Chief Engineer

Taxback International is a leading global VAT solutions provider. Our integrated technology streamlines the processes of global VAT compliance, recovery & payment for Enterprise and Medium sized businesses worldwide. Taxback International is part of CluneTech, a suite of companies providing cutting-edge solutions that simplify global business. We have been recognised as a Great Place to Work for 9 consecutive years, a “Best Workplace for Women” for the past 5 years and most recently, we were delighted to be recognised as a “Best Workplace in Tech” for the accreditation’s second year. Our global footprint encompasses 35 offices worldwide and we do business across 100 countries on a daily basis. This role requires one day per week in our Kilkenny HQ. The Chief Engineer will lead the Engineering Operation, playing a critical role in the overall success of the company’s technology roadmap and product delivery. Reporting directly to the CEO, this individual will drive the execution of new features, oversee platform improvements, and ensure the stability and quality of our SaaS platform while being forward-thinking in bringing new development methods and approaches where appropriate. The successful candidate will balance the need for high-quality software releases with the speed and agility required to meet evolving business goals. Closing date for internal applications is Thursday 24th of October 2024. Key Responsibilities:

1. Strategic Leadership:
   • Define and implement a clear, comprehensive vision for the engineering team, ensuring alignment with the company’s product roadmap and overall business objectives.
   • Oversee all aspects of software engineering, including development methodology, project planning, architectural fit, scope management, risk and issue management, status reporting and delivery of the technical developments to meet the agreed Roadmap.
   • Lead the strategic allocation of departmental resources to ensure optimal development and release of software, with an emphasis on scalability, quality, and efficiency. Focus should also be on delivery of automated quality assurance to meet an agreed high threshold.
2. Team Leadership & Development:
   • Lead and inspire a cross-functional engineering team to execute on business objectives and foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and technical excellence.
   • Oversee the hiring, staffing, and mentoring of team members, ensuring a best-in-class engineering department.
   • Drive continuous improvement in processes, tools, and engineering practices to enhance team performance and product quality.
3. Technology Strategy & Innovation:
   • Stay at the forefront of emerging technologies and industry best practices to ensure the company remains competitive and innovative.
   • Evaluate, adopt, and integrate relevant technologies to drive improvements across the engineering teams and the SaaS platform.
4. Program & Project Management:
   • Manage a portfolio of development projects, ensuring timely delivery against business requirements and technical roadmaps.
   • Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Product and Quality Assurance (QA), to prioritize and execute against the program backlog.
   • Ensure alignment with Agile, DevOps, and DevSecOps methodologies to deliver efficient and secure software solutions.
5. Development & Support:
   • Lead the engineering team in the development of automation solutions, continuous systems analysis, and software development efforts.
   • Foster collaboration between engineering, product, and QA teams to deliver high-quality features, ensuring platform stability and performance.
   • Utilize a deep understanding of the company’s business landscape to proactively address service delivery issues and identify opportunities for improvement.

Minimum Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field. Equivalent work experience is also acceptable.
• Minimum of 10+ years of professional experience in software engineering, with at least 5+ years in a leadership or management role.
• Strong experience in both frontend and backend development, with a focus on full-stack architecture technologies (e.g., C#, PHP, Angular).
• Proven track record of building, deploying, and maintaining scalable web applications, ideally on AWS.
• Experience working with multi-tenant SaaS platforms and microservices architecture.
• Familiarity with container technologies such as Docker and messaging frameworks like SQS or Kafka.
• Strong understanding of API development (REST or similar), integration tools and methodologies plus systems analysis aligned with DevOps, DevSecOps, and Agile methodologies.
• Ideally experience in SaaS and/or Fintech.
• Experience of managing third party supplier contracts.
• Ability to attend industry events, including extensive travel for meetings with clients and partners.

Key Skills & Competencies:

• Excellent leadership skills with the ability to align diverse teams around a common vision.
• Demonstrated ability to drive technical innovation while balancing business requirements within budgets and to deadlines.
• Demonstrated ability to manage geographically dispersed teams with different time zones.
• Strong problem-solving skills, with a focus on delivering high-quality software solutions in a dynamic environment.
• Experience in defining and tracking key performance metrics (SMART goals) to measure the success of engineering teams and product delivery.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to convey complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

Additional Skills:

• Experience working in a global engineering function is highly desirable.
• Familiarity with core security principles and practices is a plus.
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing is advantageous.
• Frontend/UI development experience is beneficial.
• Hands-on experience with containerized technologies and microservices architecture (AWS preferred).

Personal Attributes:

• Growth mindset, with a willingness to learn and continuously evolve both technically and professionally.
• Strategic thinker with a pragmatic approach to problem-solving.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, constantly evolving environment.

At Taxback International, we are a community of like-minded individuals committed to excellence in everything we do. We create an innovative, collaborative, and supportive workplace that allows our brilliant people to unleash their potential. Recognised as both a Great Place to Work and Deloitte Best Managed Company, we believe that recognition goes much deeper than just financial rewards. Therefore, in addition to a competitive salary, we also offer an exclusive benefits package that includes:

• Competitive pension
• Flexible Working Policy with a combination of remote and office working and a flexible approach to working hours
• Competitive annual leave and a number of other leaves including IVF, compassion, marriage, maternity and paternity leave
• Employee-led CSR Programme, CluneTech Cares, with one paid Volunteer Day per year
• Death in Service Benefit
• Milestone Recognition Programme
• Professional & Personal Development
• Rewards & Recognition
• Employee Wellbeing Programme, CluneTech Life

CluneTech is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all employees. We are committed to building and maintaining a culture which is free from discrimination and harassment and where all employees can bring their best selves to work. #J-18808-Ljbffr