Head of Development - eCommerce

ABOUT AUSSIEBUM

aussieBum is an established Australian men's underwear, swimwear and apparel brand with a global e-commerce presence.

We operate our own custom-built PHP/MySQL e-commerce platform, supported by AWS infrastructure, internal business systems and various third-party integrations.

We're looking for an experienced, hands-on Head of Development to take ownership of our development operations, technical delivery and engineering resources.

This is a leadership role that combines strong technical expertise, people management, commercial awareness and proactive problem-solving.

We're not simply looking for a senior developer. We need someone who can lead our development function, manage external agencies and ensure projects are delivered efficiently and successfully.

THE ROLE

You will oversee the development of our e-commerce platform and supporting technology.

Managing our existing outsourced development agency is a key responsibility. You will have the authority to evaluate technical approaches, allocate work, review estimates, manage delivery and recommend additional or alternative development resources where appropriate.

You will act as aussieBum's technical gatekeeper, ensuring development decisions are commercially sensible, technically sound and aligned with our business objectives.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

DEVELOPMENT LEADERSHIP

• Lead and coordinate our internal and external development resources.
• Translate business requirements into clear technical specifications and development tasks.
• Allocate work according to developer capabilities and availability.
• Establish priorities, milestones and realistic timelines.
• Proactively monitor progress and resolve blockers.
• Oversee projects from planning through development, testing and production release.
• Maintain clear reporting, accountability and visibility across all development activities.

EXTERNAL AGENCY & VENDOR MANAGEMENT

• Take ownership of the technical and operational management of outsourced development agencies.
• Review development estimates, proposed hours, costs and technical solutions.
• Challenge unnecessary complexity, inefficiencies and unreasonable costs.
• Evaluate developer performance, productivity and delivery quality.
• Identify resource or capability gaps.
• Source, assess and manage alternative agencies or specialist developers where necessary.
• Ensure external resources meet our technical, commercial and delivery expectations.

TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE & DEVELOPMENT

• Oversee our custom PHP/MySQL e-commerce platform.
• Review application architecture, database structures, code quality and performance.
• Provide hands-on technical guidance, code reviews and troubleshooting.
• Oversee APIs and integrations with internal and external business systems.
• Identify technical debt and recommend practical improvements.
• Maintain secure, scalable and maintainable technical solutions.
• Guide technical decisions for new features, modernisation and future development.

AWS, INFRASTRUCTURE & INTEGRATIONS

• Oversee AWS infrastructure, servers, databases and associated services.
• Monitor infrastructure performance, reliability and costs.
• Manage technical integrations involving inventory, warehouse management, finance, payments and shipping.
• Ensure appropriate security, monitoring, alerting and operational controls.
• Maintain system documentation, backup procedures and disaster recovery planning.

QA, DEPLOYMENT & TECHNICAL OPERATIONS

• Establish and maintain development, staging, testing and production release procedures.
• Ensure changes are properly tested and approved before deployment.
• Manage development workflows, repositories and release processes.
• Investigate recurring incidents and implement long-term solutions.
• Ensure technical changes are documented and traceable.
• Maintain system reliability and business continuity.

TECHNICAL STRATEGY & BUSINESS COLLABORATION

• Work closely with management on technical strategy and development priorities.
• Develop and maintain a practical development roadmap.
• Evaluate new technologies and recommend improvements.
• Assess build-versus-buy decisions.
• Balance development costs, delivery speed, security and long-term maintainability.
• Provide proactive technical advice and commercially sound recommendations.

OUR TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT

• Custom PHP-driven e-commerce platform
• MySQL databases
• AWS infrastructure (EC2, RDS and related services)
• Git-based repositories
• Internal administration and business management systems
• ERP, inventory and fulfilment integrations
• Payment, shipping and marketing APIs
• Microsoft Teams and ClickUp

ESSENTIAL SKILLS & EXPERIENCE

• Strong professional experience in PHP and MySQL.
• Solid knowledge of AWS and cloud infrastructure.
• Proven experience leading development teams or engineering functions.
• Experience managing outsourced developers and external agencies.
• Strong understanding of e-commerce architecture and business operations.
• Ability to evaluate technical estimates, resources and delivery quality.
• Experience with APIs, databases, system integrations and production environments.
• Strong knowledge of QA, security, testing and deployment processes.
• Excellent communication, leadership and organisational skills.
• Strong commercial awareness, initiative and accountability.

HIGHLY REGARDED

• Previous Head of Development, Engineering Manager or Technical Lead experience.
• Experience managing custom-built e-commerce platforms.
• Experience modernising legacy PHP applications.
• Familiarity with ERP, WMS, inventory and financial integrations.
• Experience sourcing and managing technical vendors.
• Exposure to AI integrations, automation and emerging technologies.

WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR

Ownership is the most important quality we're looking for.

We want someone who doesn't simply wait for instructions, but takes responsibility for the entire development process.

Someone who can identify problems, challenge inefficient approaches, manage developers, anticipate blockers and proactively drive projects to completion.

You should be comfortable making decisions, leading technical discussions and ensuring external development resources deliver genuine value to the business.

We're looking for a leader who combines technical depth with practical business thinking.

WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

• Full-time, long-term opportunity.
• Remote candidates welcome.
• Business hours: 8:30am–5:00pm (AEST/AEDT).
• Dedicated availability during agreed working hours.
• Direct collaboration with our Australian leadership team.
• Compensation negotiable depending on location, experience and capabilities.

WHAT WE OFFER

• The opportunity to take genuine ownership of development for an established global brand.
• Direct involvement in technical strategy and business decisions.
• The ability to shape development processes, architecture and team structure.
• Interesting engineering challenges across e-commerce, integrations and infrastructure.
• A long-term opportunity to contribute to new digital products and initiatives.

If you're an experienced technical leader who enjoys taking ownership and delivering meaningful business outcomes, we'd love to hear from you.

aussieBum