Head of Research & Development – Lead Innovation in Secure Cloud SolutionsWe are seeking a visionary and technically proficient Head of Research & Development to lead the evolution of our cutting-edge, secure cloud-based collaboration platform. As a leader in the secure information-sharing space, you will oversee a multidisciplinary team, guiding the development of our platform from concept to deployment while ensuring the highest standards of security, compliance, and performance.In this critical role, you will work closely with engineering, DevOps, and customer support teams to align product development with strategic goals and client needs, particularly in the highly regulated sectors of government, defence, and healthcare. You will engage with key stakeholders across leading institutions, ensuring our solutions meet their exact requirements.Due to the sensitive nature of our client base, all candidates must be willing and eligible to undergo a high-level security clearance process. This requires candidates to have resided in the UK continuously for the past five years without any single absence exceeding 28 days.What You’ll Do:

• Lead & Manage Teams: Inspire and guide the engineering, DevOps, and support teams, ensuring seamless coordination and high-quality product delivery.
• Drive Product Development: Oversee the full development lifecycle, ensuring that features are developed on time, to budget, and with the highest standards of quality.
• Foster a Culture of Improvement: Implement best practices for agile development, continuous integration, automated testing, and deployment to enhance the development process.
• Strategic Planning: Guide the cloud strategy and infrastructure approach, ensuring the platform’s scalability, security, and long-term resilience.

What We’re Looking For:

• Experience: Proven leadership in managing software development teams and driving product innovation in a cloud-based, secure environment.
• Technical Expertise: Strong knowledge of CFML (ColdFusion or Lucee), JavaScript, SQL, and CSS. Experience with LINUX, Apache/Tomcat, Elasticsearch, and secure development practices is a plus.
• Agile Methodology: Hands-on experience with Agile delivery teams, preferably Scrum, with an emphasis on efficient project management and high-quality output.
• Leadership & Mentoring: Track record of hiring, training, and mentoring high-performing technical teams.
• Communication Skills: Ability to present technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

This role is remote, with occasional office presence required at least once a month. Ideally, candidates will be based within the M4 corridor area for ease of access to the office and client base.If you’re ready to lead the future of secure collaboration technology and have a significant impact on industries that matter, apply now!If you are interested please apply ASAP. The People Network is an employment agency and will respond to all applicants within three - five working days. If you do not hear within these timescales please feel free to get in touch.