Head of Engineering

Explore Group; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading AI company in Greater London is looking for a Head of Engineering to drive technical strategy and team growth. This role involves leading a high-performing team, making critical architectural decisions, and ensuring system scalability. Ideal candidates will have over 8 years of engineering leadership experience, particularly in B2B SaaS or AI/ML contexts. Strong knowledge of Python and cloud infrastructures is vital. The environment is fast-paced and requires both strategic and execution-focused skills.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of engineering leadership experience, ideally in AI or data-focused environments.
• Experience scaling teams through startup to scale-up.
• Strong technical foundation in modern scalable architectures.

Responsibilities

• Own the technical strategy and execution across core products.
• Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing engineering team.
• Make key architectural decisions for system scalability.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Python

Distributed systems

Cloud infrastructure (Azure)

Agile practices

People-first leadership

Job description

I’m working with a fast-growing AI company at the forefront of real-time market intelligence, supporting some of the world’s leading financial institutions. They’re now looking for a Head of Engineering (or VP of Engineering) to lead their next stage of technical and team scale-up.

This is a strategic and hands-on leadership role, combining technical vision, team growth, and delivery across products powered by LLMs, forecasting models, and scalable API platforms.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the technical strategy and execution across the company’s core products, including real-time APIs, data pipelines, and LLM-powered analytics.
• Collaborate closely with Product and Data Science to deliver a forward-thinking technology roadmap.
• Lead, mentor, and scale a high-performing engineering team (currently ~10), nurturing a culture of ownership, speed, and technical excellence.
• Make key architectural decisions, ensuring system scalability and data infrastructure performance.
• Maintain high engineering standards while remaining close to critical technical choices.
• Recruit top talent and build a strong, inclusive team culture.
• Oversee DevOps, InfoSec, and internal IT, ensuring smooth and secure operations.
• Sit on the leadership team and act as a key bridge between engineering, product, and commercial.

What I’m Looking For

• 8+ years of engineering leadership within B2B SaaS, ideally in AI/ML or data-focused environments.
• Experience growing teams through start-up to scale-up (Series A/B); time in both early-stage and mature environments is a bonus.
• Strong technical foundation in Python, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure (Azure preferred), and modern scalable architectures.
• Solid grasp of Agile practices, continuous delivery, and high-performing lean teams.
• People-first leadership style, with a proven ability to build and nurture high-performing teams.
• Exposure to machine learning, NLP, or financial data products is highly advantageous.
• Comfortable working in fast-moving, ambiguous environments where both execution and strategic vision matter.