Job Description
Come shape the future of education with us.
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At Compass, we're on a mission to transform the school day for everyone - from staff and students to families and administrators. We build smart, seamless technology that empowers schools to focus on what really matters: learning, growing and thriving.
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That mission has fuelled our growth into a global scale-up, now supporting 5,000+ schools across three countries, backed by a team of 300+ people. Our all-in-one school management platform is redefining how education communities connect, communicate and operate.
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We're now looking for a Head of Engineering to own end-to-end engineering delivery and the day-to-day people leadership of our engineering org, spanning Compass, SchoolBytes, Griddle and Clipboard.
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About The Role
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Reporting to the CPTO, you'll translate technology and product priorities into predictable engineering execution, build and develop a strong Development Manager cohort, and own the engineering operating model, organisational capability and delivery performance.
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This is a leadership role built around the Development Manager layer - you'll lead through 5-7 Development Managers rather than directly managing squads, and be accountable for the consistency, capability and execution of the wider engineering organisation of :***** engineers.
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What You'll Do
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Engineering Delivery & Operations
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Own engineering's delivery performance across all squads, partnering with Product to ensure capacity, priorities and roadmap commitments are realistic, transparent and aligned.
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Establish a consistent engineering operating model, spanning planning, estimation and release practices, that enables teams to plan, prioritise and deliver predictably at scale.
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Own engineering capacity planning and allocation across squads, balancing strategic priorities, delivery commitments and team capability
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Establish and monitor meaningful engineering performance metrics, covering roadmap predictability, cycle time, quality, reliability technical debt and team health and report on these to the CPTO and ELT.
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Identify delivery risks and dependencies early, driving resolution or escalating material trade-offs to the CPTO
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People Leadership
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Directly manage and develop the Development Manager cohort. Set clear expectations, coach on people leadership and hold them accountable for their squads' delivery and team health.
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Own engineering headcount planning, hiring and onboarding in partnership with the CPTO and People & Culture.
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Continuously assess engineering team structures,



skills and capabilities to ensure the organisation is designed for current and future priorities.
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Build engineering career pathways and capability frameworks that support progression for engineers and managers.
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Own engineering engagement and retention, monitoring team health signals and championing a strong engineering culture
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Engineering Practice & Standards
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Partner with technical leaders (Development Managers, Tech Leads and the Head of Technology) to ensure engineering decisions support scalability, maintainability, security, reliability and delivery outcomes - you'll own engineering quality and technical execution even though this role is not the ultimate architecture owner.
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Champion consistent engineering standards, tooling and ways of working across squads.
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Balance delivery pace against technical debt and quality, escalating trade-offs to the CPTO where they affect strategy or architecture
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Partner with the Head of Technology to ensure engineering teams implement and maintain required standards for reliability security and compliance across AU, UK and Ireland
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Stakeholder Partnership
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Act as engineering's day-to-day representative to Product, People & Culture, the Head of Technology and other functional leaders.
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Give the CPTO clear, timely visibility into delivery status, risks and people matters.
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Requirements
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About You
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This role is for an experienced engineering leader who's managed through managers across multiple teams in a product-led SaaS workplace - someone who measures success by the strength of the team they've built, backed by strong delivery, people leadership and commercial judgement.
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You will bring:
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Experience leading through engineering managers across multiple teams, with accountability for delivery, people and organisational performance
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10+ years experience in software engineering, including several years leading Engineering/Development Managers in a product or SaaS environment; the shape of that experience matters more than an exact number of years.
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A track record of owning delivery outcomes across multiple teams to squads, ideally in a product-led SaaS,



PE-backed or similarly performance-oriented environment where predictability and efficiency are closely tracked.
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Experience scaling an engineering organisation and leading through change or transformation, including building consistent practice from process immaturity.
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Strong people leadership - experience coaching and developing engineering managers, not just individual engineers.
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Strong commercial and resource-management capability, comfortable owning capacity planning, headcount trade-offs and organisational design decisions
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Ability to operate effectively with Product leadership, aligning delivery capacity and commitments against roadmap priorities.
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Experience using engineering metrics (delivery, quality, reliability, team health) to drive performance, not just report on it.
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Sufficient technical depth to engage credibly with Compass' engineering stack and technical leaders, and to understand trade-offs relating to scalability, maintainability, security and reliability.
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Highly regarded:
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Experience across distributed or multi-entity engineering teams; AU/UK/Ireland exposure is a plus given Compass' footprint
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Direct experience with C#/.NET, React.js, Node.js and Typescript.
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Benefits
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Why Compass
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You'll join a purpose-driven company at a genuinely exciting stage - scaling product, team and markets simultaneously.
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What we offer:
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A hybrid working environment, with teams working a hybrid structure at our office hubs
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Learning and development opportunities, including a dedicated PD budget
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24/7 access to our Employee Assistance Program (EAP), including face-to-face, phone and live chat support
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A parental leave program for both primary and secondary carers
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Regular team events, social budgets and in-office perks help you stay connected, from team lunches to end-of-week socials
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Employee Referral Program
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A supportive, inclusive culture where your voice is valued and heard
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Compass is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. We embrace and celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.
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Prior to commencing employment, you'll need:
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A valid Employee Working With Children Check
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A satisfactory National Police Check
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Verification of unrestricted work rights in Australia (e.g. citizenship, passport or birth certificate)
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Ready to build something that matters?
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We'd love to hear from you. Find out more at .

📌 Head Of Engineering (Victoria)
🏢 Compass Education
📍 Victoria