Director, Product Technology & Engineering

Role: Director, Product Technology & Engineering

Location: UK, London

Job type: Full time, Permanent – Hybrid

This position offers a hybrid work model, allowing flexibility between working from home and our office.

Due to the nature and scope of the role, you will be expected to work 4 days in the office per week.

Why QS?

At QS, we believe that work should empower you. That’s why we foster a flexible working environment that encourages every employee to own their career whilst flourishing personally and professionally. Our company values underpin everything we do – we collaborate, respect and support each other.

It’s our mission to empower motivated people around the world to fulfil their potential through higher education, ensuring that everyone has access to opportunities that change lives.

Our diversity makes us stronger. By sharing our experiences, we learn from one another and achieve more together, driving progress across the sector.

At QS, you’ll be responsible for implementing real change in the international higher education landscape. You’ll take on meaningful challenges that see a positive impact across the business and the wider sector.

We’re confident you’ll feel right at home here. QS was named as one of Newsweek’s Top 100 Most Loved Workplaces® in the UK (October 2023), recognising the respect, trust and appreciation that drive our culture every day. And as a gold-accredited Investors in People organisation – putting us among the top 28% of workplaces globally – it’s official: QS is a place where everyone can thrive.

As a Director, Product Technology & Engineering, this is what you’ll be doing:

This role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of higher education, building new ways for QS to support institutional and enterprise clients through data solutions You will lead the product and platform engineering and technology agenda for QS’s government, institutional, and enterprise clients, developing products that cater to a broad and fast-growing global client base You will oversee global engineering teams responsible for building, scaling, and maintaining both internal systems and client-facing platforms You will work closely with leaders across the organisation to define and deliver technical requirements, shaping future products and features through your business acumen and technological understanding

Role responsibilities

• Strategic support: Partner with domain experts across rankings, reputation, skills, innovation, and student recruitment, as well as product and customer teams, to deliver robust and innovative platforms. Collaborate closely with QS’s Data Science, AI, and Analytics groups, and work with internal customers such as consulting and sales, to integrate advanced capabilities into products.
• Team Leadership: Lead and mentor a diverse global team of engineering talent, building a culture of innovation and continuous improvement in product engineering, including implementing leading practice tools and ways of working
• Technical Leadership: Manage the architecture, performance, security and ongoing development of QS’ B2B platforms. Directly oversee infrastructure teams managing AWS and other cloud compute environments, ensuring scalability, resilience, and security; Drive adoption of modern technology stacks including AWS, cloud-native services, React, and JavaScript. Implement changes to enterprise architecture, managing continued evolution towards an AI-first DaaS portfolio. Orchestrate the integration of QS data into the workflows of their partners in the Higher Education Ecosystem • Project Management: Oversee scoping, management and delivery of complex technical projects, using technical expertise and experience to derisk delivery
• Operational Management: Help the team to manage complex priorities and balance trade-offs to develop solutions to meet business needs, allocating team resources as required. Work with Product leaders to scope and develop technical features and improvements in line with commercial demands and constraints
• And any other duties that fall within the purpose and scope of the role

Key skills and experience

Technical:

• Master’s level degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or equivalent fields
• Deep technical expertise in AWS, cloud infrastructure, and modern web technologies, with a proven track record of leading distributed engineering teams at scale
• Experience in architecting, building, and operating scalable, distributed data platforms
• Experience in managing infrastructure and platform reliability in complex global environments
• Understanding of the applicability of AI to transform Data-as-a-Service models, and relevant experience of technical development of AI use cases via new products or features

Leadership:

• Strong ability to work across functions, balancing technical excellence with business and customer needs.
• Able to adopt a ‘Product Mindset’, and understand the impact and wider implications of technical decisions in the context of QS’ strategy
• Strong customer focus and commercial acumen with an outcome orientation and a track record of establishing and monitoring against robust productivity and impact measures.
• Proven experience in leading Engineering teams and instilling leading practices into development cycles
• Track record of scaling DaaS or SaaS in terms of their usage and commercial value
• Strong communicator, able to work with breakdown complex concepts and explain the implications for non-specialists

Please note, if you don't meet all the criteria but believe you have the skills and passion to thrive in this role, we encourage you to apply.

So, who are we and what do we do?

QS is the world leader in higher education services, analytics, insights and intelligence. From consultancy to student mobility, academic partnerships to branding solutions, our services power both institutional and individual success.

We’re behind the world’s most widely read university rankings (Meltwater 2023). Our QS World University Rankings® reach hundreds of millions, shaping decisions and guiding futures.

Since launching in 1990, our impact and influence have only grown. Today, we work with more than 2,000 of the world’s leading higher education institutions, over 12,000 employers, and governments seeking change and socioeconomic development through higher education.

Join QS and you’ll join an 800-strong community of problem-solvers, creators, collaborators and change-makers based in 40+ countries and 11 international offices, including Australia, Malaysia, India, Romania, Singapore, France, Germany, the USA and our headquarters in London.

With every talented new hire, business acquisition and bold initiative, we’re strengthening our reach and delivering even greater value to institutions and learners worldwide. Are you ready to shape the future of higher education?

We take investing in our people very seriously.

As standard you will have:

• Competitive base salary
• Access to an annual bonus scheme (for qualifying roles only)
• 25 days annual leave, plus bank holidays – increasing to 27 days after 5 years’
• Access to a Buy Holiday scheme allowing you to buy up to 5 additional holiday days per year
• Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
• Generous pension through Royal London
• Comprehensive private medical insurance and wellness scheme through Vitality
• Access to QSmiles – a discount scheme that actually makes a significant difference
• Cycle to work scheme
• A vibrant social environment and multicultural and multinational culture

But that’s not all. Outside of these standard benefits we also offer resources to allow professional growth and wellness initiatives to nurture a healthy mindset:

• Free subscription to the Calm App – the #1 app for sleep, meditation, and relaxation
• A focus on welfare which is led by our global wellness team, with mental health first aiders globally
• Access to a variety of diversity and inclusion initiatives and groups
• Strong recognition and reward programs – including a peer-to-peer recognition platform, quarterly and annual QS Applaud Awards, Connect with your Career annual PD event
• Support for volunteering and study leave
• Free subscription to LinkedIn learning – with over 5000 courses and programmes at your fingertips
• Options to join our outstanding global Mentorship programme

Like what you’ve heard? Great, apply now!

As a candidate, we know the application and interview process can be daunting and so it’s important that you have a great experience with us. Our dedicated Talent Team will work hard to ensure you are fully informed at all stages and you are really excited by this opportunity to do meaningful work in the education space.

Equal opportunities

QS Quacquarelli Symonds is proud to be a fair and equal organisation where everyone has the same opportunity to achieve their full potential, irrespective of their background or personal attributes. We celebrate our diversity and believe through sharing our experiences we can learn from one another, be stronger together, and enable our business to thrive.

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