At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead global software engineering teams and drive innovative payment solutions.
- Company: Join CellPoint Digital, a leader in payment orchestration for travel and hospitality.
- Benefits: Directly report to the CTO and influence global engineering strategies.
- Other info: Opportunity to work in a dynamic, high-growth environment with significant career development.
- Why this job: Shape the future of payments and make a real impact on a global scale.
- Qualifications: 12+ years in software engineering with strong leadership experience.
The predicted salary is between 78750 - 96250 £ per year.
Join CellPoint Digital: Shape the Future of Payments with Us! At CellPoint Digital, we’re revolutionizing the way businesses in the air, travel, and hospitality sectors manage their payments. Our leading payment orchestration platform helps some of the world’s leading brands make payments simpler, smarter and profitable - from improving payment experiences and maximizing approval rates, to reducing costs and unlocking new opportunities.
But technology is only part of the story. It’s our people who make the difference. We’re a global team of innovators, problem-solvers and ambitious professionals who care about the work we do and the impact we have. We work across borders, functions and cultures, bringing different perspectives together to solve complex problems and deliver meaningful results for our customers.
We are looking for a Global Head of Software Engineering to lead CellPoint's worldwide software development organization. This is a VP-level role with full accountability for engineering execution across our distributed teams - including direct management of our Head of Development in India and close partnership with engineering leadership in the US and Europe. This role sits at the intersection of technical leadership, organizational design, and delivery excellence. You will be the senior engineering voice in a fast-moving, PE-backed payments company - setting the standard for how software gets built, shipped, and improved across a multi-site, multi-team organization. You report directly to the CTO and operate as a key member of the technology leadership team.
How You Will Make an Impact
- Global Engineering Leadership
- Own end-to-end software engineering delivery across all geographies - Dallas, Copenhagen, and Pune.
- Directly manage the Head of Development in India, providing strategic direction, performance oversight, and organizational support.
- Partner with the Head of Architecture and CTO to set and evolve the global engineering operating model.
- Establish consistent engineering standards, quality gates, and delivery practices across all development centers.
- Serve as the primary escalation point for engineering execution risk across the organization.
- Technical Direction & Platform Health
- Shape technical strategy in partnership with architecture - ensuring engineering decisions align with platform roadmap and commercial commitments.
- Drive resolution of systemic technical debt and establish frameworks for sustainable platform evolution.
- Champion engineering excellence: code quality, test coverage, CI/CD maturity, and incident reduction.
- Evaluate and introduce tooling, frameworks, and engineering practices that improve team velocity and output quality.
- Delivery & Organisational Rhythm
- Own global delivery predictability - from sprint-level coordination to quarterly roadmap commitments.
- Establish and continuously improve cross-site planning, capacity forecasting, and release management processes.
- Create visibility across all active work streams and surface risks proactively to CTO and executive leadership.
- Lead cross-functional coordination between engineering, product, architecture, and customer-facing teams.
- People, Culture & Organisational Development
- Lead, develop, and retain senior engineering talent globally - including managers, staff engineers, and technical leads.
- Build a high-performance engineering culture grounded in accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement.
- Own performance management, succession planning, and career development frameworks for the global SWE organization.
- Drive hiring strategy for software engineering roles across all locations in partnership with the CTO and HR Executive.
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Represent engineering in executive-level forums, board updates, and commercial conversations as required.
- Build strong working relationships with the CPO, Head of Architecture, and commercial leadership to ensure engineering is a strategic enabler - not a bottleneck.
- Travel to India, Dallas, and Copenhagen on a regular cadence to maintain team cohesion and organizational alignment.
Skills you will have fine-tuned
Required experience
- 12+ years in software engineering with at least 5 years in senior engineering management, including management of managers.
- Demonstrated success leading distributed, multi-site engineering organizations - with specific experience managing offshore or nearshore development teams.
- Proven track record of improving engineering delivery predictability, quality, and team performance in a complex product environment.
- Strong technical credibility - you can engage at depth on architecture, system design, and platform trade-offs and earn the respect of senior engineers.
- Experience operating in a PE-backed, high-growth, or turnaround environment where pace and pragmatism matter.
Preferred experience
- Background in payments, fintech, or transaction processing platforms - familiarity with PSP ecosystems, acquirer routing, PCI DSS, or payment orchestration is a strong differentiator.
- Experience leading engineering through a platform modernization or legacy-to-cloud migration program.
- Familiarity with GCP or equivalent cloud-native engineering environments.
- Prior experience partnering closely with a Product organization undergoing transformation or restructuring.
What's in it for you
- A seat at the table - direct reporting line to the CTO and meaningful influence over how a global engineering organization is built and run.
- Real complexity - CellPoint's orchestration platform handles billions in transaction value across 60+ countries, with multiple concurrent platform generations in flight.
- Organizational impact - this is a role where your decisions shape the engineering culture, delivery capability, and talent trajectory of a global tech organization.
- Growth context - CellPoint is in an active investment phase with a clear mandate to scale engineering capability and platform maturity.
Please note, we retain applicant data for 12 months for recruitment purposes and future opportunities, after which it is securely deleted. At CellPoint Digital we are committed to be globally compliant with robust data protection.
Global Head of Software Engineering employer: PLP Group
CellPoint Digital is an exceptional employer that champions innovation and collaboration in the heart of London. With a strong focus on employee growth, we offer competitive salaries, a dynamic work culture, and opportunities to lead transformative projects in cloud technology. Join us to be part of a forward-thinking team that values automation, security, and developer experience.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Global Head of Software Engineering
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at PLP Group or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to PLP Group.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
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We think you need these skills to ace Global Head of Software Engineering
Some tips for your application 🫡
Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.
Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at PLP Group.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at PLP Group and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!
Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!
How to prepare for a job interview at PLP Group
✨Brush Up on Your Coding Skills
For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.
✨Know Your Tools and Frameworks
Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If PLP Group uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.
✨Showcase Your Projects
Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.
✨Prepare for Behavioural Questions
While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.
