End Date

Monday 26 January 2026

Salary Range

£126,523 - £148,850

We support flexible working – click here for more information on flexible working options

Flexible Working Options

Hybrid Working, Job Share

Job Description Summary

About the role:

We’re building a new future for financial wellbeing by helping customers feel confident and in control of their finances, now and into the future. Our Optimisation Lab exists to accelerate digital growth by improving journeys and experiences across Scottish Widows and Retail apps, authenticated web and public site. We experiment boldly, learn fast and deliver measurable outcomes.

As Lab Engineering Lead, you’ll provide hands-on technical leadership and strategic direction for a high-tempo engineering team focused on optimisation and experimentation. You’ll shape the Lab’s vision, set engineering standards and partner with product, design and platform teams to deliver value at pace.

Job Description

JOB TITLE: Head of Engineering – Optimisation Lab

SALARY: £126,523 - £148,850

LOCATIONS: Leeds or Edinburgh

WORKING PATTERN: Hybrid, 40% (or two days) at either the Leeds or Edinburgh office

About this opportunity

We’re building a new future for financial wellbeing by helping customers feel confident and in control of their finances, now and into the future. Our Optimisation Lab exists to accelerate digital growth by improving journeys and experiences across Scottish Widows and Retail apps, authenticated web and public site. We experiment boldly, learn fast and deliver measurable outcomes.

As Head of Engineering – Optimisation Lab, you’ll provide hands-on technical leadership and strategic direction for a high-tempo engineering team focused on optimisation and experimentation. You’ll shape the Lab’s vision, set engineering standards and partner with product, design and platform teams to deliver value at pace.

Here’s where you’ll make a difference –

• Lead engineering delivery: for experiments and optimisations across key journeys covering a variety of products, including Pensions, Investments, Protection and more
• Enable experimentation at scale: stand up and evolve targeting and A/B/MVT capabilities (e.g. Adobe Target), ensuring robust architecture, telemetry and rollback paths.
• Collaborate with platform teams on shared APIs, SDKs, core componentry backlog and customer release and technology evolution
• Drive engineering excellence: embed observability, automation and risk controls; mitigate technical debt through systems thinking and service design.
• Champion culture: foster a “Fail Fast, Learn Faster” mindset; coach engineers on experiment architecture and mobile/web patterns; support chapters and guilds.
• Manage investment and suppliers: oversee significant budgets and third-party relationships while maintaining delivery velocity.
• Attract and grow talent: build high-performing teams and create pathways for skill development in modern technologies

About us

If you think all banks are the same, you’d be wrong. We’re an innovative, fast-changing business that’s shaping finance as a force for good. A bank that’s empowering its people to innovate, explore possibilities and grow with purpose.

What you’ll need

• Strong experience in digital optimisation and Automated / build / minimum viable testing including data analysis and experiment readouts.
• Ability to balance strategic architecture with pragmatic delivery; technology-agnostic mindset.
• Proven leadership of engineering teams delivering high-tempo experiments and optimisations.
• Track record of building inclusive, high-performing cultures and inspiring simplicity and trust.

Technical expertise in:

• Native mobile (iOS/Android) and responsive web development.
• Integration of Adobe Target or equivalent experimentation frameworks on app and web.
• Shared SDK design and governance, feature flagging, and kill-switch architecture.
• API-driven architectures, microservices, and secure integration patterns.
• Observability tooling (e.g., telemetry, error budgets, dashboards) and automated CI/CD pipelines.
• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or GCP) and containerisation (Docker/Kubernetes)

About working for us

Our focus is to ensure we're inclusive every day, building an organisation that reflects modern society and celebrates diversity in all its forms.

We want our people to feel that they belong and can be their best, regardless of background, identity or culture.

We were one of the first major organisations to set goals on diversity in senior roles, create a menopause health package, and a dedicated Working with Cancer initiative.

And it’s why we especially welcome applications from under-represented groups.

We’re disability confident. So, if you’d like reasonable adjustments to be made to our recruitment processes, just let us know.

We also offer a wide-ranging benefits package, which includes:

• A generous pension contribution of up to 15%
• An annual bonus award, subject to Group performance
• Share schemes including free shares
• Benefits you can adapt to your lifestyle, such as discounted shopping
• 30 days’ holiday, with bank holidays on top
• A range of wellbeing initiatives and generous parental leave policies

Want to do amazing work, that’s interesting and makes a difference to millions of people? Join our journey!

At Lloyds Banking Group, we're driven by a clear purpose; to help Britain prosper. Across the Group, our colleagues are focused on making a difference to customers, businesses and communities. With us you'll have a key role to play in shaping the financial services of the future, whilst the scale and reach of our Group means you'll have many opportunities to learn, grow and develop.

We keep your data safe. So, we'll only ever ask you to provide confidential or sensitive information once you have formally been invited along to an interview or accepted a verbal offer to join us which is when we run our background checks. We'll always explain what we need and why, with any request coming from a trusted Lloyds Banking Group person.

We're focused on creating a values-led culture and are committed to building a workforce which reflects the diversity of the customers and communities we serve. Together we’re building a truly inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues have the opportunity to make a real difference.