Head of Engineering - Retail at Just… · London

Head of Engineering - Retail

Location: London - hybrid 50%

Contract: Permanent

Purpose

Just Group’s Retail division develops and delivers retirement‑finance products through financial advisers and intermediaries. As part of an ongoing technology modernisation programme, we are evolving our platforms and customer journeys to ensure they remain secure, resilient, and fit for the future.

The Head of Engineering – Retail will lead the Retail engineering organisation, setting clear technical direction and ensuring high‑quality delivery across platforms and applications. The role plays a key part in adopting modern engineering practices, including AI‑enabled approaches, to support scalable and reliable delivery.

Reporting to the Retail IT Director, you will lead multiple Engineering Managers and help foster a collaborative, high‑performing engineering culture, focused on secure, efficient, and sustainable delivery.

About Just

We help people achieve a better later life. That’s our purpose and it’s the reason we exist. We are a fast-growing company helping customers enjoy the retirement they deserve. We do this through a variety of market leading, award-winning products and services, delivered by a diverse team of over 1,400 purpose-led colleagues who genuinely put the customer at the heart of everything we do.

This is a brilliant time to join our business. We are on an exciting growth journey to become the UK’s most loved retirement expert.

Key Accountabilities

• Define and deliver the Retail engineering roadmap, aligned to Group technology strategy and agreed modern engineering practices.
• Lead the adoption of AI‑enabled, context‑driven, and agent‑based approaches where they add practical value.
• Provide technical leadership across architecture, solution design, and the management of technical debt.
• Ensure the secure, reliable, and scalable delivery of Retail platforms and applications.
• Oversee delivery planning, execution, and risk management, including ownership of P1 and P2 incident response and resolution.
• Build and develop engineering capability through strong leadership of Engineering Managers and senior engineers.
• Promote consistent engineering standards across automation, DevOps, cloud‑native development, and observability.
• Partner closely with senior stakeholders, providing clear, transparent communication on delivery progress, risks, and priorities.

Examples of Key Activities

• Chair Retail engineering governance forums to ensure alignment with Group standards and principles.
• Maintain and review the technical debt and end‑of‑life roadmap, feeding priorities into delivery plans.
• Review and challenge significant technical design decisions to ensure solutions are scalable, secure, and maintainable.
• Act as an escalation point for major incidents, coordinating resolution and leading post‑incident reviews.
• Work with Engineering Managers to track delivery progress, dependencies, and risks.
• Coach and mentor engineering leaders, supporting capability and leadership development.
• Represent Retail Engineering in cross‑business forums, ensuring Retail requirements and priorities are well understood.

What We’re Looking For

• Proven experience in senior engineering leadership roles, leading multi‑team delivery at scale (50+ FTE including partners), within Financial Services.
• Strong knowledge of modern engineering practices, including software engineering, architecture, cloud platforms, CI/CD, DevSecOps, observability, and security‑focused design.
• Practical experience delivering large‑scale technology change and modernising legacy platforms, preferably within a Microsoft ecosystem.
• The ability to build high‑performing engineering teams, embed standards, and foster a positive, inclusive engineering culture.
• Experience working with a mix of in‑house teams, vendors, and delivery partners.
• Confidence operating in regulated environments with an emphasis on resilience, performance, and security.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to translate technical topics into clear business outcomes.
• Experience leading major incident response and continuous improvement following service issues.

Our behaviours

At Just you’ll have the opportunity to develop your career, whilst making a difference to the lives of those around you. You’ll be part of a company with a strong and distinctive culture - we’re ambitious, curious and collaborative – and every decision we make centres around being Just and delivering the best outcomes for our customers.

What’s in it for you

• A competitive salary, pension scheme and life assurance
• 25 days annual leave plus an additional day on us for your birthday
• Private medical cover and income protection, just in case
• A generous and highly achievable bonus scheme
• Opportunities to progress your career in-role and within the company
• Free access to the Headspace app, 24/7 employee assistance helpline and trained physical and mental health first aiders
• A variety of employee funded benefits available via our online benefits portal
• Plus, several additional purchase options available for you and your loved ones

Explore our full range of benefits on our dedicated benefits page.

Belonging at Just

Valuing diversity of thought and fostering a sense of belonging is critical to our business success, driving innovation and balanced decision making. Our work on DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging) aims to deliver a brilliant employee experience underpinned by a sense of belonging, where our people feel proud to work at Just.

We remain committed to our publicly disclosed HM Treasury Women in Finance Charter and Race at Work Charter targets and support a wide range of employee network and events, championing issues including intergenerational working, social mobility and neurodiversity.

Application details

Please submit your CV using the 'apply now’ button. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted regarding next steps which may include an initial phone interview and in-person assessment.

Be Bold. Be Brilliant. Be Just.