Job Description

The SVP of Engineering and Architecture will be responsible for leading the global engineering and architecture teams, building a culture of engineering and architectural excellence and continuous improvement, helping all of your teams to raise the bar in terms of performance including team and individual capabilities and driving delivery through strong collaboration with key stakeholders. Through leading and coaching the VPs of Engineering and a talented team of architects you have a fantastic opportunity to have a real impact on Mintel's future success. This is a leadership role requiring a strong technical background as well as practical experience in helping teams to be the best they can be. This role will report to the President of Group Development, and will be a key member of the Group Development (aka GDEV) Leadership team.
Specific Responsibilities

• Articulate and support the implementation of engineering standards, setting expectations and defining the strategy for best practice in terms of tools, technology and processes. Set clear boundaries for the engineering teams and strike the right balance between clear direction, consistency, alignment and empowerment.
• Ensure we have a strong technology vision, strategy, and long-term architectural roadmap to meet Mintel's future needs.
• Optimize the global engineering team operating model to maximize productivity and on-time delivery of value.
• Ensure engineering and architecture are working together to define and implement the technology strategy, ensuring all teams design & build technology strategically and contribute to the Mintel Platform.
• Ensure that the appropriate level of documentation is created and maintained to ensure efficient and consistent communication of practices, designs, requirements and standards.
• Collaborate with the SVP of Infrastructure and Support to modernize development and deployment practices, ensuring that the roadmaps for engineering, architecture and infrastructure are aligned.
• Ensure the enterprise architecture plans and enterprise technology standards are well understood and support the business goals and objectives.
• Drive a culture of delivery, accountability, creative problem solving, and continuous improvement.
• Foster an environment and culture that encourages individual and team growth and learning at all levels of the engineering organization.
• Continue to evolve the team structure to maximize productivity, collaboration, costs, and value delivery.
• Continually learn and stay ahead of industry trends and potential disruptions.

Desired Competencies / Experience

• Technical Leadership - you have a deep understanding of cloud architectures, ideally building cloud-native applications in AWS. You have experience building or designing systems at scale with the technologies we use or similar. You know the right questions to ask, offer guidance when required, and are comfortable making decisions to provide clear direction with imperfect information.
• Process Leadership - you are familiar with several different software development processes, and have practical experience in at least one high performing technical organization - you've seen engineering and/or architecture done well. You have worked with teams working on projects with short feedback cycles as well as on larger projects delivering transformational change. You have experience optimizing both engineering and project practices, embracing automation and removing impediments even in other parts of the organization.
• People Leadership - you have experience leading teams of managers and building technical teams. You are a coach at heart, and love helping other people succeed, whilst keeping them aligned with the organization's purpose. You have strong opinions, but are open-minded about alternative approaches. You are comfortable delegating, but know when to dive deep and ask difficult questions. You are a strong leader for your department and a strong collaborator with others. You have exceptional communication skills.

Other

• Travel will be required both to see teams in other locations and for GDEV Leadership meetings or activities. This is likely to be 15% - 20% depending on location.

We hope you'll like our...

• Culture that supports true collaboration whilst embracing remote working
• Generous holiday allowance with the opportunity to buy additional holiday
• Approach to personal development where we encourage individuals to grow and share what they've learned
• Frequent social events, both within the department and across the company
• Blend of home and office working

Mintel is committed to building and supporting a diverse workforce, providing opportunities for all. 25% of our Engineering team and 24% of our Engineering leaders are women. We are committed to improving diversity within our team and supporting industry-wide improvement. We offer flexible working options and provide support, development and growth opportunities.
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Skills Required