Head of Engineering

In Short: We are establishing a Global Technology Center in China to serve as a strategic R&D and innovation center for next-generation retail and commercial platforms. As Head of Engineering, you will be responsible for building, leading, and scaling this hub, owning the end-to-end engineering strategy, execution, and talent agenda. This role combines deep technical leadership, organizational building, and global stakeholder management. You will operate at the intersection of China’s highly advanced retail ecosystem and our global technology platform, delivering software products that power markets across the globe. You will report into global technology leadership and act as a key member of the Global Engineering Leadership Team. Your entrepreneurial and result-driven mindset, combined with strong hands-on technical oversight and execution skills, will make you a key member of the core team on which On’s future is built. Your Mission: Your mission is to build a world-class engineering organization in Shanghai, China that delivers globally scalable, locally excellent retail technology platforms. You will: Establish China as a center of excellence for retail innovation Lead the development of proprietary, self-owned global platforms Ensure China-based teams operate as first-class global product teams Balance China-specific depth with global platform standardization Build an engineering culture rooted in technical excellence, ownership, and global impact Lead with Vision — and with Code Lead and scale multiple engineering teams responsible for building globally critical retail and commercial platforms from China. Shape the technical direction, platform roadmap, and execution focus in close partnership with Product, Architecture, Security, and Global Tech Leadership. Stay deeply hands-on: participate in architectural design, challenge system boundaries, review complex trade-offs, and guide critical technical decisions with clarity and conviction. Ensure all platforms align with the global architecture north star, long-term platform strategy, and regulatory requirements across regions. Act as a visible technical leader who sets the bar for engineering excellence, ownership, and quality. Build Global Platforms with China-First Innovation Own the delivery, quality, and technical excellence of globally deployed platforms built and operated from the China Tech Hub. Lead the development of self-owned, modular, and scalable architectures that combine: Deep local innovation leveraging China’s advanced retail and technology ecosystem. A unified global core enabling rapid localization across APAC, EMEA, and AMER. Drive predictable execution by breaking down complex initiatives, managing uncertainty, and unblocking teams to deliver consistently at scale. Maintain high operational resilience by enforcing SLOs, incident response standards, security practices, and platform reliability expectations. Continuously raise the bar for how teams design, test, deploy, observe, and evolve production systems. Shape Culture and Grow World-Class Talent Build and nurture a high-performing engineering culture rooted in technical rigor, ownership, openness, and continuous learning. Champion global engineering values and principles through visible role modeling and decision-making. Coach and mentor Engineering Managers and senior engineers, developing strong technical leadership and succession pipelines. Own hiring strategy and decisions for the China hub, consistently raising the talent bar in a highly competitive market. Establish clear career paths, expectations, and feedback loops that enable engineers to grow and thrive. Collaborate and Communicate with Influence Tell clear, compelling technical stories—translating complex systems and trade-offs into clarity for senior stakeholders. Drive alignment across global engineering, product, and business teams, ensuring shared understanding and coordinated execution. Build trusted partnerships across regions,…