Head of Research and Development (Kobas UK)

Job Description:

Head of Research & Development

Kobas provides Software-as-a-Service to the hospitality industry, transforming operational routines from dull, spreadsheet-based grind to quick, point-and-click management, across our core product pillars: In-Venue, Operations, Customers, Teams and Insights. Our software helps food and beverage businesses process millions of pounds of sales each year. We unite with our clients so that they can benefit from our complete hospitality system, as well as ensuring that best practices can be followed, sharing knowledge amongst our clients, providing insight, and achieving maximum ROI. So, if you enjoy a bite out to eat or enjoying a drink with friends – you’ve most likely been served using Kobas technology.

Mission Statement

To make it simple to provide great hospitality.

Vision

To be the hospitality platform that brings everything and everyone under the same roof. What you need as you grow, served up by the same team with the same vision. Complete hospitality management.

The Head of Research & Development (R&D) reports to the General Manager and is responsible for leading the engineering function, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, scalable and reliable software, and leading transformation of delivery processes, ways of working and team performance across the department. This role combines leadership, delivery ownership, and strategic oversight. The Head of R&D will define and oversee the technical direction of the Kobas platform, ensuring engineering practices, tools and processes are aligned with business goals, risk controls and delivery efficiency. They will own and improve the end-to-end delivery system, ensuring work flows efficiently from prioritisation through to release. They will drive the adoption of an AI-enabled Software Development Lifecycle (AI-SDLC) including the tools, standards and ways of working required to embed AI safely and effectively into day-to-day delivery.

The Head of R&D will be responsible for building a high-performing, accountable team, driving improvements in delivery, quality and efficiency, and leading change across the wider business. They are accountable for departmental performance, financial efficiency, and continuous improvement, including measurable improvements delivered through AI-SDLC and other process improvements (e.g. cycle time, throughput, quality and reliability).

While this is not expected to be a hands-on engineering role, it requires strong technical understanding and the ability to guide teams and stakeholders through complex challenges.

Job Responsibilities

Team Management

• Lead, mentor and develop a high-performing engineering team, dedicated to continuous improvement
• Create a collaborative, focused environment aligned to business priorities
• Promote a culture of ownership and accountability for quality across the engineering team
• Ensure team members understand business strategy, product direction and their role in delivering it
• Manage performance and change, supporting individuals to unlock potential

Technical Leadership & Strategy

• Oversee technical direction, ensuring alignment with business and product strategy
• Provide guidance and technical authority to make informed decisions across complexity and risk levels
• Ensure appropriate standards, architecture and practices are in place across the team
• Oversee and guide the quality, scalability and reliability of the Kobas platform
• Maintain awareness of industry and competitor trends to inform technical decisions

Delivery & Workload Management

• Own the development workflow and lifecycle, ensuring predictable and efficient output and clear communication of timelines to wider team
• Manage workload distribution across the team, balancing feature development, bug fixing and maintenance including technical debt
• Oversee and support the triage process, ensuring cards are clearly defined, prioritised and actionable in collaboration with the Product Manager
• Establish and enforce clear expectations around turnaround times, ownership and accountability
• Work closely with Product Manager and senior leadership team to align delivery with business priorities

Process & Performance Optimisation

• Lead evaluation and redesign of processes to improve delivery speed, quality and team efficiency
• Implement and maintain effective development practices including testing, code quality and design standards
• Establish clear performance metrics and ensure visibility across the team and wider business
• Ensure governance, risk management and operational resilience across systems
• Identify bottlenecks (e.g. code review, testing, dependencies) and implement structural solutions

AI-SDLC Adoption & Transformation

• Own and deliver the adoption of an AI-enabled Software Development Lifecycle (AI-SDLC), embedding AI into end-to-end product delivery (from discovery through to development, testing, release and support)
• Define, implement and evolve how AI is used across the team and the AI-SDLC model, including standards, governance and good practice (eg. security, data handling, quality and appropriate use), and work collaboratively across the business to help drive an AI-first approach
• Identify, introduce and improve AI tools across the development lifecycle (eg. coding, code review, testing, documentation and workflow automation), with a focus on practical and measurable efficiency gains
• Support and enable the team and the wider business to adopt AI confidently through training, guidance and shared best practices
• Define and track AI-SDLC success measures (eg. adoption, cycle time, throughput, quality and reliability), evaluate tools, and processes, and embed continuous improvement into long-term ways of working

QA and Quality Ownership

• Own the overall QA strategy and approach, including evaluation and implementation of automated testing
• Ensure quality is embedded within development processes and clearly owned across the team
• Assess the need for dedicated QA resource based on performance and delivery outcomes

Financial & Commercial Responsibility

• Manage departmental budget and contribute to efficiency ratio targets
• Make informed trade-offs between cost, speed and quality
• Contribute to business case development and technical planning

Hands-On Contribution

• Maintain sufficient technical understanding to support decision-making, challenge assumptions and guide the team
• Provide oversight and support on complex technical issues where required

Job Qualifications

• Strong understanding of software development principles, architecture and engineering practices
• Experience working closely with engineering teams in a technical environment
• An understanding of principles within PHP, SQL, MVC frameworks (e.g. Symfony), React, AngularJS, LESS/SASS, AWS (RDS, EC2, Route53, Cloudwatch, SES, S3), APIs, Linux environments and version control (e.g. Git)
• Experience working with legacy systems and modernising architecture
• Strong understanding of Agile development and delivery practices, and experience using project management tools (eg. Youtrack/Jira)
• Experience implementing automated testing and development tooling
• Experience leading cross-functional transformation programmes (process, tooling and change management), ideally including AI-enabled delivery and governance

Personal Characteristics

• Strategic but hands-on, able to move between high-level planning and detailed execution
• Strong technical credibility with the ability to challenge and guide engineers
• Commercially aware, and able to balance strategic thinking with practical delivery focus
• Positive, ambitious, with a can-do attitude
• Influential and able to build trust across technical and non-technical stakeholders
• Confident in managing complex team dynamics and addressing underperformance

Business Unit:

HTH Ltd

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

37.5

Number of Openings Available:

1

Worker Type:

Regular

Career Site:

More About Jonas Software:

Jonas Software is a leading provider of enterprise management software solutions, serving a wide range of vertical markets including hospitality, healthcare, construction, education, personal care, fitness, leisure, moving and legal services, to name a few. Within these markets, Jonas is comprised of over 65 distinct brands, each a respected leader in its domain.

Jonas’ vision is to be the branded global leader across these verticals and to be recognized by customers and industry stakeholders as the trusted provider of “Software for Life.” We are committed to technology, product innovation, quality, and exceptional customer service.

Jonas Software supports over 60,000 customers in more than 30 countries. We employ over 6,000 skilled professionals, including industry experts and technology specialists. Across our broader network, we support a global workforce of more than 30,000 employees.

Headquartered in Canada, Jonas Software has a global footprint with offices around the world. We’re a 100% owned subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc., based in Toronto, publicly listed on the TSX (CSU.TO), and a member of the S&P/TSX 60 Index.

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