Head of Product Engineering

NearSt

Location London // Shoreditch - Semi-Remote
Salary Competitive + benefits + stock options
  • Closing: 6:23pm, 1st Jun 2022 BST

Perks and benefits

Work from home option
Retirement benefits
Wellness programs
Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
Extra holiday
Professional development
Mentoring/coaching
Team social events
Team lunches
Extracurricular clubs
Equipment allowance
Cycle to work scheme
Free fruit
Free soft drinks
Dogs in the office

Candidate happiness

8.59 (378)

Job Description

About NearSt

NearSt’s mission is to get people back into high street shops. Our retail tech platform makes shops’ in-store inventory data visible to the internet, so that anyone anywhere can see what’s in stock in their local shop. 

Companies like Google and Facebook use our technology to show live in-store inventory on their platforms to millions of shoppers searching nearby, sending online shoppers into physical stores.

The world of retail is changing dramatically, and shoppers are going online to find products offline, locally more than ever. Our fast-growing tight-knit team of 25 share a common vision that what we’re building will define the future of how everyone shops - a vision that’s secured backing from some of the best names in retail as we lead this wave of transformation.


About the role

This is a unique opportunity to lead product development at one of Europe’s hottest startups*. Today our engineering team of six are led by our Tech Lead and Engineering Manager, who together have built a fantastic product used by thousands of shops, and we’ve just hired our first Product Manager. As we shift into our next growth gear we’re looking for a Head of Product Engineering to join us and lead product, engineering, and (soon) design and data as one team.

As the world emerges from the pandemic we’re making massive investments in our product, seizing the opportunity to build the future of how the world uses the web to shop locally. As part of the leadership team reporting directly into the founders, you’ll play a central role in making this bold future a reality. You’ll be taking ownership of product engineering’s strategic direction and team growth, helping to deliver an incredible, groundbreaking product at scale. In doing so you’ll have the opportunity to make a real impact on the high streets and communities that are all around us every day, and get more people back into high street shops.  

*We are thrilled to have won Europa's Hottest Retail Tech Startup in 2019 and to have been a finalist again in 2021!


What you’ll be doing

  • Owning the product engineering road map in collaboration with your team leaders and the wider leadership team, based on the company vision and objectives

  • Hiring the best talent and providing a structure for them to execute to an awesome standard against the road map, across engineering, product management, and design

  • Leading and coaching team leads across engineering, product, design, and data to ensure they are growing and their teams are performing to their full potential

  • Fostering a culture that blends continuous personal growth, high standards and caring personally for both colleagues and our customers

  • Evaluating and balancing the needs of rapid new product development, stable and secure architecture, and keeping technical debt manageable

  • Managing the product engineering budget

What you’ll bring

  • You have 7+ years product experience, with at least 3 of those at a leadership level in early-stage fast-growth startups

  • You are a big-picture thinker and are able to set and challenge ambitious strategic directions

  • You’ve hired, built, and retained high performing product teams from an early stage 

  • You have a strong empathy for engineering, without necessarily being a software developer yourself

  • You are an excellent communicator and able to engage effectively with a wide variety of stakeholder types both internally and externally

  • You’re a great coach and care deeply about growing future leaders within your team

  • You are knowledgeable about agile processes and have a solid understanding of what sustainable product development practises look like

Why we think you’ll love it here

NearSt is a collaborative place, which means we work together and no one gets left behind. We value positive, open communication and see learning as an essential pillar of our collective growth as a company. 

At our Shoreditch HQ you’ll find music, food, plants, the occasional dog, and spaces for focussed and collaborative working. On Friday you’ll usually find us celebrating the week with a drink (or two!) as part of our weekly roundup. 

Our growing team of 25 are all united in our enthusiasm for what the future of retail holds (hear our CEO talk about this during our keynote at The Next Web), and believe we have an incredible opportunity to make a massive positive impact on the world.

  • Semi-Remote Team 🌍 We work as a semi-remote team, where our Hoxton Square office is a hub for collaboration and team-oriented work and home is a place for deep focussed work. Each team sets their own schedule based on their own needs, and all new joiners get a budget to make sure their home is set up as a great space to work.

  • Tech and Software 💻  Whether you’re working at home or HQ, you’ll benefit from the latest MacBooks and freedom to suggest the software that will help you do your best work, rather than updating spreadsheets and waiting for apps to load.

  • Stock Options 💰 Everyone should share a stake in our success, so if you’re a full time employee you’ll receive stock options when you join. 

  • Wellness Budget 🧘 Stay at your best with a monthly wellness budget to spend as you please on things to keep you happy, healthy and well. Whether that’s on meditation apps, healthy food subscriptions, or gym memberships. If it keeps you well, it’s covered.

  • Mental Health Support 🌸 Taking care of your mental health is just as important as your physical health, so we provide professional and confidential support from the wonderful therapists at Spill, directly in Slack.

  • Personal Growth ✨ Develop personally and professionally with an annual budget of £1,000  for you to upskill in ways that suit your own learning style - whether through books, training courses, or attending events.

  • Mindset 💭  We cultivate an entrepreneurial can-do mindset; brilliant ideas can and must come from everywhere in the business and we have working groups and regular meeting to ensure these ideas find their way to fruition.


Apply now

We think a great workplace is filled with all the diversity the world has to offer. This means we make no judgement about the things that make you, you - whether that be gender, religion, sexuality, race, disability, or a secret love for 80s action films. If you’re excited by our mission, we’re excited to meet you! 

We use Applied for applications, which means that while we ask for a CV, no one sees this until we have anonymously reviewed your responses to a short set of initial questions that help you show how you think. We do this as we believe in making recruitment as fair and de-biased as possible. If you want to chat with us about the role before applying, just email careers@near.st. 

There are four interview stages for this role. 

  • 2 questions submitted and reviewed blind using Applied

  • Initial phone interview about you and to discuss the role with our senior engineering advisor (1 hour)

  • Experience and competencies interview with the product engineering team (2 hours)

  • Culture and ambitions interview with the co-founders (1 hour)


We can’t wait to hear from you.


Removing bias from the hiring process

Applications closed Wed 1st Jun 2022

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Removing bias from the hiring process

  • Your application will be anonymously reviewed by our hiring team to ensure fairness
  • You’ll need a CV/résumé, but it’ll only be considered if you score well on the anonymous review

Applications closed Wed 1st Jun 2022