Head of Engineering - 6 Month FTC in Abingdon

Overview

Would you like to help enrich the lives of learners around the world?

At RM, we’ve been pioneers of education technology since 1973.

We provide technology and resources to the education sector, supporting over 20 million students and improving educational outcomes worldwide.

What we do helps learners at all stages of their lives, from preschool to higher education and professional qualification; we partner with schools, examination boards, governments, and professional organisations globally to make learning more accessible, more engaging, and more impactful.

RM operates through three divisions: Assessment (digital assessment and marking solutions), Technology (managed services, hardware, and software for schools), and TTS (educational resources).

Within the assessment market we are experts in providing solutions for online exam testing and marking and the management and analysis of educational data.

We work with government ministries, exam boards and professional awarding bodies for high stakes assessment such as GCSEs, ALevels, and professional qualifications.

Each year, our software is used globally to conduct hundreds of thousands of on‑screen tests and to mark millions of paper‑based scripts.

For over a decade we have been partnering with the world’s leading awarding bodies to deliver intuitive, secure, and reliable e‑marking solutions.

Visit our website to find out more: www. rm. com/assessment

Role Overview

The Head of Engineering is responsible for leading the engineering organisation across the full software delivery lifecycle, with accountability for the development, testing, deployment, operation, and continuous improvement of business‑critical platforms and services.

Leading a department with teams of engineers and quality specialists, the role ensures the organisation delivers high‑quality software at pace while maintaining platform stability, security, resilience, and operational excellence.

Working closely with Product, Architecture and Delivery leadership, the Head of Engineering drives engineering capability, delivery performance, and operational outcomes across both existing and evolving platforms.

We encourage early applications as the vacancy may close once the position has been filled or final interviews have been arranged.

Responsibilities

• Engineering Leadership
• Lead, develop, and inspire multidisciplinary engineering teams across software development, quality engineering, and platform operations.
• Establish a high‑performance engineering culture focused on ownership, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Provide leadership and coaching to Engineering Managers, principals, and senior technical contributors.
• Develop organisational capability through recruitment, succession planning, mentoring, and professional development.
• Software Development & Delivery
• Own engineering delivery across multiple product and platform teams.
• Ensure delivery commitments are met through effective planning, prioritisation, resource management, and execution.
• Drive adoption of modern engineering practices, including TDD, Dev Ops, CI/CD, Infrastructure as Code, and automation.
• Promote engineering excellence through coding standards, peer reviews, technical quality measures, and continuous learning.
• Quality Engineering & Testing
• Establish and embed quality engineering practices across all stages of the software development lifecycle.
• Drive test automation strategies that improve quality, reduce risk, and accelerate delivery.
• Ensure appropriate testing approaches are applied, including functional, integration, performance, security, and regression testing.
• Promote a quality‑first culture where responsibility for quality is shared across engineering teams.
• Monitor and improve quality metrics, defect trends, and release performance.
• Run, Operations & Service Management
• Own the operational performance, stability, availability, and resilience of platforms and services.
• Ensure effective support models, incident management processes, and service recovery procedures are in place.
• Drive operational excellence through proactive monitoring, observability, automation, and continuous service improvement.
• Lead post‑incident reviews and ensure lessons learned are translated into meaningful improvements.
• Maintain clear accountability for service reliability, operational risk, and platform performance.
• Stakeholder Management
• Collaborate closely with Product, Architecture, Delivery, Security, and Operations leadership.
• Provide regular reporting on engineering performance, delivery progress, operational health, and risks.
• Act as a trusted advisor to senior stakeholders on engineering capability, delivery feasibility, and technical risk.
• Support business planning and strategic technology initiatives.
• Governance, Risk & Compliance
• Ensure engineering activities comply with security, regulatory, governance, and operational requirements.
• Manage technical and operational risks across the engineering estate.
• Oversee engineering budgets, supplier relationships, and resource planning where applicable.
• Ensure robust controls are in place for change management and service operations.
• Leadership Responsibilities
• Lead a hybrid engineering organisation operating across multiple locations and disciplines.
• Create an inclusive, collaborative culture that enables teams to perform effectively regardless of location.
• Establish clear objectives, performance measures, and development plans for engineering leaders and teams.
• Foster strong partnerships between Development, Test, Operations, Architecture, and Product functions.
• Champion continuous improvement across engineering practices, tooling, and ways of working.

Experience

Essential

• Significant experience leading software engineering teams in complex technology environments.
• Proven track record managing multidisciplinary teams covering development, testing, and operational support.
• Experience delivering and operating large‑scale digital products, platforms, or enterprise systems.
• Strong understanding of modern software engineering, Dev Ops, cloud technologies, and delivery methodologies.
• Experience implementing engineering metrics and operational performance frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to lead organisational change and engineering transformation initiatives.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

Desirable

• Experience leading engineering organisations through platform consolidation or modernisation programmes.
• Experience with cloud‑native architectures and platform engineering models.
• Familiarity with ITIL, service management, and operational governance frameworks.
• Relevant technical or leadership certifications.

What’s in it for you?

At RM we have My Work Blend @RM which provides office‑based colleagues with multi‑location and hybrid working options.

As well as your office base, you can spend a proportion of your time working at other locations that suit your role and your life, including home, other offices, customer sites, distribution centres or on the move.

We encourage you to discuss arrangements for this role with your potential line manager during the recruitment process.

As well as a competitive salary and our core benefits package which includes private medical healthcare, life assurance and a Group Personal Pension Plan with higher contribution levels available, there are lots of voluntary benefits too.

You could buy additional annual leave, join our dental plan, sign up for a health assessment, or take part in our cycle to work scheme.

You could even earn yourself an extra bonus for successfully recommending a friend or family member for a position within RM.

To better reflect the society that we serve, we’re committed to building a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for all.

To achieve this, we create teams of talented people from different backgrounds and experiences and strive to be a business where our people can bring their whole selves to work.

We also want to make the recruitment process as inclusive as possible for everyone.

Should you require additional support with your application or through the interview process, please contact us at recruitment@rm. com.

Unfortunately, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role.

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