Head of Software Engineering – HR

MS Companies

Lead engineering teams responsible for M&S Corporate HR technology integration and performance improvements. Engage with multiple platforms and stakeholders to enhance the HR colleague lifecycle.

Posted 6/18/2026full-timeSalford • 🇬🇧 United KingdomLeadWebsite

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

Oracle

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Set the engineering strategy and technical direction for Corporate HR, aligned to Central Tech and the wider engineering organisation.
Lead and develop 4–5 Engineering Managers and support strong software engineering and Software Development Engineer in Test teams.
Oversee the engineering health of the core HR technology estate, including:
Oracle PeopleSoft for workforce record administration, compensation, learning and core HR processes
SD Worx for payroll
JDA for workforce management
Totara for learning management
Oleeo for applicant tracking and recruitment workflows
Provide engineering leadership across a wide set of integrated specialist platforms, including systems such as:
Avature, Criterion, TalentBrew, Invenias, HireVue, SAP Fieldglass, 10x and Rare in recruitment
Oracle HelpDesk / CRM and Anana in colleague interaction
PAM Group, Gallagher, Capita, Legal & General, Reward Gateway, Salary Finance, Equiniti, Zenith and Terryberry in reward and wellbeing
SAP WPB, GoodPractice and Guider in learning and development
OASIS, OrgVue, Oracle Business Intelligence, ETS and Hallmark PAMS across document management, organisation modelling, analytics and colleague services
Be accountable for the large number of integrations, interfaces and data exchanges across this estate, including flows between HR, payroll, workforce management, identity and access management, finance, reporting and third-party providers.
Ensure systems and integrations are secure, reliable, observable and supportable, with clear ownership, support models, runbooks and service measures.
Drive strong engineering practices across architecture, documentation, testing, continuous integration and continuous delivery, production operations, incident management and service ownership.
Simplify legacy technology, reduce unnecessary complexity and manage technical debt across a multi-vendor environment.
Shape pragmatic target architectures, including improved application programming interface and event-driven integration patterns where they are the right fit.
Work closely with stakeholders across HR and Technology to shape roadmaps, prioritise risk, and make technical trade-offs visible.

Requirements

What you’ll need

Experience leading multiple engineering teams through managers in a complex software environment.
A strong track record of improving engineering quality, service reliability and delivery performance across business-critical systems.
Significant experience managing integration-heavy estates with many third-party platforms, suppliers, interfaces and operational dependencies.
Strong knowledge of application programming interfaces, middleware, event-driven architecture, third-party SaaS platforms, vendor management and production support models.
Experience working in HR, payroll, workforce management, finance or other corporate platform domains is valuable.
A leadership style that values clarity, simplicity, ownership and high engineering standards.

Benefits

Comp & perks

20% colleague discount on all M&S products and many third-party brands for you and someone in your household, available once you’ve completed your probation
Competitive holiday allowance with the option to buy more
Discretionary bonus schemes linked to your performance and ours
Strong pension and life assurance to help plan for the future
Tailored induction and training to support your development from day one
Exclusive perks and savings through our M&S Choices portal
Market-leading family policies, including parental, adoption and neonatal leave
24/7 wellbeing support, including virtual GP access and mental health services
One paid volunteer day a year to support a cause that matters to you

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

engineering strategysoftware engineeringSoftware Development Engineer in Testintegration managementapplication programming interfacesevent-driven architecturemiddlewarecontinuous integrationcontinuous deliveryincident management

Soft Skills

leadershipclaritysimplicityownershiphigh engineering standards