Lead Engineering; div​/f​/m

JOB PURPOSE

This is a key leadership position focused on building, leading, and developing a high-performance team of frontend engineers. You are responsible for the personal and professional growth of your 7-9 direct reports, the operational excellence of your department, and the consistently high quality of our frontend implementations. Your leadership is key to scaling our capabilities and securing our position as a technology leader.

• Significant experience (10+ years) in software development.
• Proven track record (3-5+ years) in direct disciplinary line management in an agency or product-oriented environment.
• A natural leader
  : empathetic, empowering, and passionate about developing and nurturing talent.
• Deep, hands-on expertise in the modern frontend ecosystem (e.g.,
  React, Next.js, Vue, Type Script, headless architectures, performance optimization
  ). Your technical credibility is the foundation of your leadership.
• A strong operational and strategic mindset
  , with experience in managing team KPIs and optimizing processes.
• A structured and organized approach to building sustainable teams and systems that enable growth.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills
  .
• Fluency in both German and English
  .

• Lead, manage, and mentor a department of talented frontend engineers and Team Leads.
• Take responsibility for their career development through regular 1-on-1s, feedback, and performance reviews.
• Foster a positive, inclusive, and high-performance team culture by establishing department rituals and driving initiatives to increase employee satisfaction.
• Take ownership of your department's operational performance
  , being accountable for key metrics such as team utilization and project budgets
  .
• Manage project forecasting and resource planning in collaboration with the resource management team to ensure successful project staffing.
• Partner with other leaders (Directors, VPs) to ensure your department is aligned with broader business goals and client needs.
• Act as the primary escalation point for all local team, delivery, and quality-related topics within the frontend discipline.
• Define and maintain the standards, processes, and best practices for frontend engineering at DEPT®, ensuring consistent, high-quality delivery across all projects.
• Lead the entire hiring process for your department—from needs analysis and role definition to the final hiring decision.

• Stay happy and healthy with a contribution to your health through the Open Up platform, and a multisport programme;
• Awesome clients. Whether big, small, local or global — at DEPT you’ll get the opportunity to work with all of them. And we celebrate all of our successes together!
• The opportunity for possibility. We want to enable you to do what you do best and help you develop your skills further with training, development and certifications.
• Global annual DEPT Cares Month in which employees come together and donate their skills to support local charities.

We are pioneers  were born digital and we are a new model of agency, with a deep skillset in tech and marketing. We hire curious, self-driven, talented people who never stop innovating. Our culture is big enough to cope and small enough to care, with presence across 30+ countries. We invest in your growth, your team, and give you the autonomy to solve our clients’ problems, no matter where you are in the world.

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

At DEPT®, we take pride in creating an inclusive workplace where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. We actively recruit, develop, nurture, and retain talented individuals from diverse backgrounds, with varying skills and perspectives. We encourage applications from all who feel they can contribute to our mission.

We also encourage you to reach out to us to discuss any reasonable adjustments we can make to support you throughout the recruitment process and your time with us.

Want to know more about our dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion? Check out our efforts here.