Associate Director / Director of Digital Engineering Strategy & Enablement

Lead, inspire and develop a high-performing engineering community across Group and Business Units; set clear expectations for engineering excellence, accountability, talent growth and inclusive collaboration.

Own the engineering strategy and capability roadmap for Group Digital, covering modern AI enabled software engineering, cloud, APIs and integration, platform engineering, DevSecOps, quality engineering, reliability engineering, data and AI engineering.

Create reusable engineering assets and standards, including reference architectures, shared components, integration patterns, Infrastructure-as-Code templates, CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks, observability dashboards and operational runbooks.

Work with Group Technology, Architecture, Cyber Security, Data & AI, Risk, Compliance, Procurement, Finance and other Group functions to embed required guardrails into delivery pathways without compromising speed or developer experience.

Establish a repeatable deployment model for Business Units, including readiness criteria, market onboarding, localisation guidance, change and release management, support handover, adoption measurement and continuous-improvement loops.

Champion engineering practices used by leading digital and financial-services organisations: Agentic AI development, harness engineering, product/platform operating models, API-first design, automation, DevSecOps, SRE, trunk-based development, IAAC, Policy as code, progressive delivery, test automation and data-driven engineering management.

Ensure solutions are secure, resilient, scalable, observable and cost-efficient, with appropriate privacy, model-risk, responsible-AI, auditability and regulatory controls for insurance and other regulated environments.

Set and govern engineering metrics, including deployment frequency, lead time for change, change-failure rate, recovery time, reuse, platform adoption, availability, quality, delivery predictability, cost efficiency and realised business value.

Drive modernisation and technical-debt reduction; rationalise duplicated tools and capabilities, retire legacy components where appropriate, and improve the reuse of shared Group platforms and services.

Partner with product, business and operations leaders to identify high-value opportunities where engineering, data and AI can simplify journeys, improve productivity, enhance customer and distributor experiences, and increase control effectiveness.

Shape pragmatic AI engineering adoption, including secure developer tooling, MLOps/LLMOps, ADLC, evaluation, guardrails and operational monitoring, ensuring AI-enabled capabilities are fit for purpose and responsibly deployed.

Provide technical leadership to senior stakeholders, translating complex engineering trade-offs, risks and investment choices into clear decisions and recommendations.

Act as a key member of the Group Digital Leadership Team, influencing enterprise priorities, investment sequencing and cross-market delivery commitments.

10-15+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, technology delivery, platform engineering, architecture or digital transformation, with substantial leadership responsibility.

Demonstrable experience leading complex, multi-team strategic technology programmes and taking products or platforms from design through production deployment at scale.

Experience establishing reusable engineering capabilities and deployment models across multiple markets, business units or large enterprise domains.

Strong experience in financial services, insurance or another highly regulated, security-sensitive industry is preferred.

Experience operating with senior executives and translating business priorities into technical strategy, investment cases and delivery plans.

Experience leading in decentralised or matrix organisations, where outcomes are achieved through influence as well as direct accountability.

Proven people-leadership experience, including hiring, coaching, succession planning and leading diverse teams or communities of practice.

Strong engineering judgement and a hands-on understanding of cloud-native architecture, API and event-driven integration, software delivery, automation, DevSecOps, test engineering, SRE and observability.

Working knowledge of data, AI and MLOps/LLMOps, including responsible-AI controls, evaluation, monitoring, privacy and model-risk considerations.

Ability to define practical standards that balance speed, security, resilience, control and developer experience.

Product and platform mindset, with the ability to identify common needs, design for reuse and drive adoption across markets.

Highly action-oriented, customer-obsessed and outcomes-driven; able to work effectively from strategic direction through detailed execution.

Excellent analytical, problem-solving and communication skills, with the ability to simplify complex concepts for executive and non-technical audiences.

Ability to operate with autonomy, manage ambiguity, make sound decisions and adapt to changing priorities.

Excellent command of spoken and written English; experience working across diverse cultures and markets.