Digital Engineering Director

Merlin Technology | London / Hybrid | B1 Bring Joy. Create Connections. Make Memories.

At Merlin Entertainments, we create world‑class experiences that bring people together – from LEGOLAND® and SEA LIFE to Madame Tussauds and beyond. As part of our ambitious global digital transformation, we’re looking for a Digital Engineering Director to lead the technology that powers our guest experience across the world.

This is a senior, high‑impact leadership role at the heart of our Digital Transformation – shaping the platforms that millions of guests interact with every year.

Reporting to the VP, Global Engineering
, you’ll own the end‑to‑end digital engineering portfolio that underpins Merlin’s global guest journey. From mobile apps and interactive kiosks to ticketing, POS, payments, integration, and cloud platforms – this role sets the technical direction and drives delivery at scale.

You’ll lead multiple high‑performing engineering teams and technical leaders, working closely with Product, UX/UI, Operations and Commercial teams to deliver seamless, secure and scalable digital experiences across web, app and on‑site touchpoints.

This is a role for a strategic technical leader who can operate confidently at board‑level and dive deep when needed.

• Define and execute Merlin’s digital engineering strategy, aligned to our business and technology vision
• Own the multi‑year roadmap for all digital platforms, ensuring scalability, security and innovation
• Partner with senior stakeholders to align engineering delivery with commercial and guest outcomes

• Provide technical leadership across mobile, web, kiosk, POS, ticketing, integration and cloud platforms
• Champion modern engineering practices including microservices, API‑first and event‑driven architectures
• Lead platform engineering, Dev Ops, SRE and APIM strategies to ensure reliability and performance

• Own the full software development lifecycle, from ideation through to live operations
• Champion agile and Dev Ops ways of working across global engineering teams
• Manage budgets, vendors and resource planning across the digital portfolio

• Lead, mentor and develop multiple engineering teams, tech leads and managers
• Build a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, learning and accountability
• Drive talent development, succession planning and career progression

• Ensure high availability, resilience and performance across all digital platforms
• Oversee incident management, continuous improvement and operational KPIs
• Ensure compliance with security, data protection and industry standards (e.g. GDPR, PCI-DSS)

• 10+ years’ experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in senior technical leadership roles
• Proven experience leading large‑scale digital platforms across mobile, e‑commerce, ticketing, POS or payments
• Strong background in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure or GCP), microservices and API management
• Deep expertise in agile delivery, Dev Ops, CI/CD and SRE practices
• Experience leading global, multi‑disciplinary engineering teams
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence technical and non‑technical audiences
• Commercially minded, with a clear understanding of how technology drives customer experience and revenue

Experience in retail, hospitality or multi‑site international environments is a strong advantage.

At Merlin, how you lead matters as much as what you deliver. We’re looking for leaders who are:

• Soulfully Curious – open, inquisitive and always learning
• Results Focused – accountable, decisive and outcome‑driven
• Extraordinary Teammates – collaborative, inclusive and generous with knowledge
• Developers of People – passionate about growing talent and building future leaders

You’ll be part of a global organisation with iconic brands, ambitious growth plans and a genuine commitment to creating memorable experiences – not just for our guests, but for our people too.

If you’re excited by large‑scale digital platforms,…