Head of Engineering

BAS Trucks is the largest used truck and trailer dealer in Europe. The company is currently in the middle of a large-scale platform transformation to enable everyone in the world to buy and sell trucks online in the near future. The Head of Engineering will be in charge of building and securing a hybrid, future-proof and high-tech IT landscape.

About BAS Trucks

Brabantse Automobiel Service, that is what the company now globally known as BAS Trucks was called back in 1962. The firm got its start from a Volvo dealership takeover, but quickly grew into the full-service transport industry service provider it is today. From new and used tractors and trailers to construction equipment and commercial vehicles, in 2021, the BAS Global Truck Concept will be focusing on global purchasing and sales, leasing, insurance, after-sales service and maintenance. With a total of around 850 employees, BAS Trucks is active in more than 150 countries and generates millions in sales annually.

A focus on growth and innovation is embedded in BAS Trucks’ DNA. This family business is rapidly taking it to the next level, both on and offline. As a European market leader, they have a strong vision for quality, transparency, and efficiency, and are currently developing a new proposition. They are in the process of building a completely new platform designed to allow anyone to buy and sell trucks online, anywhere in the world.

“In our current business, we want to double the number of vehicles sold within three to five years. We’re also looking to grow our new proposition into a groundbreaking platform where we facilitate hundreds of thousands of transactions per year.” – Bart Kusters, Director of Operations

From checking vehicles in and out to making sure deals are secure, the IT that underpins this world-class project has to be phenomenal. It is up to the Head of Engineering to build, maintain and keep this marketplace platform running at full speed.

Vacancy: Head of Engineering

The Head of Engineering will be able to approach BAS Trucks’ comprehensive IT project both operationally and strategically. Transforming the current monolithic system into a microservices system? Cranking up global performance? Managing security and incident handling? The Head of Engineering will handle it all and work with their team to create a stable IT environment. They will also collaborate with the team to develop a clear long-term vision and strategy for the technical platform. Experience with scaling an organization and engineering is a must for this role.

One of the issues the Head of Engineering will tackle is the predictable delivery of quality software using agile principles. The Head of Engineering will not only focus on the methodology. Infrastructure growth and the deployment pipeline professionalization are also part of the transformation. Important points in the overall trajectory include creating stability as an integral part of the development process, generating the insights behind that process, and democratizing it within the organization. Everything is done on the PHP stack.

“We don’t have to release continuously, but I want us to be able to. That’s the freedom we need to find within this platform. Looking two years down the road, this person should be one of the senior leaders at Bas Trucks. So they should be firmly grounded with their gaze focused on the future.” – Marcel van Leeuwen, Director of Marketing, Product & Tech

The Head of Engineering will head up a department that has IT teams spread across multiple countries. The current setup consists of teams in India and Latvia, but based on the growth strategy they develop, the Head of Engineering will build that out locally with around ten cross-functional teams of engineers, tech leads, architects, and others. They will work closely with the Head of Product to jointly define the ‘BAS tech culture’. By setting clear quarterly and semi-annual goals based on OKR principles, the Head of Engineering will transform their teams into powerful implementation machines. They will also coach those teams in a way that gives them the freedom to work independently, while still including them in the innovation planning process.

The goal for this role is for the Head of Engineering to be leading a 100-strong department and manage multiple team managers in three years’ time. They do not necessarily need to be at that level yet. The Head of Engineering will join the Head of Product and Head of Marketing to form an MT for Marcel van Leeuwen, Director of Marketing, Product & Tech, who will also be their direct line manager.

The culture at this Brabant-based family business is informal and very focused on mutual engagement and equality. Entrepreneurship and ambition are key values within the organization, which makes the company particularly suited to people who take their job by the horns, shaping it themselves and continuing to grow within BAS Trucks.

Interested?

BAS Trucks works with Top of Minds to fill this vacancy.
To express your interest, contact Hayke Tjemmes at hayke.tjemmes@topofminds.com.