Lead Engineer – Salesforce Marketing Automation

Lead Engineer - Salesforce Marketing Automation
The Open University
Location: Milton Keynes / Hybrid (on-site ~1 day per week)
Salary: £47,389 - £56,535 plus a market supplement (to July 2027)
Contract: Permanent, 37 hours per week

Role Overview

This Lead Engineer role will drive the design, delivery and evolution of marketing automation solutions within Salesforce. The position sits at the interface of technology, marketing and data - owning technical leadership, architecture decisions and solution delivery to power personalised engagement and cross-channel orchestration.
With a strong engineering mindset, the post holder will support both hands-on development and technical strategy, working closely with senior stakeholders and delivery teams.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead engineering efforts for marketing automation solutions within Salesforce, ensuring high performance, scalability and reliability.
•  Architect and implement frameworks, automation pipelines and integrations to support multi-channel marketing operations.
• Promote and demonstrate technical best practices: coding standards, testing, CI/CD pipelines and monitoring.
• Work with marketing, data and product stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical design and implementation.
• Oversee data architecture, segmentation and analytics support within marketing automation platforms.
• Mentor and guide developers, creating a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
• Manage operational stability, handle escalations and ensure effective incident and problem resolution.

Candidate Profile

Essential:

•  Proven experience building and managing marketing automation solutions, ideally within Salesforce or similar platforms.
• Strong software engineering background: solid coding, architecture and integration skills.
• Experience with data workflows, segmentation, analytics and automation in a marketing context.
• Understanding of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines and engineering excellence frameworks.
• Excellent communication skills - able to engage technical teams and business stakeholders alike.
• Analytical, solution-oriented thinker capable of leading complex technical initiatives.

Desirable

• Prior leadership or mentorship of technical teams.
• Experience in higher education or mission-driven organisations.
• Familiarity with hybrid working models and global/distributed teams.

Working Environment

The Open University encourages flexible working, supporting hybrid arrangements and a culture of collaboration and professional development. The role will involve a mix of remote work and time at the Milton Keynes site.