This is an interim/FTC position

Why Technology at loveholidays?

At loveholidays - we trailblaze together. We’re on a mission to open the world to everyone, giving our customers’ unlimited choice, unmatched ease and unmissable value for their next getaway. Our team is the driving force behind our role as our customers’ personal holiday expert - the smart way to get away.

Technology at loveholidays underpins our vision to become the most loved OTA in Europe. We drive cutting-edge innovation and technical excellence to futureproof the business. Our systems process trillions of daily holiday offers, we deploy over a thousand times a month, serving thousands of requests per second. This is where you can accelerate your growth by solving complex challenges and broadening your skillset.

Join us to create impact for our future in an exciting new chapter, owning your success and contributing to shared goals. We actively talk about technology and adhere to our key technology principles that have guided us this far. We are growing and have ambitious plans to expand across Europe, employing the best minds and technology to let us do this.

About the team:

As VP of Engineering, you will lead our engineering organisation of 15 teams (75 engineers) across 5 strategic groups: Selling, Managing, Supply, Core Engineering, and Boost/Enablement. You will be responsible for defining and executing the technical vision that drives loveholidays' mission to become Europe's most loved OTA, whilst inspiring, engaging and developing a highly skilled team of engineers who are passionate about technical excellence and customer impact.

This is a senior leadership position where you'll shape the future of our engineering culture, drive technical excellence across all teams, and ensure our technology platform scales to support our ambitious European expansion plans.

The impact you’ll have:

Strategic Leadership & Vision

• Define and execute the engineering strategy across all 15 teams, ensuring alignment with business objectives and loveholidays' vision

• Collaborate with C-suite executives on product strategy and business planning

• Lead the technical roadmap for our next-generation platforms, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to deliver exceptional customer experiences

• Evaluate emerging technologies and their potential impact on our platform capabilities

Technical Architecture & Infrastructure Excellence

• Own the software architecture strategy for supplier integrations, search systems, pricing engines, payment platforms, and others

• Lead cloud infrastructure decisions, ensuring optimal performance and cost efficiency

• Drive the data infrastructure strategy

• Drive technical debt management and platform modernisation initiatives

• Champion accessibility and web performance excellence across our customer-facing applications

Budget & Resource Management

• Manage the engineering department's budget, optimising spend across teams, infrastructure, and tooling

• Make strategic technology investment decisions to support business growth and technical innovation

• Drive vendor relationships and technology partnerships to maximise value and capabilities

Your skillset:

Technical Expertise

• Deep understanding of distributed systems, service based architecture, the web, and cloud technologies

• Strong background in high-scale web applications serving millions of users

• Experience with modern data infrastructure, real-time processing, and ML/AI

• Knowledge of performance engineering, accessibility standards, and front-end architecture

Leadership Experience

• Track record of leading engineering organisations (50+ engineers) through significant growth

• Experience managing multi-million pound engineering budgets and making strategic technology investments

• Background in building and scaling engineering teams across multiple disciplines

• Ability to collaborate and influence C-level executives and cross-functional leaders

Perks of joining us:

• Company pension contributions at 5%.

• Individualised training budget for you to learn on the job and level yourself up.

• Discounted holidays for you, your family and friends.

• 25 days of holidays per annum (plus 8 public holidays) increases by 1 day for every second year of service, up to a maximum 30 days per annum.

• Ability to buy and sell annual leave.

• Cycle to work scheme, season ticket loan and eye care vouchers.

At loveholidays, we focus on developing an inclusive culture and environment that encourages personal growth and collective success. Each individual offers unique perspectives and ideas that increase the diversity and effectiveness of our teams. And we value the insight and potential you could bring on our continued journey.

The interview journey:

• Introduction with Talent team (30-45 mins)

• Interview with CTO and current VP of Engineering (60-90mins)

• Interview with CHRO (60 mins)

• Interview with Principal Engineers and Heads of Engineering (60-90 mins)