Founding Engineer | Head of Engineering

Dex; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Dex is partnering with a team building a regulated financial platform in Europe. You will serve as the founding engineer, owning the entire tech stack from design to production, making critical architectural decisions, and shaping the engineering culture.

This is a hands-on role with no management track, requiring close collaboration with the founder to translate ambitious fintech ideas into robust, compliant systems.

Qualifications

• 5–12 years engineering experience with backend systems and production architecture.
• Proven track record building complex, regulated financial infrastructure.
• Experience as founding or senior engineer scaling fintech or infra companies.

Responsibilities

• Architect, build, and secure the core platform from first principles.
• Own all technical decisions: infrastructure, backend systems, data integrity, security.
• Translate regulatory requirements into scalable, compliant financial systems.
• Drive product from concept to production with security and reliability.
• Define engineering culture and recruit the foundational engineering team.

Skills

Backend systems

Infrastructure

Production architecture

Distributed systems

Cloud infrastructure

Data integrity

Security

Regulated financial infra

Job description

This role is with one of Dex's trusted partner companies. We work closely with their teams to truly understand their culture, goals, and what they're looking for, so we can match you with the right opportunity and give you context about the role before you commit to a process.

Dex is an AI recruiter agent that helps you run your job search. Tell Dex your stack, seniority, and what you want to build. We will manage your applications and surface other opportunities that are a fit.

The role

This team is building a regulated financial institution from first principles. Their mission: bank and finance the companies driving Europe's defence, security, and resilience buildout. A trillion-euro market is opening up as strategic autonomy becomes a priority, and traditional banks aren't built for the startups at its core. They are backed by leading investors.

As the founding engineer, you'll own the entire technical stack from day one. This means architecting, building, and securing the core platform, taking the initial product from concept to production. This is a hands‑on building role, not a management position. You'll set the engineering culture and help scale the team, working directly with the founder to translate ambitious ideas into robust, regulated systems.

The work

• Architect, build, and secure the entire core banking platform from first principles.
• Own all technical decisions: infrastructure, backend systems, data integrity, and product engineering.
• Translate complex regulatory requirements into scalable, resilient, and compliant financial systems.
• Drive the product from initial concept through to production, ensuring security and reliability.
• Define the engineering culture and recruit the foundational engineering team.

What You Bring

• 5-12 years of engineering experience, with deep expertise in backend systems, infrastructure, and production architecture.
• Proven track record building complex, highly regulated financial infrastructure (e.g., core banking, ledger systems, payments).
• Experience as a founding engineer, early hire, or senior engineer scaling a high‑growth fintech or infrastructure company.
• Expertise in distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, data integrity, reliability, and security.
• London-based or willing to relocate, and committed to in-person collaboration.

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