Lead Engineer
full-time
Job Summary
We are seeking a strong and experienced Head of Engineering to lead our engineering function and drive the successful delivery of scalable, secure, and high-performing technology products.
The ideal candidate must be a confident technical leader who can stand their ground, challenge decisions when necessary, take ownership, and hold teams accountable for delivery. You will be responsible for leading engineering teams, owning major technology projects, setting technical direction, and working closely with Product, Operations, and Executive Leadership to translate business goals into reliable technology solutions.
This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who can balance technical depth, people leadership, project ownership, and business priorities.
Key Responsibilities
Lead, manage, and mentor engineering teams across multiple projects and product areas.
Own the end-to-end delivery of major engineering projects, from planning and architecture to deployment and continuous improvement.
Define and execute the engineering strategy in line with the organisation's business and product objectives.
Establish engineering standards, best practices, development processes, and delivery methodologies.
Provide technical direction and make sound architectural and technology decisions.
Work closely with Product, Design, Operations, and other stakeholders to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
Take full accountability for engineering delivery, timelines, quality, reliability, and technical outcomes.
Set clear expectations for engineers, track performance, and ensure accountability across the team.
Review project progress, identify blockers early, and take decisive action to keep delivery on track.
Challenge unrealistic timelines, requirements, or technical decisions when necessary and provide practical alternatives.
Oversee code quality, system architecture, testing, deployment, monitoring, and overall engineering excellence.
Ensure systems are scalable, secure, reliable, and capable of supporting business growth.
Establish and maintain appropriate engineering documentation and technical standards.
Drive continuous improvement across engineering processes, tools, and infrastructure.
Support recruitment, onboarding, development, and retention of high-performing engineering talent.
Manage engineering resources, priorities, and technical dependencies across projects.
Identify and manage technical risks, security concerns, and potential system vulnerabilities.
Ensure engineering practices align with relevant fintech, data protection, security, and regulatory requirements.
Provide regular updates to executive leadership on engineering performance, project status, risks, and technology strategy.
Stay informed about emerging technologies and identify opportunities to improve the organisation's technology capabilities.
What Success Looks Like
Engineering projects are delivered on time and to agreed quality standards.
Engineering teams operate with clear ownership and accountability.
Technology systems remain stable, secure, scalable, and reliable.
Technical debt and engineering risks are actively identified and managed.
Product and engineering teams collaborate effectively.
Engineering priorities remain aligned with business objectives.
The organisation has a strong engineering culture with clear standards and high performance expectations.
Requirements
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related technical discipline.
8+ years of software engineering or technology experience, with significant experience in engineering leadership.
Proven experience leading and managing engineering teams.
Demonstrated experience owning and delivering complex technology projects from conception to production.
Strong software development background with the ability to engage deeply in technical discussions.
Experience designing and scaling production-grade applications and systems.
Experience working within a fintech, financial services, banking, payments, lending, or other highly regulated technology environment is highly desirable.
Strong understanding of software architecture, APIs, databases, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, security, and system scalability.
Experience working with Agile/Scrum or similar software development methodologies.
Proven ability to manage multiple projects, priorities, and stakeholders simultaneously.
Strong understanding of engineering metrics, delivery processes, and performance management.
Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
Leadership Qualities
The successful candidate must be:
Assertive and confident in making and defending technical decisions.
Comfortable challenging ideas and pushing back when requirements or expectations are unrealistic.
Accountable and willing to take ownership of both successes and failures.
Strong enough to manage difficult conversations and hold team members accountable.
Able to balance technical excellence with business realities.
Decisive, structured, and solution-oriented.
Capable of leading senior engineers while earning their respect through technical credibility.
Comfortable operating in a fast-paced environment with changing priorities.
A strong mentor who can develop engineers into future technical leaders.