Head of Engineering

Higher - AI recruitment; Greater London; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative fintech startup is seeking a Head of Engineering to shape their engineering culture and infrastructure. This role is pivotal in building a high-performing team and delivering high-quality code while ensuring the company scales efficiently. With a strong focus on collaboration and continuous learning, the ideal candidate will drive engineering excellence and play a crucial part in the company's journey to becoming a unicorn. If you're passionate about technology and eager to make a significant impact in a fast-paced environment, this opportunity is for you.

Benefits

Share options

20 days holiday + seasonal holiday shut down

Statutory pension matching

Work-from-anywhere days

Cycle to work scheme

Wednesday lunches

Monthly socials

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in building scalable, high-quality systems.
• Ability to balance hands-on development with leadership.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a high-performance engineering team.
• Deliver exceptional code and implement critical architecture improvements.
• Ensure scalability and reliability while maintaining uptime.

Skills

Node.js

Typescript

AWS

Team Leadership

Problem-Solving

Collaboration

Job description

Get AI-powered advice on this job and more exclusive features.

Higher - AI recruitment provided pay range

This range is provided by Higher - AI recruitment. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

Direct message the job poster from Higher - AI recruitment

AI and Data Recruitment Expert | Helping start-ups scale with the best technical talent | Raising the bar for recruiters everywhere

We've been retained by a Seed-funded, rapidly scaling fintech company to help them find a Head of Engineering. This person will play a crucial role in shaping the engineering culture and infrastructure of the company, as well as building and maintaining a high-performing engineering team.

Our client is is redefining rewards and hospitality, building a product that moves fast, iterates faster, and scales efficiently. They're an early stage fintech startup on a mission to become a unicorn. Engineering is at the heart of everything they do.

This promising young tech company has raised £3m in seed funding from top European and North American investors since they were founded in 2023. They currently have a 10-person team with plans to grow to 15 by the end of 2025. They are building a strong, cohesive culture and require a 4 days-per-week presence in the office in Hoxton.

Job Description:

Build, lead, and actively contribute to a high-performance engineering function that rapidly delivers high-quality code. As an early-stage startup, you’ll play a critical role in shaping their engineering culture and infrastructure, having a massive impact on their ability to scale and succeed. Balance hands-on development with leadership to enable fast iterations in their build-test-learn cycle—crucial for their early-stage growth and future success.

Responsibilities

• Maintain a high performance engineering team - Foster a culture of ownership, autonomy, and continuous learning to enable A+ engineers to succeed
• Increase Shipping Speed Without Compromising Quality - Implement engineering processes that improve velocity and reliability. Reduce cycle time by 75% within 12 months
• Be Hands-On & Deliver Exceptional Code – You're expected to be a top-tier engineer, writing high-quality, efficient code that ships to production every week. You'll play a key role in major technical projects, owning and implementing critical architecture improvements that push the platform forward
• Strengthen the Build-Test-Learn Loop - Enable faster experimentation with A/B testing and rapid iteration. Work closely with Product & Design to speed up feature delivery, all while enabling data-driven decision-making through integrated analytics.
• Ensure Scalability & Reliability - Maintain 99.9% uptime while preparing for 100k+ customers
• Establish the company as a top-tier engineering brand (thought leadership, open-source, events)
• Implement security and data protection measures in line with payment and financial services standards
• Work closely with the rest of the founders to build the best possible product for millions of financially savvy consumers in the UK

Skills and qualifications

• Technical Excellence – Builds scalable, high-quality systems while coding hands-on. Extensive experience in our tech stack (Node.js, Typescript, AWS)
• Execution & Speed– Moves fast, balancing rapid iteration with long-term stability.
• Ownership– Takes full responsibility for engineering outcomes and team performance.
• Team Leadership– Hires, mentors, and retains A+ talent while fostering a high-performance culture.
• Problem-Solving– Thrives in ambiguity, adapting quickly to changing priorities.
• Business & Product Mindset– Aligns technical decisions with business impact
• Collaboration & Communication– Works seamlessly across teams and simplifies complex ideas.
• Proactivity– Identifies and solves problems before they become blockers.

And ideally you…

• Work independently and have a preference for action-oriented behaviour with just enough analysis, as compared to too much time spent doing analysis with no action
• Passionate about the impact of your work
• You have started a project from scratch. You might have led a project, been a founder previously, or built an impressive side project

Compensation and benefits

• Competitive base salary between £120-140K + share options
• 20 days holiday + seasonal holiday shut down in December
• Statutory pension matching (total contribution 8%)
• Off-sites every 6 months
• 12 work-from-anywhere days annually
• Cycle to work scheme
• Wednesday lunches + monthly socials
• Initial call with Co-Founder (30 mins)
• Pair programming interview with interim CTO (2-3 hours)
• Experience and value-based interview (60 mins)
• Final in person meeting

Please apply today to learn more about this exciting opportunity. Our client is an equal-opportunity employer and encourages applications from underrepresented groups.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Director

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Information Technology

• Industries

  Financial Services, Technology, Information and Media, and Hospitality

Referrals increase your chances of interviewing at Higher - AI recruitment by 2x

Get notified about new Head of Engineering jobs in London Area, United Kingdom.

London, England, United Kingdom 2 months ago

London, England, United Kingdom 2 months ago

Greater London, England, United Kingdom 1 week ago

Vice President of Engineering - ThriveCart

London, England, United Kingdom 2 months ago

Greater London, England, United Kingdom 1 month ago

London, England, United Kingdom 2 days ago

London, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks ago

London, England, United Kingdom 5 months ago

London, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks ago

London, England, United Kingdom 1 week ago

Aylesford, England, United Kingdom 6 days ago

London, England, United Kingdom 5 days ago

London, England, United Kingdom 13 hours ago

London, England, United Kingdom 3 weeks ago

Head of Platform Engineering and IT Ops | Up to 180k!

London, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks ago

London, England, United Kingdom 2 weeks ago

London, England, United Kingdom 2 months ago

Basildon, England, United Kingdom 1 week ago

City Of London, England, United Kingdom £110,000.00-£120,000.00 5 days ago

London, England, United Kingdom 1 week ago

Director of Engineering – Core Services, Platform & Developer Experience

London, England, United Kingdom 4 hours ago

London, England, United Kingdom 6 days ago

We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.