About Us
Renaissance® is a global leader in education technology. We help schools and school groups in the UK and around the world with educational assessments, practice and intervention solutions, and data analytics. Renaissance now incorporates GL Assessment (known internationally as GL Education), too – a leading provider of educational assessments.
Together, our assessments offer the ideal starting point to help teachers understand their students’ strengths and pinpoint areas of need. Our teaching and learning tools then provide effective next steps, with online literacy and maths solutions that meet students exactly where we are.
Worldwide, we support over 18 million students, operating in over 100 countries.
Ready to shape the next chapter of engineering excellence? We're searching for an ambitious Director of Engineering to spearhead our transformation into an AI-powered, platform-first organization serving customers across the globe.
This isn't just a leadership role—it's your opportunity to architect the future, building world-class teams that deliver products people love.
Your Mission:
- Empower people: Build, mentor, and inspire high-performing engineering and QA teams in a culture that celebrates collaboration, diversity, and growth
- Shape the future: Drive career development, succession planning, and retain the talent that will define our success
- Think strategically: Own workforce planning, org design, and capability roadmaps that scale with our ambition
- Deliver excellence: Champion predictable, quality-first delivery across multiple teams working on complex, meaningful problems
- Break barriers: Establish smart processes, eliminate friction, and create an environment where innovation thrives
- Connect globally: Partner with US-based and international tech teams to deliver seamless, world-class experiences
✨ What Makes You Perfect for This:
- You've led engineering organizations and managed managers—and loved every minute of it
- You're a team builder with a proven track record of creating diverse, high-performing cultures
- You understand the business side: workforce planning, budgets, and resource optimization are second nature
- You've shipped complex products in agile, product-led environments and know what great looks like
- You're passionate about modern QA practices, test automation, and quality as a competitive advantage
- DevOps, CI/CD, operational excellence—you get it and you've implemented it
- You're a communication powerhouse who can inspire stakeholders at every level
- You've navigated international, distributed teams and driven organizational transformation
The Details:
Hybrid – Houghton Le Spring office (couple of days per week in-person collaboration) with flexibility tailored to you with some travel to other offices.
Why You'll Love Working Here:
- Take your birthday off
- 5 volunteering days to give back to causes you care about ❤️
- Top-tier benefits: BUPA Healthcare, Life Assurance, Permanent Health Insurance
- Up to 8% employer pension contribution
- Workplace Nursery Scheme for families
- Thousands of discounts on retail, leisure, dining & more
- Season ticket loan & Employee Assistance Programme
- Christmas shutdown included
Ready to lead with impact? Let's talk about how you'll shape the future of engineering with us.
We have an ongoing commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and have taken strides to become a more welcoming and inclusive workplace, including the introduction of our DEI Matters Network which is owned and driven by our staff.
We are an equal opportunities employer. We encourage and welcome applications from all underrepresented groups, as we believe and strive for community representation within our organisation.
If you have a disability and would prefer to apply in a different format or would like us to make reasonable adjustments to enable you to apply or attend any interview, please contact us and we will talk this through with you.
All your information will be kept confidential according to GDPR guidelines. Please note that we can only consider applicants who already hold a full work permit.
This role is subject to DBS and background checks.
