Head of Mobile Engineering

Head of Mobile Engineering Overview

Company Name	Valtech
Job Role	Head of Mobile Engineering
Qualifications	Not Specified
Category	IT Jobs
Job Type	Full Time
Location	Manchester

This is a senior mobile leadership position focused on building and shaping the mobile capability in the UK while also contributing directly to client work. The role blends technical leadership, consulting, capability development and commercial influence. You will work with major brands to define mobile strategy, modernise platforms and drive innovation across native and cross-platform ecosystems. The position is designed for someone who can move comfortably between strategy, architecture, delivery and business growth.

What the role is about

You will join a multidisciplinary environment made up of architects, engineers, strategists, designers and consultants. The work spans a range of sectors, including financial services, retail, automotive, healthcare, media and consumer brands, each with its own technology landscape, constraints and transformation goals. Mobile is increasingly central to customer engagement, so the team focuses on building secure, scalable and high-performing platforms that support connected digital experiences.

The role is split between client-facing delivery and internal capability leadership. Roughly 60% of the job is focused on client strategy and delivery, while 40% is dedicated to operational leadership, capability growth and commercial development. Success in the role means building a strong and scalable mobile practice, creating trusted client relationships, improving engineering standards, growing revenue and opportunities, and helping teams deliver excellent experiences while continuing to innovate.

Client delivery leadership

• Act as a senior advisor to client stakeholders and earn their trust through credible guidance and practical insight.
• Take oversight of complex delivery work and intervene early when needed to protect outcomes, people and client relationships.
• Connect different disciplines so teams can solve problems end to end and work in a joined-up way.
• Monitor the health of the mobile practice, including whether the right skills are available for demand, how engaged the community is and how delivery is performing, then respond to what those signals show.
• Run workshops and help clients shape mobile transformation roadmaps.
• Support decisions around platform modernisation and mobile architecture.
• Work closely with product, design, data and engineering colleagues to deliver integrated solutions.
• Help influence strategic technology investment choices.

Capability leadership

• Define and evolve the mobile vision and strategy for the UK practice.
• Grow the mobile engineering capability and help build a thriving practice.
• Take accountability for line management within the practice, including oversight of line managers who report to you.
• Ensure regular one-to-ones, development conversations and performance calibration are in place.
• Handle succession planning and difficult conversations where necessary, and coach managers so leadership quality improves across the system.
• Support and coach new leaders so they can lead consistently, confidently and with care.
• Help shape career pathways and the skills framework so progression is transparent and people are supported through coaching, mentoring and effective management.
• Set engineering standards and best practices.
• Build communities of practice and mentor engineers and architects.
• Encourage purposeful innovation, from small experiments within the practice to external thought leadership such as talks, blogs and whitepapers that help improve the capability, win work and influence client strategy.

Technical leadership

• Provide architectural oversight across complex mobile programmes.
• Lead technical direction across iOS, Android and cross-platform technologies.
• Ensure solutions are secure, resilient and able to scale.
• Promote modern engineering practices such as CI/CD, observability and automation.
• Explore emerging technologies, including AI-enabled experiences and intelligent assistants.

Commercial impact and growth

• Work with UK growth teams on pitches and pre-sales activity, bringing a practical craft perspective to senior commercial discussions.
• Support strategic UK initiatives so the practice contributes to wider business priorities.
• Contribute to proposals and solution design.
• Identify opportunities to expand client relationships and grow engagements.
• Represent the organisation externally through thought leadership and industry participation.
• Help strengthen the company’s standing as a leader in digital experience and mobile innovation.

What you need to bring

The ideal candidate will have leadership experience in mobile engineering, mobile practices or capability development, along with strong consulting and stakeholder management skills. You should be comfortable influencing senior business and technology leaders and should enjoy coaching and developing people.

On the technical side, the role calls for experience in native mobile development on iOS and/or Android, plus familiarity with cross-platform tools such as Flutter or React Native. You should understand mobile architecture and platform strategy, API-driven ecosystems, CI/CD and DevOps, security and authentication, analytics and observability, and cloud-native platforms with backend integration.

You also need experience working in consulting, agency or digital transformation settings, with the ability to operate across strategy, architecture and delivery. The role expects someone who has led client engagements and workshops, communicates clearly, presents well and understands the commercial side of client work and growth.

Desirable experience

• Experience with AI-powered mobile experiences and agentic AI.
• Knowledge of modern data and personalisation platforms.
• Experience leading teams distributed across different locations.
• Public speaking, thought leadership or contributions to the wider technology community.

Culture and inclusion

The organisation says it is committed to building experiences for all kinds of people, and that this starts with its own teams. It aims to create an inclusive environment where people from all backgrounds feel supported to grow, thrive and achieve their goals. The company also points candidates to its diversity and inclusion information to learn more about its approach to equity and belonging.

How to apply

Applications are submitted through an online form. Candidates can apply quickly through the Greenhouse system and are asked to provide standard application details such as name, contact information, location, CV and cover letter. The form also includes screening questions about client-facing consulting experience, team leadership and technical leadership, as well as a salary expectation question and a source-of-application question. Applicants must also confirm agreement with the recruitment privacy notice before submitting.

The application flow also includes an optional demographic survey about gender identity, which the company says is voluntary and used only for aggregated reporting and diversity analysis, not for hiring decisions.

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Degree Requirement: Not Specified

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