VP Engineering in Birmingham

About LRQA

LRQA is a leading global assurance partner. We help clients manage risk and build safer, more secure and more sustainable businesses through certification, inspection, cybersecurity and advisory services. Digital Transformation is modernising the technology, products and platforms that underpin these services, and engineering is central to that effort.

Role Purpose

The VP Engineering is a senior leadership role created to drive a step-change in how LRQA engineers its software. It sets the software engineering and architecture direction for Digital Transformation, establishes the standards, tooling and modern practices the function builds to, and leads the adoption of AI‑assisted engineering and automation to raise productivity and shorten time to release. It is the senior engineering voice alongside the Chief Digital Officer and across the executive, accountable for engineering strategy, technical standards and architecture direction, and for building the capability and ways of working that lift the whole function.

Key Responsibilities

• Driving the software engineering step-change: Lead the adoption of AI in engineering: set the direction for AI‑assisted development and embed it in how the teams design, build and test. Put in place the foundations that make it work at scale: the engineering standards, golden paths, repository structure, documentation‑as‑code and reusable scaffolding that let both engineers and AI tooling move quickly and safely.
• Automation and modern practice: Drive automation across the software lifecycle, from build and test to release, so delivery is faster, more consistent and less manual. Set the engineering practices that support faster, more reliable software flow (Continuous Delivery, CI/CD, automated testing and release readiness) as the standard the teams build to, working with Infrastructure/DevOps and others.
• Productivity and time to release: Define the engineering performance and productivity framework and the target ambition (DORA, cycle time, time to release), and drive sustained improvement working through the Head of Development and the other leaders. Make this a genuine step-change in throughput and quality, not an incremental tidy‑up.
• Engineering and architecture direction: Set the software engineering strategy and multi‑year technical roadmap, aligned to the digital and business strategy. Sequence re‑platforming and capability change against portfolio priorities, including readiness for the next phase of scale‑up.
• Standards and technical direction: Set the software engineering standards, tooling and technology‑stack direction the function builds to. Make build‑versus‑buy and platform decisions at portfolio level.
• Architecture direction: Set the software engineering architecture direction across Digital Transformation and hold cross‑estate coherence. Set the design standards systems must meet for security, reliability, performance, cost and operability. Act as the escalation and decision point for the most significant technical and design choices across the estate. Set the direction for integration delivery across the estate, including the shared data and integration layer and its event‑driven patterns.
• Leadership: Lead, develop and set direction for the Head of Development, the Cyber Development Lead and the Enterprise Architect. Set the priorities and trade‑offs that span the teams, and clear the senior blockers above them. Own software engineering organisation design and the operating model as the function scales.
• Senior technical voice: Act as the senior software engineering voice alongside the CDO and across the executive. Provide technical advice and assurance on major investment, build‑versus‑buy and platform decisions, and make engineering’s direction, value and constraints understood at leadership level.

Key Outcomes

• A genuine step‑change in engineering productivity and time to release, measured through DORA and cycle‑time metrics and visibly improving.
• AI‑assisted engineering adopted across the teams, on sound foundations (standards, golden paths, scaffolding) that make it work at scale.
• Automation embedded across the software lifecycle, reducing manual effort and variability.
• A clear engineering strategy, technical roadmap and architecture direction, in use across the function.
• Engineering standards, tooling and stack direction set and applied consistently across the estate.
• Significant designs and major technical decisions agreed cleanly and consistently across the estate.
• An engineering operating model and team structure that scales with the business.

Experience And Capability

• Software Engineering leadership at scale: led engineering functions and driven a step‑change in how they build, not only run delivery.
• AI‑assisted engineering: real experience introducing AI and automation into how software is engineered, with the foundations to make it stick.
• Modern engineering and productivity: deep grounding in Continuous Delivery, DevOps and cloud, and in engineering productivity measurement (DORA, cycle time or equivalent).
• Architecture direction: a strong architecture background, setting direction and running a Technical Design Authority or similar forum across a complex, integrated estate.
• Standards and foundations: a track record of establishing engineering standards, golden paths and reusable foundations that lift a whole function.
• Strategy to execution: setting strategy and standards and landing them through other leaders and their teams, including re‑platforming and culture change.
• Organisation design: experience of engineering organisation design, operating models and developing leaders.
• Influence: credibility and influence at executive level, and effective management of vendors and partners.

Leadership profile

Operates at a strategic level, setting direction and raising the capability of the whole function. Focused on outcomes, with clear ownership of engineering direction and value. A decisive technical leader, comfortable making decisions without complete information. Builds and develops strong technical‑leadership teams. Able to simplify complex problems and align different stakeholders. Credible across strategy, architecture and at executive level.