Head of Developer ; DevEx

Head of Developer Experience (Dev Ex)

Base pay range: £110,000 - £120,000.

Location:

Remote.

We are looking for an experienced and forward‑thinking Head of Developer Experience (Dev Ex) to join our Engineering team and help us define and lead the strategy to improve engineering productivity, developer experience, and adoption of AI‑powered tooling across Arbor's product and platform teams. The remit and focus of the role is to lead a team to design, implement, and own metrics‑driven approaches to productivity;

drive process and tooling improvements; and introduce an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) to enable engineers to deliver value quickly, consistently, and with high quality. If you are a strong collaborator and a strategic thinker, this is the role for you.

• AI Tooling & Process Integration
  • Lead the adoption of AI‑powered developer tools and embed AI‑assisted workflows into engineering processes, collaborating with Engineering Managers and Tech Leads
  • Identify, pilot, and scale AI tooling to improve productivity, velocity, and code quality across teams
• Productivity Metrics & Continuous Improvement
  • Define and implement productivity metrics; develop dashboards and regular reporting for leadership and teams
  • Design and execute strategies to systematically improve developer productivity and flow
  • Identify sources of developer waste and remove bottlenecks through automation, better tooling, and process re‑engineering
• Developer Experience & Internal Platform
  • Own the strategy and implementation of our Internal Developer Platform (IDP), likely Atlassian Compass, to provide self‑service tooling, templates, and documentation for engineers
  • Develop and maintain a service catalogue within the IDP in partnership with the platform team
  • Build and maintain templates, frameworks, and tools for rapid, consistent bootstrapping of new services and components
  • Utilise the Atlassian platform to provide joined up developer experiences
  • Support the integration of all product teams into a single platform
• Collaboration & Leadership
  • Partner closely with Platform Engineering to deliver foundational changes, before growing an autonomous DevX function
  • Advocate for a culture of continuous improvement, sharing best practices internally and externally
  • Over time, hire and lead a small team of Developer Experience (DevX) specialists

• Significant experience leading developer productivity, Developer Experience (DevX), or Platform Engineering initiatives in a SaaS environment
• Proven expertise with Internal Developer Platforms (e.g., Atlassian Compass, Backstage, or similar) and experience implementing/operating IDPs at scale
• Deep familiarity with developer productivity metrics (DORA, SPACE, custom frameworks) and using them to drive change
• Demonstrable track record of introducing and scaling AI‑assisted tooling within engineering workflows
• Experience designing and delivering templates, developer tooling, and service catalogues
• Strong technical background in software engineering (hands‑on coding experience required)
• Proven ability to influence and lead cross‑functional teams without direct authority
• SQL/BI experience (ideally with platforms like Snowflake) to query metrics and data

• Prior experience in EdTech or other regulated SaaS environments
• Experience leading or managing small technical teams
• Familiarity with modern Dev Ops, CI/CD, and cloud‑native patterns (AWS preferred)
• Track record of driving change in organisations scaling from legacy processes to modern Dev Ex platforms

• A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more!
• 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
• Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary
• Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks
• Private Dental Insurance with Bupa
• Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows
• Enhanced maternity and…