Head of Engineering - FinTech, Payments, Backend

Sanderson Recruitment; City Of London; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

An innovative tech company is seeking a Head of Software Engineering to lead the development of cutting-edge backend systems in the fintech sector. This role offers a unique chance to shape financial services for UK businesses, backed by a global team of experts. You will be responsible for overseeing critical systems such as Payment Gateways and transaction monitoring, ensuring high availability and performance. If you are a passionate leader with a strong background in Java, AWS, and DevOps, and thrive in a fast-paced environment, this is the perfect opportunity to make a significant impact.

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in Software Engineering and DevOps.
• Proven track record in developing high-load production systems.

Responsibilities

• Oversee backend systems including Payment Gateway and Core Banking System.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to fulfill business requirements.

Skills

Multi-threaded Java backend development

API and SQL database development

Typescript and Node.js Applications

AWS Cloud Native and Serverless Architecture

DevOps - Provisioning-based Infrastructure-as-Code

Multi-threading & Socket Programming

Event Sourcing, CQRS

Practical TDD, BDD

Tools

AWS (ECS, DynamoDB, Lambda, Aurora, SQS, SNS)

Java + Spring Applications

CI/CD tools

Job description

Head of Engineering / Engineering Director / Software Engineering Director / Head of Software Development / Head of Software Engineering

I've worked in the recruitment sector for over 15 years and this is one of the most interesting opportunities I've worked on in Software Engineering. If you are passionate, curious, hungry and seeking an opportunity to make your mark on Fintech in the United Kingdom, with the strength of a global team behind you - we'd love to talk to you. This is a unique opportunity to shape, direct and build better financial services for all UK businesses, whilst being part of a high growth tech company. Backed by leading global VCs, and brings together seasoned, experienced payment, banking and tech industry professionals who are aiming to redefine the market that they operate in.

Job Description

As the Head of Software Engineering / Engineering Director for Backend services you will be responsible for a range of backend systems such as Software applications that include areas such as: Payment Gateway, Settlement, Transaction Fraud Monitoring, Datalake Service and the Core Banking System. You will oversee their deployment, development, enhancements and production operations.

You should have extensive experience and skills in Software Engineering, DevOps, project management, incident management, team management and stakeholder management.

Additionally, you should have expertise in:

• Multi-threaded Java backend development
• API and SQL database development
• Typescript and Node.js Applications
• AWS Cloud Native and Serverless Architecture

You will collaborate with other stakeholders and manage suppliers to fulfil business requirements through system enhancements and maintenance. Ensuring high availability in production systems is a critical responsibility of this role.

To excel in this role, you should be:

• A people-oriented leader who is easy to work with, adaptable and flexible while maintaining high standards.
• Supported by global teams of engineers, QAs, SREs, and DevOps professionals.
• Comfortable managing a mix of direct reports and shared teams

Skills & Experiences

• AWS Technologies (e.g. ECS, DynamoDB, Lambda, Aurora, SQS, SNS, VPC, Private Link, etc.)
• Multi-threading & Socket Programming: Java + Spring Applications
• Architectures - Event Sourcing, CQRS, Polyglot Database, Traditional OLTP, OLAP
• DevOps - Provisioning-based Infrastructure-as-Code, CI/CD
• QA - Practical TDD, BDD
• Experiences in payment domains
• Proven track record in developing and maintaining mission-critical, high-load production systems with 99.999% SLA
• Proven experience in supporting rapid and agile product deployments across different environments - dev, test, stress-testing, staging/production.

Your attributes

• Loves challenging the status-quo
• Ability to work autonomously yet collaboratively
• Prepared to be bold yet consistent with your engineering principles
• Logical, ethical, mature and responsible
• Fast learner, humble and loves to share knowledge
• Calm and exercises positive level of stress in exceptional circumstances such as; production issues, timeline requirements

Bonus points

• Experience in working within a high-growth environment in the financial services or fintech industry
• Experience in other cloud platforms (Azure, Google)
• Experience in other programming languages
• Experience with financial regulations and compliance requirements (e.g. GDPR, PCI-DSS)

For more info, please reach out.