Head of Software Engineering Product Engineering Bideford

Location: Hybrid (Minimum 2 days/week in Bideford HQ)

Hours: Full-time, Monday to Friday (9am-5.30pm)

We're Travel Chapter - the holiday home people - and we're on a mission to make every UK break unforgettable. From Cornwall cottages to coastal escapes in the Scottish Highlands, our platform connects thousands of travellers with the perfect place to stay.

As a certified B Corp, we're proud to meet the highest standards of social and environmental impact. That means doing business the right way - for our people, our communities, and the planet. Now, we're looking for a Head of Software Engineering to shape the future of our tech and lead a growing team of high-performing engineers.

You'll join a company that's passionate about people - whether they're booking with us, partnering with us, or working with us. We've built a collaborative, curious, and caring culture rooted in the South West - and while we've grown into one of the UK's market leaders, we've kept that start-up spirit alive in how we think, move, and evolve.

As Head of Software Engineering, you'll lead a team of six (and growing), including Engineers and Technical Leads. You'll set the direction, raise the bar, and champion engineering excellence across the business.

You'll be responsible for:

• Defining and executing the engineering strategy aligned with business goals
• Driving best practices in DevOps, CI/CD, automated testing, and cloud architecture
• Leading and mentoring Principal Engineers, Technical Leads, and ICs
• Partnering with Product, UX, and Delivery teams to ship meaningful, scalable products
• Advocating for secure, stable, and scalable systems - built for real-world traffic
• Championing a high-performance culture with space for growth, autonomy, and learning
• Driving innovation through AI tooling, automation, and emerging tech
• Maintaining documentation and cross-functional clarity with Platform Engineering
• Owning agile practices and ensuring effective sprint planning and delivery rituals
  

We know the perfect candidate doesn't exist - if you meet most of the below, we'd love to hear from you.

• Deep knowledge of distributed systems, microservices, and cloud-native architectures
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes), and AWS/Azure/GCP
• Background in high-traffic platforms - ideally e-commerce or bookings
• Familiarity with payment systems, PCI compliance, and search/recommendation tooling

• Bonus if you've worked in travel tech, PMS, or with seasonal products

• Experience leading senior engineers and building technical teams
• Strong belief in collaboration, mentoring, and autonomy
• Skilled at balancing speed with long-term platform stability

• Expertise in Agile, Lean, and DevOps ways of working
• Excellent communicator across technical and non-technical audiences

We believe people do their best work when they feel supported, connected, and inspired - and that's why we've built a culture where work-life balance isn't just a buzzword.

At Travel Chapter, you'll enjoy:

• 25 days' holiday + bank holidays + your birthday off
• £500 holiday discount to spend on your own getaway
• Volunteer day to give back to a cause you care about
• Family and friends discount scheme
• Hybrid working with time to collaborate in our vibrant Bideford HQ (beach walks included)
• Life assurance for peace of mind
• Community groups like the Parenting Circle, Events Team, and Sports Club
• Wellbeing & interest clubs - from sustainability to nutrition and pet-lovers
• Fun social calendar including legendary Christmas parties and surprise perks
• And, of course, the opportunity to work for a proud B Corp, where impact matters just as much as output

We're proudly rooted in the South West, but our ambitions reach far and wide. We're growing, we're investing in our people, and we're building tech that makes booking brilliant holidays easier, faster, and more human. If you want to work somewhere friendly and fair, where people back each other and believe in what they do - this could be the place for you.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us. If you need adjustments to the application or interview process, just let us know - we're happy to help.