Head of Engineering, Commercial Services

ABOUT THE TEAM 

The Commercial Services unit is a high-growth, high-impact department dedicated to redefining how businesses trade. Structured around two strategic pillars—Buy and Sell—we build world-class tools that help members launch products, expand sales, and foster customer loyalty.

As part of the Sell pillar, the Commerce team focuses on the commerce product suite, enabling retail and service-sector members to conduct sales seamlessly both online and in person. Buy pillar of Commerce, your mission is to revolutionize the procurement experience for SMEs globally—making it faster, more transparent, and more cost-effective

ABOUT THE ROLE

As the Head of Engineering for Commercial services you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Tide’s commercial services platform. This is a senior technical leadership position with significant influence over architecture, engineering strategy, and technical execution. You will lead and mentor Engineering Managers and senior engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and scalable engineering practices.

As Head of Engineering you will be:

• Defining and driving the architectural direction for Tide’s Commercial Services offerings, ensuring scalability, resilience, and compliance.
• Leading the design and development of high-quality credit products.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams (Product, Compliance, Business) to enhance Tide’s Commercial Services team.
• Overseeing integrations with third-party providers, ensuring seamless technical delivery.
• Providing hands-on technical guidance, getting directly involved in architecture, design, and engineering decisions.
• Championing engineering best practices, including system design, security, and software development standards.
• Mentoring engineers and Engineering Managers, fostering a culture of learning, ownership, and technical excellence.
• Influencing Tide’s overall technical strategy as we scale our Intermediated Commercial Services globally.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• 10+ years of backend engineering experience, with at least 3 years in senior engineering leadership roles.
• Strong experience with microservices, event-driven architectures, and distributed systems.
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools and LLMs to improve engineering productivity, software quality, and delivery velocity. 
• Demonstrated experience in building scalable, resilient, fault-tolerant systems.
• Breadth of technical knowledge with depth in at least one technology stack — experience with our stack is not essential, but an ability to quickly understand and lead in a new environment is critical.
• Proven track record of delivering complex systems and third-party integrations.
• Ability to translate strategic business goals into a clear technical roadmap and communicate the rationale behind technical decisions.
• Strong mentoring skills and the ability to build and inspire high-performing engineering teams.

OUR TECH STACK

• Java 17, Spring Boot and JOOQ to build the RESTful APIs of our microservices
• Event-driven architecture with messages over SNS+SQS and Kafka to make them reliable
• Primary datastores are MySQL and PostgreSQL via RDS or Aurora (we are heavy AWS users)
• Docker, Terraform, EKS/Kubernetes used by the Cloud team to run the platform
• DataDog, ElasticSearch/Fluentd/Kibana and Rollbar to keep it running
• GitHub with GitHub actions for Sonarcloud, Snyk and solid JUnit/Pact testing to power the CI/CD pipelines (new joiners are encouraged to have something deployed to production in their first 2 weeks)

WHAT YOU’LL GET IN RETURN:

• Competitive Compensation -  competitive salary and share options
• Time Off – Generous annual leave on top of bank holidays.
• Parental Leave – Paid maternity, paternity, and adoption leave to support your family journey.
• Sabbatical – Extended unpaid and paid leave options after completing milestone years with Tide.
• Health Insurance – Private family insurance with additional OPD coverage and top-up options.
• Life & Accident Cover – Comprehensive accidental and life insurance protection.
• Mental Wellbeing – Access to therapy sessions, courses, meditations, and workshops.
• Volunteering & Development Days – Paid days annually for volunteering or personal growth.
• Learning & Development – Annual budget for books, courses, coaching, and more.
• WOO (Work Outside the Office) – Work from abroad for up to 90 days annually.
• Home Office Setup – Contribution towards setting up your home office
• Laptop Ownership – Keep your old laptop and get a new one when it’s time for a replacement.
• Snacks & Meals – Office perks with snacks, coffee, tea, and lunch (location dependent).

TIDEAN WAYS OF WORKING

At Tide, we champion a flexible workplace model that supports both in-person and remote work to cater to the specific needs of our different teams. 

While remote work is supported, we believe in the power of face-to-face interactions to foster team spirit and collaboration. Our offices are designed as hubs for innovation and team-building, where we encourage regular in-person gatherings to foster a strong sense of community.