Head of Engineering

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We're looking for a Head of Engineering to lead one of our cross-functional engineering clusters, driving technical excellence and helping to build the platform that powers Yoto's mission to be the soundtrack of childhood.

Yoto is a screen-free interactive audio platform for kids. We make carefully connected audio players that kids control, with no microphones, cameras or ads. We have a catalogue of audio that inspires creative play and learning with 1,000+ titles in our card store from top creators, publishers and labels – think Disney, Marvel, Roald Dahl and Universal Music. We also create Yoto Originals like this one.

• Voted the 14th fastest-growing private software technology company in Britain in The Sunday Times 100 Tech 2025; and named the 94th fastest-growing company in Europe in the prestigious FT1000.
• Ranked 9th in Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in 2024; and featured in the Sifted 100 fastest-growing startups across the UK&I by revenue growth.
• Featured in Bloomberg’s 25 UK startups to watch in 2023; and ranked second fastest growing tech company in the UK in the Deloitte Fast
  50.
• Named one of TIME Magazine’s Top 100 Inventions of 2020.
• We’re 200 employees spread across the UK, US, France, Australia, Canada, Singapore, the Netherlands, Romania and China… and growing!

We’re on a mission to be the soundtrack of childhood, and help families on their own unique adventures. By creating products that inspire independent play, we help families discover and grow with an inspiring world of audio – and we would like you to help us achieve it!

At Yoto, our Engineering organisation is structured into mission-driven clusters, each made up of cross-functional teams that include engineering, product, design and other key disciplines. These clusters focus on different areas of our platform and products to help us move faster, stay aligned and build with purpose.

This role reports directly to the VP of Engineering where you’ll form part of the senior engineering leadership team alongside the other Heads of Engineering, CTO and senior IC leads.

• Lead multiple cross-functional engineering teams within the Family Experience cluster consisting of ~20 engineers (FE, BE, mobile, QA) and managers.
• Partner with Product, Design and Commercial teams to continuously improve the user experience, performance, conversion and retention of our global store.
• Champion engineering excellence across the cluster – from clean architecture and automated testing to observability, security, accessibility, etc.
• Foster an inclusive, collaborative and high‑performing engineering culture.
• Coach your manager-level reports to strengthen their leadership and help them unlock the full potential of their teams.
• Mentor and support individuals across the Family Experience cluster to help them grow and succeed in their roles.
• Promote Yoto Engineering within the tech community; grow the team by continuing to hire top talent.
• Manage relationships and negotiate with key external partners and vendors.
• Oversee the alignment on technical direction of our eCommerce architecture set by lead engineers.
• Champion the opportunities and guide through challenges of entering the era of AI‑powered coding.

• Proven ability to lead teams of managers and senior engineers across different specialisms.
• Deep technical full-stack expertise in web and mobile platforms (headless architecture, CMS, checkout systems – Shopify or similar).
• Strong understanding of systems design, scaling strategies and performance optimisation.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills and a collaborative approach to problem solving.
• A user‑first mindset and passion for building smooth digital experiences.
• Excellent understanding of programming and SW development paradigms and best practices, up-to-date with latest technologies and frameworks.
• Nice to have:
  Experience with international eCommerce, subscription models or digital merchandising tools.

£110,000 - £130,000 based on experience.

• Flexibility: Hybrid working – expectation of 1 day a week on average,…