Head of Engineering

SoCode; Cambridgeshire and Peterborough; On-site; GBP 125,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A progressive tech company in Cambridge is seeking a Head of Engineering to lead the engineering function and deliver a robust SaaS platform for the financial sector. This strategic and hands-on role requires 8+ years of software development experience, proven leadership in scaling teams, and expertise in cloud-native architectures. Ideal candidates thrive in fast-paced environments. Competitive salary of up to £130,000 plus potential shares.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of experience in software development with 3+ years in a senior leadership role.
• Proven track record of leading and scaling engineering teams.
• Deep expertise in secure, cloud-native platforms.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a high-performing engineering team.
• Provide hands-on technical leadership.
• Translate product objectives into engineering roadmaps.
• Champion agile practices and CI/CD pipelines.
• Ensure systems meet security and regulatory requirements.
• Contribute to technical direction and platform evolution.

Skills

Software development leadership

Building secure, scalable platforms

Team mentoring

Cloud infrastructure (AWS)

Understanding of compliance and security

Tools

TypeScript

Node.js

Java

Postgres

Kafka

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Job Description

Role Description

The ideal candidate will have

The candidate should meet the following requirements

Job Description

Role Description

The ideal candidate will have

Head of Engineering - Cambridge (2/3days on site) - up to £130,000 per annum plus potential shares

As Head of Engineering, you will lead the engineering function - taking ownership of the delivery, quality, and performance ofan innovativeSaaS platform servicing the financial sector.

Reporting directly to and working in collaboration with the CTO, you will be responsible for scaling a high-performing engineering team, driving technical execution, and ensuring that our architecture, development practices, and engineering culture support the needs of a growing business.

You’ll work closely with product, architecture, and infrastructure leaders to translate strategic goals into actionable engineering outcomes. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives in a fast-moving startup environment and wants to make a significant impact to the businesses success.

As Head of Engineering, you’ll collaborate closely with product, design, engineering, and cloud infrastructure teams to ensure that what we build is not only innovative—but also robust, compliant, and ready to scale. This role is both strategic and hands-on, offering opportunities to lead planning, shape the roadmap, and grow a strong, delivery-focused engineering culture from the ground up.

What will I be doing?

Leading, growing, and managing a high-performing engineering team across backend, frontend, platform, and QA domains. Define performance expectations, run regular 1:1s, and lead goal-setting, feedback, and performance reviews. Foster a culture of ownership, collaboration, and innovation.

Provide hands-on technical leadership, collaborating with architects and guiding architectural decisions and ensuring code quality, security, and scalability. Set and enforce best practices for software design, documentation, testing, and development processes.

Translate product and business objectives into actionable engineering roadmaps. Oversee sprint planning, backlog prioritisation, and delivery timelines. Ensure timely, high-quality release of features, services, and platform components to production.

Champion agile ways of working, CI/CD pipelines, and modern DevOps practices. Own platform reliability, scalability, and performance through robust monitoring, observability, and incident response processes.

Work closely with the CTO, product, design, DevOps, and cloud infrastructure teams to ensure strategic alignment and efficient cross-functional delivery. Build strong relationships with business stakeholders and align engineering goals with overall company objectives.

Ensure that all systems meet relevant security, privacy, and regulatory requirements - (e.g., ISO27001, SOC 2, GDPR, DORA). Maintain development practices that support auditability, traceability, and operational resilience.

Contribute to shaping the long-term technical direction of the business. Support roadmap planning with strategic input on platform evolution, technical risk, and team capability.

What skills can I bring?

8+ years of experience in software development, with at least 3 years in a senior leadership role, ideally in a high-growth SaaS, fintech, or regulated industry.

Proven track record of leading and scaling engineering teams while maintaining delivery quality and velocity.

Deep expertise in building secure, scalable, cloud-native platforms, preferably on AWS, using Kubernetes and microservices.

Hands-on experience with modern backend stacks such as TypeScript/Node.js, Java, Postgres, and Kafka.

Comfortable working with data models, APIs, service-oriented architecture, and event-driven systems.

Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and modern DevOps

Excellent grasp of compliance, security, and audit requirements in regulated environments (e.g. ISO27001, SOC 2, GDPR, DORA).

Skilled at mentoring engineers, growing high-performing teams, and fostering an inclusive engineering culture.

Confident communicator with the ability to engage and influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Adept at conflict resolution, problem-solving, and navigating resource constraints or delivery challenges.

Nice to haves

Familiarity with financial APIs, payment gateways, and banking

Experience with blockchain technologies, digital assets, or financial market infrastructure (a plus).