Head of Engineering (d/f/m)

Head of Engineering (d/f/m)

Hamburg, hybrid

DEPT® is a Growth Invention company built to help the world’s most ambitious brands grow faster. Operating at the intersection of technology and marketing, our 4,000+ specialists deliver growth invention services across Brand & Media, Experience, Commerce, CRM, and Technology & Data. We’re 50|50 tech and marketing, partner-led, and first to move. Clients include Google, Lufthansa, Meta, eBay, and OpenAI. We have been certified B Corp and Climate Neutral since 2021.

JOB PURPOSE

This role is part of our Experience & Engineering team in Germany. We combine technology and experience design to create emotive yet conversion-focused ideas, products, and campaigns at scale and speed. Our specialty is digital experiences and communication that change perceptions and shape new behaviours to make a difference in the market.

In this key leadership position, you are responsible for the strategic direction and growth of our Engineering teams. You will lead a team of approximately 7-9 professionals, including Team Leads and Senior Engineers. Your focus shifts from writing code to building systems: you will optimize processes, develop the next generation of leaders, and actively drive the cultural change toward AI-driven development.

WHAT YOU’LL DO:

• Leadership of Leaders: You lead, coach, and mentor Team Leads and Senior Engineers. You own their career paths and empower them to lead their own sub-teams to excellence.
• AI Change Management: You define the roadmap for integrating Artificial Intelligence into the daily engineering lifecycle (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Agentic Workflows). You act as a change agent, transforming our workflows for maximum efficiency and innovation.
• Operational Excellence: You take full ownership of your department's operational performance (resource planning, budget monitoring, utilization) and ensure a profitable and scalable engineering organization.
• Strategic Partnering: You work closely with Directors and VPs to sharpen DEPT®’s technological vision in the DACH region and act as a high-level technical sparring partner for our key accounts.
• Cultural Stewardship: You foster an inclusive, motivating, high-performance culture and establish modern department rituals that promote knowledge sharing and innovation.

WHAT YOU BRING:

• Proven People Manager: You have a track record of leading teams in a "manager-of-managers" structure or significant experience leading larger engineering departments.
• Change Agent: You are passionate about the potential of AI in the software lifecycle and have a clear vision of how modern engineering organizations must evolve.
• Frontend Background: You possess a deep technical history in frontend development, allowing you to validate architectural decisions and act as a mentor on eye-level.
• Business Acumen: You understand the economic drivers of an agency or consultancy and can translate KPIs into actionable success.
• Communication: You are a confident communicator in both German and English, able to present complex technical topics to both stakeholders and clients.

WE OFFER:

• Flexible, hybrid working policy (1-2 days at the office, depending on location);
• Company pension scheme.
• Lease bike options / JobRad and 25% subsidy for the Deutschlandticket.
• Occasional breakfast/lunch at the office, Smoothie Tuesdays.
• Stay happy and healthy with a contribution to your health through the OpenUp platform;
• €50 personal monthly allowance via our dedicated benefits apps for use across daily expenses and lifestyle perks.
• Future Bens - Exclusive access to sustainable, healthy products at attractive deals.
• Social events, plenty of opportunities to connect with colleagues through organised activities and