Salary: £100,000 - 100,000 per year
Requirements
- Proven experience leading sizeable engineering functions, ideally managing managers, multiple squads, and testing teams.
- Exceptional people-first leadership with the ability to inspire teams and navigate ambiguity.
- Background managing software delivery within agile product environments.
- Strong financial, budgeting, and workforce planning capability.
- Experience collaborating with distributed or US-based teams is a strong plus.
- Nice to have: background in SaaS platforms or EdTech.
- Nice to have: experience integrating test automation and AI-assisted tools into delivery pipelines.
- Nice to have: strong grasp of modern cloud architectures and platform scaling.
Responsibilities
- Manage multiple Engineering Managers, QA Testing Managers, and a team of around 30 internal staff plus contractors.
- Drive delivery and quality across cross-functional squads, ensuring goals are met deterministically.
- Embed quality engineering, test automation, and modern DevOps practices.
- Deputise for executive leadership and represent our UK team on a global stage.
- Coach teams through AI adoption, evolving ways of working, and cross-functional dependencies between US and UK teams.
- Take ownership of workforce planning, engineering strategy, and overall budget allocation.
Technologies
- AI
- Cloud
- DevOps
- Support
- QA Testing
- Excel
More
We are an established software products company evolving towards an AI-enabled, platform-centric delivery model. We are scaling our engineering capability and hiring a dedicated Director of Engineering to join our team in the North East. This is a trusted, high-autonomy leadership role with strong support, high challenge, and a healthy work-life balance. The position is hybrid, typically requiring 1-2 days in the office per fortnight or month depending on location in Durham. We offer a salary of up to £120,000 base plus bonus, with flexibility for exceptional experience, and a fast, focused interview process with no technical tests.
last updated 31 week of 2026
Director of Software Engineering in North East employer: Qudos Recruitment Ltd
Join an innovative EdTech company in Durham as a QA Test Analyst, where you'll be part of a collaborative team dedicated to enhancing educational technology. With a strong focus on employee growth, the company offers hybrid working, generous holiday allowances, and unique benefits like a workplace nursery scheme and paid volunteering days, making it an excellent employer for those seeking meaningful work in a supportive environment.
