Head of Engineering Standort Berlin (w/m/d)

Head of Engineering (w/m/d) - Berlin

Company: Perbility GmbH Location: Berlin Employment Type: Full-time, Permanent Work Arrangement: Partial Remote

"Why join the navy if you can be a pirate?" -- Our motto. That's why we're not looking for an ordinary leader.

Do you want to do more than just manage engineering teams? Do you want to shape, develop, and elevate them to the next level? Do you have a knack for knowing when a team is flying and when it's stuck -- and do you know exactly what to do to help it thrive again?

If so, we're looking for you: an experienced leader who combines strategic thinking with genuine people management skills -- as Head of Engineering for our Core HR division.

About Us

We are a leading provider of cloud-based HR software. With our Helix platform, we support over 2,700 companies and more than 650,000 users in digitizing their HR processes. We combine technological innovation with years of expertise -- and do it with a team that enjoys its work.

The Core HR division is the heart of our product portfolio: it's where the software that matters to our customers every day is created. As Head of Engineering, you will give this division a voice, a direction -- and the necessary backbone.

Your Challenge

As Head of Engineering for Core HR, you will report directly to the CTO and be responsible for one of the company's central engineering areas -- with teams at our Berlin and Bamberg locations.

• Leadership & Development: You will lead your team of Engineering Managers and Software Engineers -- challenging and supporting them. Through regular 1:1s, targeted development discussions, and genuine interest in the people behind the roles, you will create an environment where self-initiative, transparency, and honest communication are practiced. You will recognize potential and help it flourish.
• Delivery & Reliability: You will ensure that Core HR delivers reliably and predictably. You will keep an eye on resource allocation and the roadmap, remove obstacles -- before they become showstoppers -- and coordinate with a calm head and a clear overview, even in turbulent phases.
• Engineering Excellence: Together with the technical experts in your team, you will drive code quality, best practices, and technical advancement -- including the sensible use of AI in development. Not as a detailed architect, but as someone who sets the framework within which technical excellence can grow.
• Connecting Locations: A significant part of your role will be to bring Berlin and Bamberg closer together -- culturally, procedurally, and in daily collaboration. You will develop a shared engineering identity across location boundaries and ensure that spatial distance does not become a content distance.
• Processes & Structures: You will professionalize engineering processes within your area: from hiring and onboarding to feedback cycles and delivery structures, you will establish working methods that make the team faster and better.
• Strategic Alignment: You will be a close sparring partner for the CTO -- with a direct line and real influence on the technical strategy. You will think beyond your own area and contribute your perspective to overarching engineering decisions.
• Collaboration with Product: You will shape the collaboration between Engineering and Product Management at eye level. You will ensure that roadmaps exist, are aligned, and can be realistically implemented.

Your Profile

We are looking for creators, not administrators. Someone who takes initiative, makes clear decisions, and provides direction.

• Experience: You have several years of experience as Head of Engineering, Engineering Director, or in a comparable role with responsibility for multiple teams. Ideally, you are familiar with the B2B software environment or the challenges of HR or enterprise products.
• Leadership Depth: You have experience in multi-level leadership: You lead both experienced Engineering Managers and Software Engineers directly -- with a clear understanding of what each level needs.
• Mindset: You are people-first. You know that your impact is created through others -- and you are motivated by seeing others grow. You are empathetic, capable of handling conflict, and make clear decisions even in complex situations.
• Agile Methodologies: Agile ways of working are not buzzwords for you, but lived practice. You know how to scale and continuously improve agile structures across multiple teams.
• Technical Foundation: You have a solid engineering background and can follow technical discussions, ask critical questions, and contextualize architectural decisions. Active coding is not expected. Knowledge of our teams' relevant stacks -- C#/.NET and PHP -- is an advantage. Experience with DevOps cultures and modern development tools is also beneficial.
• Communication: You can present technical topics understandably and mediate between different stakeholders. You find the right tone with both developers and at the C-level -- in German and English.
• Personality: You have backbone, are decisive, and remain calm even in stressful phases. Empathy and humor are as much a part of the job for you as professionalism.

Why PERBILITY?

With us, you can expect a balanced mix of work and life, a secure job with flexible working hours and the possibility to work partly from home, a creative atmosphere, and independent action. Enjoy your break from everyday work on our roof terrace, complete with a grill.

Additionally for this position:

• An attractive compensation package with a performance-related component -- appropriate to the responsibility of this role.
• A real build-up situation: new leadership structure, genuine scope for design -- you shape how Engineering is positioned at Perbility.
• Training budget for your personal and professional development -- we focus on long-term cooperation.
• Modern office in Berlin-Tegel -- with a roof terrace that is actually used.

Become part of Perbility. Apply now!