Director - Engineering

INSPIRE | EXHILARATE | DELIGHT

Chalhoub Group’s Capability Hub is our technology and innovation hub set up with the vision to unite exceptional talent to build technology and capabilities that elevate luxury experiences and define the future of luxury retail.

For over seven decades, Chalhoub Group has been a partner and creator of luxury experiences in the Middle East. In its pursuit to excel as a hybrid luxury retailer, the Group has curated a portfolio of over 10 owned brands and strengthened its distribution and marketing expertise for over 400 international names across luxury fashion, beauty, jewellery, watches, eyewear, and art de vivre categories.

Every step at Chalhoub Group is taken to build a future where luxury dreams become reality — bridging cultures and crafting memorable experiences for our consumers. Be it by constantly reinventing itself, committing to innovation, or embracing new technologies, the Group is shaping the future of luxury retail. It delivers seamless omnichannel experiences across more than 950 stores, online platforms, and mobile apps. Driving this innovation journey is The Greenhouse — the Group’s innovation hub, incubator, and accelerator for startups and emerging businesses, regionally and globally.

Chalhoub Group fosters a people-at-heart culture rooted in diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a workplace catalysed by forward thinking and future-proofing. Today, it brings together over 16,000 talented professionals across eight countries in the Middle East, with a presence in LATAM.

Sustainability is at the core of the Group’s strategy, guided by a clear commitment to people, partners, and the planet. Chalhoub Group is proud to be a member of the United Nations Global Compact, a signatory of the Women’s Empowerment Principles, and to have pledged to reach Net Zero by 2040.

What you'll be doing  

Lead the Software Engineering organization across ecommerce, mobile, APIs and integration, cloud, reliability, security, and quality engineering. Set the strategic direction and govern execution of the full software development lifecycle across Chalhoub's digital commerce, mobile, retail supply chain, data, and cloud modernization platforms.

• Set the strategic engineering direction for the Engineering domain, defining multi-year platform roadmaps across digital commerce, mobile, retail supply chain, data, and cloud modernization that balance innovation with long-term technical sustainability.

• Govern API-first design standards, and cloud-native engineering practices across distributed systems, microservices, and event-driven architecture, and represent Engineering in Design Authority.

• Partner with Omnichannel, Corporate Technology, and Information Security to align engineering priorities, operating rhythms, and delivery standards across customer, corporate, and platform products.

• Lead engineering excellence across the full SDLC, governing secure coding, test automation, CI/CD, and observability to ensure quality, security, and pace of delivery organization wide.

• Own delivery governance, engineering metrics, and continuous improvement across the domain, ensuring predictable, measurable delivery across all engineering teams.

• Own the engineering budget and vendor strategy, managing technology and vendor relationships to align spending with business priorities.

• Own engineering talent and organization strategy, including organization design, workforce and headcount planning, capacity management, and the engineering operating model.

• Build and develop the engineering leadership team, mentoring Engineering Managers and Senior Managers and driving capability development across the function.

• Define the AI governance framework for engineering, establishing responsible AI adoption standards and championing AI-assisted development such as Claude Code while maintaining quality and security

• Establish metrics and KPIs to measure the impact of AI tools and engineering practices on development velocity, code quality, and team productivity.

What you’ll need to succeed  

• 15 or more years of software engineering experience, including significant tenure in senior engineering leadership roles within large, multi-team technology organizations.

• Deep expertise in cloud-native development (AWS/GCP/Azure, Kubernetes, Terraform, SFCC, Shopify, React Native, Fluent), API-first design, across large-scale digital platforms.

• Strong command of engineering excellence disciplines including secure coding, test automation, CI/CD, observability, and application security across ecommerce, mobile, APIs, cloud, reliability, security, and quality engineering.

• Proven track record building and leading large, multi-team engineering organizations, including manager development, organization design, workforce and capacity planning, and delivery governance.

• Experience owning engineering budgets and vendor management, and governing responsible AI adoption and AI-assisted development at organizational scale

What we can offer you  

With us, you will turn your aspirations into reality.  We will help shape your journey through enriching experiences, learning and development opportunities and exposure to different assignments within your role or through internal mobility. Our Group offers diverse career paths for those who are extraordinary, every day.  

We recognise the value that you bring, and we strive to provide a competitive benefits package which includes health care, child education contribution, remote and flexible working policies as well as exclusive employee discounts.  

Using GenAI in Your Application Process

To support a fair and consistent experience for all candidates, we ask that assessments and interviews are completed independently and without assistance from generative AI tools. This ensures we understand your strengths, your thinking, and how you approach real situations.

We Invite All Applicants to Apply

It Takes Diversity Of Thought, Culture, Background, Differing Abilities and Perspectives to truly Inspire, Exhilarate and Delight our customers. At Chalhoub Group, we are committed to inclusion and diversity.

We welcome all applicants to apply and be part of our exciting future. We ensure equal opportunity for all our applicants without regard to gender, age, race, religion, national origin or disability status.