Director of Software Engineering- Product Design & Development

Job Description
Are you a visionary leader that coaches and empower your colleagues to deliver exceptional customer and business results? Are you passionate about the latest possibilities within Digital design & technologies? We are currently looking for an experienced engineering leader for the role as Director of Software Engineering or as we call it; Product Area Lead Engineer, within our Domain Assortment & Product Development at H&M Group – Business Tech
About the company
We are on an exciting journey to meet and exceed our customers' expectations today, tomorrow and in the future. Rapid technological development and new customer behaviors are transforming the fashion retail industry. To cater the individual needs and desires of our millions of customers, Business Tech delivers technological solutions for the entire value chain for all our brands. The best ideas evolve when great minds with different perspectives get together. We’re all on the same team in a global environment and we learn from each other. There are endless opportunities to grow – your development is all up to you!
We are proud to foster a workplace free from discrimination. We strongly believe that diversity of experience, perspectives, and background will lead to a better environment for our employees and a better product for our users
About the role
The mission of the Product Design & Development area is “We empower creative, efficient, and sustainable Product Design & Development in a collaborative way, enabling our customers to find the products they want to look and feel good
The H&M Group has set ambitious goals to secure a strong, sustainable customer offer and the product area is at the heart of our company, providing software and processes to create the products our customers love. In the product area we provide processes and tech for the creative process of designing the dress, shirt, and other products our customers love, through to the product development on a global scale. Our tech landscape is varied, from SaaS solutions to COTS and inhouse applications and provide solutions for increased sustainability, 3D design and more.
As the Director of Software Engineering (PALE) in the product area Product Design & Development, you will co-lead the product area, consisting of 8 product teams (150 people), together with the Product Area Manager. You will lead and guide the teams towards the Product Area Architecture vision, and you will be accountable for the Product Area’s technical architecture and engineering practices.

Our organization is also on an exciting tech transformation journey, where we want to leverage modern technology (Multi cloud, APIs & events, AI and much more) and you will get the opportunity to shape and drive the technical direction of the area.
Responsibilities
In the Business Tech organization, you will lead this cross-functional product development area that delivers business and customer value, always with focus on our customer. You will collaborate with a wide network of colleagues, in Business Units and with fellow Product Area Managers and Product Area Lead Engineers to create solutions that create value, solve complex engineering problems and ensure an aligned technology roadmap.
Furthermore, you will:
Enable fact-based technology discussions, to reach desired business effect/goals and architectural vision
Staff responsibility and performance development of Engineering Managers in your area
Work with enabling platform & technology teams to secure efficient usage of common technology platforms
Own the technology lifecycle management including for example API catalogue and development

Qualifications
As a Director of Software Engineering (PALE), you have a passion for tech and modern software development and engineering practices.
We think you have great leadership skills and believe in a culture of collaboration, transparency, safety, and trust. You empower others to fail, learn, and grow and celebrate success as much as failure. You are a visionary leader that coaches and empower your colleagues with the most relevant competencies so they can lead, collaborate, and deliver exceptional customer and business results. We believe that you are a curious leader focused on value creation, growth and serving customers with full ownership and accountability. You have a holistic mindset and are typically skilled in breaking down silos, enable collaboration and empower teams. We call this servant leadership.
Furthermore, we believe you are/have:
The ability to lead an organization unit with 70-150+ employees in a matrix organization
Experience of a range of tech solutions from COTS to SaaS and in-house development
Excellent experience within Cloud technologies in an agile environment (GCP and Azure)
Excellent Strategic and Product technology competence
The ability to formulate solid business cases for technology initiatives
A deep understanding of Solution Architecture, API architecture and design and Data and Information Architecture
The experience of having built solutions from scratch and see them to production
Innovation expertise in the area of Retail Technology
Bachelor’s Degree in Engineering preferably in Computer Science (or related discipline)
15+ years of experience building and managing development teams that design and deliver large distributed systems – preferably in agile development, object-oriented systems realm with high availability. Solid system design and architecture experience.
7+ years people management experience building strong teams and managing managers. A passion for people management and mentorship.
Experience in working with machine learning and AI
Demonstrated experience in building, delivering and operating products and services in a consumer/enterprise space.
Exceptional project planning/execution skills including estimating, scheduling, and executing on committed schedules.
Ability to handle multiple competing priorities in a fast-paced environment.
Strong verbal/written communication and inter-personal skills.

Preferred qualifications
Masters or Doctorate degree preferably in Computer Science (or related discipline)
7+ years of experience as a software developer with deep knowledge of programming
10+ years of experience as a leader of leaders
Passion for H&M’s leadership principles