Vice President of Engineering

Discovered MENA; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 600,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

Discovered MENA, Abu Dhabi-based fintech focused on credit-led digital financial products for SMEs, seeks a VP of Engineering to lead end-to-end engineering, architecture, and platform strategy. You will own delivery, technology strategy, and team performance, reporting directly to the CEO in a hands-on leadership role.

You will shape architecture, raise engineering standards, and build the organization required to scale a market-leading platform while ensuring regulatory compliance, security,

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or similar.
• Strong fintech systems experience (payments, lending, banking, or cards).
• Proven experience leading engineering teams.
• Hands-on technical problem-solving ability.
• Track record of hiring and retaining high-performing engineers.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to senior stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own overall engineering delivery, quality, and velocity, improving metrics such as deployment frequency, lead time, and system reliability.
• Define and lead the architecture strategy, including microservices, event-driven systems, and core financial platform design (e.g. ledger, transactions, reconciliation).
• Ensure systems meet regulatory, security, and compliance requirements within a fintech environment.
• Drive adoption of cloud best practices (Azure), scalability, and cost efficiency across the platform.
• Shape and implement an AI-assisted engineering strategy, including evaluation of emerging agentic technologies.
• Own API and integration strategy, including external partners and internal platform standards.
• Lead the data platform, ensuring strong governance, data quality, and scalable infrastructure for reporting and analytics.
• Build and scale a high-performing engineering organisation, including hiring, leadership development, and culture.
• Act as the senior technical representative to executive leadership, investors, and regulators.

Skills

Fintech Systems

Team Leadership

Stakeholder Communication

Hands-on Problem Solving

Hiring & Mentoring

Regulatory Compliance

Education

CS/Engineering/Math degree

Tools

Azure

Job description

Our client is a fast-growing, profitable, credit-led fintech focused on providing digital financial products to SMEs.

As VP of Engineering, you will be the most senior technical leader in the organization, reporting directly to the CEO. You will owner engineering end-to-end, from architecture and system design to delivery, team performance, and platform strategy. This is a hands-on leadership role. You will actively shape architecture, raise engineering standards, and build the organization required to scale a market-leading fintech platform.

Key Responsibilities

• Own overall engineering delivery, quality, and velocity, improving metrics such as deployment frequency, lead time, and system reliability
• Define and lead the architecture strategy, including microservices, event-driven systems, and core financial platform design (e.g. ledger, transactions, reconciliation)
• Ensure systems meet regulatory, security, and compliance requirements within a fintech environment
• Drive adoption of cloud best practices (Azure), scalability, and cost efficiency across the platform
• Shape and implement an AI-assisted engineering strategy, including evaluation of emerging agentic technologies
• Own API and integration strategy, including external partners and internal platform standards
• Lead the data platform, ensuring strong governance, data quality, and scalable infrastructure for reporting and analytics
• Build and scale a high-performing engineering organisation, including hiring, leadership development, and culture
• Act as the senior technical representative to executive leadership, investors, and regulators

Requirements

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, or similar
• Strong experience in fintech systems (payments, lending, banking, or cards)
• Proven experience leading engineering teams
• Strong hands-on technical problem-solving ability
• Track record of hiring and retaining high-performing engineers
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to senior stakeholders

Preferred Experience

• Exposure to high-growth or scale-up environments
• Experience within regulated financial institutions
• Strong knowledge of cloud architecture (Azure)
• Experience with payments infrastructure, issuer processors, and transaction flows