VP, Product & Engineering

Role Description

Unit4 is looking for a VP, Product & Engineering to lead the Product & Engineering organization for our Coda and FP&A business, our enterprise financial management and planning products. You will own both engineering and product management end to end, including the team, architecture, delivery velocity, and roadmap, with engineering depth being the most critical strength for this role. You will report directly to the General Manager of Coda & FP&A. You will lead a global Product & Engineering organisation of approximately 70 people, which is expected to continue growing.

We have ambitious growth plans for this business, and we need a leader who can bring focus, urgency, and vision to get us there. Someone who can take real ownership of both teams and drive them with the accountability of a business owner. As a key member of the Coda & FP&A leadership team, you will help shape and deliver the long-term business strategy, with accountability for product direction, engineering execution, technology investment and organisational performance.

What You'll Do

• Own the Product & Engineering organization for Coda and FP&A end to end, including the team, architecture, delivery, and roadmap, reporting directly to the General Manager.
• Partner with the General Manager to define and deliver the long-term strategy for Coda & FP&A, translating business priorities into clear product, technology and investment plans.
• Set engineering strategy and technical direction for the Coda and FP&A codebases (mainly Java, C, and TypeScript), and stay hands-on enough to engage credibly in architecture and design decisions.
• Establish a clear multi-year technology roadmap aligned with product and business priorities, leading the modernisation of established platforms while protecting service stability and customer confidence.
• Own the product strategy and roadmap for Coda and FP&A, shaping priorities based on customer needs, market opportunity, and commercial goals.
• Act as executive sponsor for strategic customer relationships, key opportunities and business-critical escalations, working closely with Sales, Customer Success, Marketing and Finance to connect product choices to customer and commercial outcomes.
• Lead portfolio investment decisions, balancing customer needs, commercial opportunity, innovation, platform modernisation, operational resilience and technical debt, with clear recommendations to senior leaders on priorities, opportunities and risks.
• Sharpen our delivery speed and agility (tight feedback loops, rapid iteration, bias to action) while balancing that pace with the reliability our enterprise customers depend on.
• Lead, mentor, and grow the product and engineering teams as we scale; strengthen the management layer, hiring plan, and career paths needed to support that growth.
• Build succession and talent plans, and shape an organisational structure and operating model that create clear accountability, effective collaboration and sustainable growth across Product Management, Engineering, Architecture and related disciplines.
• Define and champion an AI strategy for the department: where AI can improve the product itself, and where it can improve how the teams build and ship.
• Own operational excellence across the department (uptime, security, performance, and quality standards) for financial software our customers depend on.
• Establish the metrics and operating rhythm (sprint cadence, DORA metrics, quality gates, OKRs) needed to run the department like a high-performing, scaling business.
• Use customer, product, engineering and operational data to inform priorities and investment decisions, and provide transparent reporting on portfolio performance, delivery, platform health and risk.
• Represent Coda and FP&A in company-wide product and technical leadership discussions, and engage with key customers on product and architectural topics and escalations when needed.
• Contribute as an active member of the Coda & FP&A leadership team and represent the business in Unit4 executive forums, bringing constructive challenge and a business-wide perspective to product, technology, AI and investment decisions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in engineering leadership, including at least 5 years managing engineering managers or multiple teams, with a proven ability to own both product and engineering.
• Experience leading a complex, global Product & Engineering organisation through growth, modernisation and organisational change is strongly preferred.
• Hands-on experience with financial applications is required for this role.
• A track record of leading with urgency and ownership with startup experience, or equivalent experience operating with startup-level speed and agility inside a larger organization.
• Strong hands-on fluency in Java, C, and TypeScript, or closely comparable languages, with the depth to make and defend architecture and technical trade-off decisions.
• Proven experience balancing the servicing of technical debt and maintenance with continued investment in innovation, protecting platform stability without slowing the pace of new development.
• Demonstrable hands-on experience applying AI to software engineering at team scale with measurable results (e.g. AI-driven code modernisation, test generation for legacy code or agentic development workflows) and an informed point of view on how AI will change both engineering and the product itself.
• Strong product instincts and the ability to translate customer and market signals into a roadmap that ties directly to growth and revenue goals.
• Genuine customer focus, proven in an enterprise context. Direct engagement with major accounts, escalations and advisory input.
• Genuine enthusiasm for AI and a point of view on how it will change both engineering practice and the product itself.
• A visionary streak; you don't just execute the roadmap, you shape what the department becomes and can articulate that future clearly to your team and to leadership.
• Proven people leadership: hiring, developing, and retaining strong product and engineering talent, and building a team and org structure that can scale with the business.
• Excellent communication skills, comfortable moving between deep technical detail and business-level conversations with the GM and other executives.

Benefits

• A culture built on trust and accountability - giving you the freedom and autonomy to be successful and make an impact.
• Balance - with our Flexible Leave Paid Time Off policy, remote working opportunities, Global Wellbeing Days, and other great benefits.
• Growth opportunities - we provide the tools and guidance required so that you can focus on what really matters to you and so, ultimately, you can achieve your best work.
• Talented colleagues, role models and mentors - work, learn and be inspired by some of the best talent in the software industry.
• A commitment to sustainability - with initiatives such as our Environmental, Social, and Governance strategy and Act4Good programme.
• A safe and inclusive working environment – supported by our Employee Resource Groups, which are open to all.