Location: Remote
Salary: £110,000 - £120,000
About usAt Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better.
We believe in a future of work in schools where being challenged doesn’t mean being burnt out and overworked. Where data guides progress without overwhelming staff. And where everyone working in a school is reminded why they got into education every day.
Our MIS and school management tools are already making a difference in over 7,000 schools and trusts. Giving time and power back to staff, turning data into clear, actionable insights, and supporting happier working days.
At the heart of our brand is a recognition that the challenges schools face today aren’t just about efficiency, outputs and productivity - but about creating happier working lives for the people who drive education everyday: the staff. We want to make schools more joyful places to work, as well as learn.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced and forward-thinking Head of Developer Experience (DevEx) to join our Engineering team and help us define and lead the strategy to improve engineering productivity, developer experience, and adoption of AI-powered tooling across Arbor’s product and platform teams. The remit and focus of the role is to lead a team to design, implement, and own metrics-driven approaches to productivity; drive process and tooling improvements; and introduce an Internal Developer Platform (IDP) to enable engineers to deliver value quickly, consistently, and with high quality. It’s a broad and exciting role, so we’re looking for someone up for a challenge - if you’re a strong collaborator and a strategic thinker, this is the role for you.
Core responsibilities
- AI Tooling & Process Integration
- Lead the adoption of AI-powered developer tools and embed AI-assisted workflows into engineering processes, collaborating with Engineering Managers and Tech Leads.
- Identify, pilot, and scale AI tooling to improve productivity, velocity, and code quality across teams.
- Productivity Metrics & Continuous Improvement
- Define and implement productivity metrics; develop dashboards and regular reporting for leadership and teams.
- Design and execute strategies to systematically improve developer productivity and flow.
- Identify sources of developer waste and remove bottlenecks through automation, better tooling, and process re-engineering.
- Developer Experience & Internal Platform
- Own the strategy and implementation of our Internal Developer Platform (IDP), likely Atlassian Compass, to provide self-service tooling, templates, and documentation for engineers.
- Develop and maintain a service catalogue within the IDP in partnership with the platform team.
- Build and maintain templates, frameworks, and tools for rapid, consistent bootstrapping of new services and components.
- Utilise the Atlassian platform to provide joined up developer experiences
- Support the integration of all product teams into a single platform
- Collaboration & Leadership
- Partner closely with Platform Engineering to deliver foundational changes, before growing an autonomous DevX function.
- Advocate for a culture of continuous improvement, sharing best practices internally and externally.
- Over time, hire and lead a small team of Developer Experience (DevX) specialists.
Requirements
About you
- Significant experience leading developer productivity, Developer Experience (DevX), or Platform Engineering initiatives in a SaaS environment.
- Proven expertise with Internal Developer Platforms (e.g., Atlassian Compass, Backstage, or similar) and experience implementing/operating IDPs at scale.
- Deep familiarity with developer productivity metrics (DORA, SPACE, custom frameworks) and using them to drive change.
- Demonstrable track record of introducing and scaling AI-assisted tooling within engineering workflows.
- Experience designing and delivering templates, developer tooling, and service catalogues.
- Strong technical background in software engineering (hands-on coding experience required).
- Proven ability to influence and lead cross-functional teams without direct authority.
- SQL/BI experience (ideally with platforms like Snowflake) to query metrics and data
Bonus skills
- Prior experience in EdTech or other regulated SaaS environments.
- Experience leading or managing small technical teams.
- Familiarity with modern DevOps, CI/CD, and cloud-native patterns (AWS preferred).
- Track record of driving change in organisations scaling from legacy processes to modern DevEx platforms.
BenefitsWhat we offer
The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you’ll see the impact of your work everyday. We also offer:
- A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more!
- 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
- Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary
- Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks
- Private Dental Insurance with Bupa
- Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows
- Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay
- 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life!
- Access to services such as Calm and Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching)
- All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you
- Social committees that plan team, office and company wide events to bring people together and celebrate success
- Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc)
- Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year
- Dog friendly offices!
- Phone screen
- 1st stage
- 2nd stage
We are committed to a fair and comfortable recruitment process, so if you require any reasonable adjustments during your application or interview process, please reach out to a member of the team at [email protected].
Our commitment is also backed by our partnership with Neurodiversity Consultancy, Lexxic who provide us with training, support and advice.
Arbor Education is an equal opportunities organisationOur goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive - whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.
Refer a friendKnow someone else who would be good for this role? You can refer a friend, family member or colleague, if they are offered a role with Arbor, we will say thank you with a voucher valued up to £200! Simply email: [email protected]
Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.
Top Skills
What We Do
At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better. You’ve probably seen the headlines. Heavy workloads, constant change, admin pressure on teachers and staff at every level… sometimes it feels like this is just part and parcel of school life today. But it doesn’t have to be this way. At Arbor, we passionately believe that there’s a better way to work. And it starts by giving everyone the right tools and technology for the job. Arbor is the fastest-growing MIS today. Over 3,800 schools and MATs use our tools to work more collaboratively, free staff from busywork and drive their schools forward. We know any technology is an investment, in both time and cost, so everything we do is designed with schools to make a real difference. Each year, we measure our impact on the metrics that matter most - like saving staff time and getting greater insight into your data - to hold ourselves accountable. We’re building a platform and products we believe in - as well as strong, diverse team of experienced specialists, ex-teachers and Edtech engineers passionate about making a difference to the sector. Ultimately, we’re here to help make our schools and trusts stress a little less, and focus on what matters most - improving the lives of teachers and outcomes of students everywhere.
