
• The best of both worlds. The freedom and pace of a business building its next chapter, backed by the scale and stability of an established, 28-year-old global organisation.