Head of Software Engineering

Ubisense is a company at the forefront of Industry 4.0 and the Industrial Internet-of-Things. We build products that transform physical space into "smart space", enabling software to see, understand and participate in the real world of people and business activities. In so doing, we augment people and objects with new forms of insight and intelligence that make the environments we live and work in more productive, safe and profitable.

This unique ability to connect the physical to the digital has been our driving force for more than 18 years and has enabled Fortune 500 manufacturers like Daimler-Benz, Lockheed Martin and John Deere to revolutionise the way they build our cars, the most advanced aircraft and the machinery that grows our food.

We are a privately held company with around 60 employees, supporting customers across North America, Europe, UK, Japan and the Middle East. We have ambitious and well-funded growth plans, requiring talented people to help execute on our vision. We are looking for people who are interested in the future, who believe that technology will play a fundamental role in improving the world of tomorrow, and who want to be a part of making that happen.

About the role

Ubisense delivers solutions based on our Smart Space and Dimension4 products, providing real-time visibility and control to customers in advanced manufacturing, transit, pharmaceutical, and defence sectors. Smart Space is a highly configurable software platform targeted at complex problems in IoT and Industry 4.0. Many Smart Space applications also use our world leading Dimension4 Real Time Location System.

The Head of Software Engineering is accountable for building and operating a high-performing engineering organisation that delivers secure, reliable, and maintainable software s role owns the end-to-end engineering lifecycle-from strategy and architecture to delivery, tooling, and quality-while cultivating engineering excellence and modern Dev Ops/CI/CD practices. The successful candidate is a hands-on technical leader who can write code, set engineering standards, and lead teams through change.

• Reliable, predictable delivery:
  Transparent quarterly release train and sprint cadences; measurable improvements on DORA metrics (lead time, deployment frequency, change failure rate, MTTR).
• Modern delivery pipeline: A robust CI/CD platform with automated build, test, security scanning, and progressive delivery; trunk-based workflows and high-quality code reviews.
• Fit-for-purpose architecture:
  Clear architectural runway, reference designs, and decision records (ADRs); reduced complexity and improved scalability.
• Quality by design:
  Shift-left testing, high unit/integration test coverage, meaningful end-to-end test automation, and clear quality gates.
• Engineering culture:
  Engaged teams with strong craftsmanship, documentation standards, and continuous improvement mindset (SPACE metrics for developer experience).

• Define the engineering operating model, aligning architecture, delivery, and platform engineering to product goals.
• Translate business objectives into technical roadmaps, capacity plans and quarterly OKRs.

• Own the what/when/how of engineering delivery: intake, prioritisation, estimation, sprint planning, release readiness.
• Establish portfolio and release governance with clear stage gates (architecture, security, test, documentation).

• Chair architecture forums; set standards for patterns, APIs, data, and cloud infrastructure; steward ADRs.
• Ensure systems are observable (logs, metrics, traces) with SLOs and error budgets; lead major incident reviews and blameless post-mortems. Methods, Tooling and Platform
• Define and evolve SDLC and development methodologies (Agile/Scrum/Kanban, trunk-based development, code review practices).
• Own the Dev Ops toolchain (source control, CI/CD, artefact management, IaC, secrets management, environments, test automation, security scanning).
• Partner with IT on platform reliability, scalability, cost, and resilience.

• Set quality standards and test strategies (unit, integration, E2E, performance, security); implement coverage targets and defect escape thresholds.
• Embed secure coding and secure release practices.

• Lead architects, developers, testers, and tech authors; nurture craft disciplines and communities of practice.
• Hire, onboard, mentor, and develop engineering talent; define career ladders, and competencies.

• Work closely with Product, Support, Professional Services, and IT to ensure the roadmap is feasible, valuable, and supportable.
• Communicate plans, risks, and outcomes concisely to executives and non-technical stakeholders.

• In conjunction with the CIO, manage engineering budgets, cloud/runtime costs, and ROI on tooling.
• Evaluate and govern vendors (cloud, tooling, testing…