Head of Engineering

Who you are

• You’ll be a strong fit if you have experience leading engineering teams across multiple squads, teams or product areas in a complex product environment
• A collaborative product and engineering mindset: you care about customer outcomes, product strategy, technical quality and the people needed to make the work real
• Strong judgement in ambiguity: you can separate urgent from important, make trade-offs explicit and help teams move without pretending all uncertainty has disappeared
• A track record of influencing beyond your reporting line and team, building trust with senior stakeholders and helping teams reach decisions when ownership is shared
• A bias for action and improvement: when you see a recurring issue, you turn it into the smallest useful action that starts making the system better
• Reliability in driving initiatives: people can trust that when you take ownership, the work keeps moving, dependencies are managed and decisions are followed through
• Strong people leadership practice, including coaching, direct feedback, performance management, delegation, psychological safety and development of future leaders
• Tudies have shown that some groups of people, like women, are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Whoever you are, if you like one of our jobs, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we’re looking for! At Kraken, we're creating a team of genuine, honest, empathetic people

What the job involves

• The Flex platform is built on autonomous Chapters, which are collections of specialists focused on delivering a core service or business outcome, defined by the unchanging nature of the energy business (independent of technology, hardware, or regional differences)
• A Head of Engineering leading a Chapter is a senior leadership role combining strong product thinking, engineering judgement, operational awareness, and people leadership
• They manage managers and senior individual contributors, helping teams own their product surfaces, make sound trade-offs, and deliver reliably
• This role requires influencing beyond its formal remit, spotting cross-team patterns, clarifying ownership and decision-making, and driving initiatives to turn recurring issues into visible actions with owners, dates, and measures of success
• Ultimately, they maintain the technical vision for their specific area, ensuring services are appropriately owned, maintained, and aligned with Flex's sustainable growth
• Managing the leads
• Maintaining the technical vision for a given area
• The overall team architecture
• Ensuring the services in that area are owned and maintained appropriately
• Ensuring that product features are built in a way that scales, is cost-effective, and is in line with the vision for a product area
• Ensuring the appropriate level of quality and resilience, with a specific focus on reducing system incidents and improving stability
• Ensuring appropriate tech debt is prioritised to support sustainable delivery
• Potentially managing a squad (team) as well

The application process

• Deadline to Apply September 6, 2026 at 10:00 PM UTC

Benefits

• Equity option scheme: Everyone who works at Kraken owns a part of the business with shares in the Octopus Energy Group. So as the company grows we all benefit
• Pension scheme: We'll pay 5%. You decide on your contribution starting from 3%
• Holidays: We don't count your holiday days. We trust everyone to work hard and take as much time off as they need
• Flexible working: We're happy for you to work in a way that's best for you. Need to pick the kids up from school or work from home? That's not a problem. It's important to us that everyone has a positive work-life balance
• Free breakfast: Our offices are always stocked with fresh fruit, breakfast, snacks, great coffee and soft drinks.

Weekly on a Friday we all get together (including virtually) for company updates and drinks

• For parents: We can arrange access to tax free childcare, as well as maternity and paternity pay
• Free eye tests: We offer eye test vouchers for all colleagues who use Visual Display Units (VDU). Long spells of VDU work can be visually demanding so we want to make sure you're OK
• Car salary sacrifice: Save money on leasing an electric vehicle through our workplace salary sacrifice scheme
• Cycle to work scheme: Spread the cost of buying a bike, including accessories and safety equipment, up to a value of £2.5K. And save money on the repayments through the cycle to work scheme
• Get the right tech: Have a certain tech requirement? We’ll do our best to sort it for you
• Money coach: Get support with financial planning through our partnership with Octopus Money Coach
• Yoga + Headspace: Twice a week we have 45 Minute live yoga class open to all Kraken staff.

Need some calm in your life? We have Headspace licences available

• Team events and activities: Participate in team events and cohesion activities to build stronger connections
• Health Insurance: We’ll provide comprehensive coverage with Alan and access to Alan Mind.
• Transportation: If you cycle to the office we’ll support you by up to €600/year, if you use public transport we'll reimburse 75% of your Navigo pass. If you use both, we'll support you by up to €900/year
• Green energy discount: Enjoy a 32% discount on green energy compared to the regulated tariff
• Year-end gift voucher: Receive a €100 gift voucher at the end of each year
• Gymlib subscription: Get a subscription to Gymlib for access to a wide variety of fitness options
• Meal vouchers: Enjoy €10 Ticket Restaurant cards for meal expenses
• NGO support days: Benefit from three additional RTT days (Reduction of Working Time) to support NGO work, every year