SW Engineering Excellence DirectorCountry: SpainIT STARTS HERE Santander () is evolving from a global, high-impact brand into a technology-driven organization, and our people are at the heart of this journey.
\n
Together, we are driving a customer-centric transformation that values bold thinking, innovation, and the courage to challenge what's possible.
\n
This is more than a strategic shift.
\n
It's a chance for driven professionals to grow, learn, and make a real difference .
\n
Our mission is to contribute to help more people and businesses prosper .
\n
We embrace a strong risk culture and all our professionals at all levels are expected to take a proactive and responsible approach toward risk management.
\n
Technology at Santander: Where innovation drives business Being part of the Technology team at Santander means working at the heart of the Group's transformation.
\n
Our purpose is to support the business with innovative solutions that have a real impact on customers, employees and communities.
\n
We contribute to business challenges by combining cutting-edge technology — from cloud-native architectures and data streaming to generative artificial intelligence — with agile and collaborative methodologies .
\n
Here, every line of code, every operational improvement and every process optimisation has a purpose, and everything we build contributes to a more inclusive, efficient and sustainable future .
\n
THE DIFFERENCE YOU MAKE Role Overview You will lead the activation and scaling of engineering excellence across Santander by building a vibrant, community-driven ecosystem of software engineering practices.
\n
Rather than focusing solely on defining standards, your role is to ensure their adoption, evolution, and continuous improvement through a federated \"inner source\" model, inspired by leading open-source communities.
\n
You will orchestrate a general network of engineers, champions, and communities of practice to co-create and evolve \"The Santander Way\" of building software—embedding modern SDLC practices, developer experience, and AI-enabled engineering into the daily work of teams.
\n
In close collaboration with Domains, and Platforms, you will turn engineering excellence into a living system —community-led, data-informed, and continuously improving—where best practices are shared, reused, and scaled organically across the Group.
\n
Key Responsibilities Adoption & Scaling of Engineering Practices Drive the adoption of SDLC standards, quality, DevSecOps, and AI-assisted development through community mechanisms (champions, COE, showcases), rather than top-down enforcement.Ensure practices are embedded in day-to-day engineering workflows.
\n
Community-Driven Standards Evolution Partner with Domains, Platforms to evolve standards into living assets, continuously improved by the community based on real usage, feedback, and data Engineering Insights Establish a \"Data-Driven Agentic Engineering\" framework.
\n
You will build and oversee the analytics platforms that track DORA metrics, Cycle Time, and Deployment Frequency to provide leadership with visibility into the health of the SDLC.
\n
Developer Experience & Enablement Enable a frictionless developer experience by promoting reusable platforms, inner source assets, and self-service capabilities.Act as a catalyst for adoption of developer tools through community engagement and feedback loops.
\n
WHAT YOU'LL BRING Our people are our greatest strength.
\n
Every individual contributes unique perspectives that make us stronger as a team and as an organization.
\n
We're enabling teams to go beyond by valuing who they are and empowering what they bring.
\n
The following requirements represent the knowledge, skills, and abilities essential for success in this role.
\n
Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
\n
Key Skills & Experience Strong background in software engineering, with experience in large-scale, distributed systems.
\n
The Data Edge: Proven experience in software development analytics—using data to tell the story of how software is built and where it can be improved.
\n
Technical Leadership: A strong foundation in software engineering, with the ability to speak the language of both a developer and a business Change Management: Experience leading organizational shifts in complex, regulated environments (like Tier Banking).
\n
Collaborative Mindset: A history of breaking down silos between \"The Business\" and \"The Engineers.\" Leadership & Culture Acts as an enabler and coach rather than a directive authority.
\n
Promotes a culture of continuous improvement, learning, and experimentation.
\n
Encourages autonomy, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration.
\n
Builds trust across Domains, Platforms, and leadership teams.
\n
Champions