Head of Software Engineering

Zodia Custody; Greater London; On-site; GBP 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital assets platform in the UK is seeking an experienced Software Engineering Leader. The successful candidate will lead a talented engineering team, define the strategy and roadmap for software development, and drive innovation in digital asset solutions. They should possess extensive experience in software engineering, a deep understanding of blockchain technologies, and a proven track record in building secure platforms. This role offers a competitive salary and benefits including private health care and a pension scheme.

Benefits

Competitive employer contribution pension scheme

Private health care

Critical Illness cover

Life Insurance

Flexible bank holidays

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with leadership roles.
• Experience in institutional digital asset platforms.
• Understanding of blockchain technologies and security protocols.

Responsibilities

• Lead and scale the software engineering organization.
• Define and implement the engineering strategy.
• Oversee the software development lifecycle including architecture.

Skills

Software engineering experience

Leadership skills

API design

Cloud-native development

Blockchain technologies

Tools

OpenJDK

Postgresql

Docker

Kubernetes

AWS Cloud Stack

Job description

Company Overview

ZodiaCustody is an institution-first digital assets platform backed by Standard Chartered, in association with Northern Trust, SBI Holdings, National Australia Bank, and Emirates NBD. Through the combination of itswallet, yieldand settlement solutions,ZodiaCustody enables institutional investors around the globe torealizethe full potential of the digitalassetsfuture.

Our Vision

We removecompromise. Bringing together giants of the traditional banking and digital asset worlds – leaders in emerging markets,technologyand global custody – ensures everything we do is born institution-first.

Only we blend a forensic insight of institutions with client-focused innovation, applying the framework of governance that frees them to fearlessly embrace the digital asset future.

Our Mission

Howeverthe needs of digital assetservices evolve, and however fast, we ensure our solutions areinstitution-ready.Wherever our clients are on their digital asset journey, we ensure custody is compromise-free.

Delivered with care,insightand simplicity. Familiartothe way they work. Empowering them to navigate established or new digital asset markets with ease and total assurance.

Whatyou’lldo:

• Lead and scale the software engineering organisation, including recruitment, mentoring, and professional development of engineers.


• Define and implement the engineering strategy, technical roadmap, andmodern,best practices to support business growthin the era of AI


• Overseethe full, modernizedsoftware development lifecycle (SDLC), including architecture, coding, testing, deployment, and support.


• Drive the development of secure, high-availability, and high-performancedigitalassetwallet platformsolutions tailored towallets, yield opportunities, trading and more.


• Collaborate with Productand the businessto align technical delivery withclient needs andregulatory requirements


• Champion modern engineering practices such as CI/CD,DevSecOps, cloud-native architectures, and automated testing.


• Establish and enforce robust software engineering governance, including coding standards, documentation, and peer review.


• Ensure systems are designed andmaintainedwith security, scalability, and operational resilience as core principles.


• Manage technology budgets and vendor relationships, including third-party integrations and security partners.


• Stay at the forefront of emerging technologies in blockchain, digital assets, and cybersecurity, advising the executive team on innovation opportunities.


• Act as a senior technology leader,representingEngineering tokeystakeholders.

Digital AssetsExperience:

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with at least2years in leadership roles (Head of Engineering, Director of Engineering, or equivalent).


• Direct practical experienceininstitutional digital asset platformsandatrack recordof building and scaling secure, mission-critical platforms in financial services and digital assets.


• Deep technicalexpertisein distributed systems, cryptography, APIs, cloud-native development, and enterprise-grade architecture.


• Strong understanding of blockchain technologies, custody models, key management, and digital asset security protocols.

Technical Experience:

• Experience designing/leading a team that is API-forward and has built distributed scalable,systemsusingOpenJDK, Gradle,Intellij,Postgresql, JSON, JUnit, Quartz, JWT, JOOQ, Liquibase, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS Cloud Stack, Confluentand more.


• Hands-on experience with modern engineering tools and practices (e.g., Kubernetes, microservices,CI/CD pipelines, automated testing,DevSecOps).


• Provenexpertisein buildingRESTful services and understanding of concurrent, multi-threaded, distributed application environments.


• Practical experienceleveragingAI-tooling to increase programming productivity,efficiencyand accuracy


• Experienceoperatinginregulated environmentswith audit, security, and compliance requirements


• Deepexpertiseincloud‑native, event‑driven architectures

Teamwork & Collaboration:

• Strong leadership and team-building skills, with the ability to inspire, coach, and grow high-performing engineering teams.


• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skillsworking across teams to deliver high-value products


• Strategic mindset with the ability to balance innovation, delivery, and operational excellence.

We are a friendly team, with monthly socials and seasonal celebrations as well as offering a range of fantastic benefits including:

• Competitive employer contribution pension scheme


• Private health care


• Critical Illness cover


• Life Insurance


• Flexible bank holidays (can chose whether to work on bank holidays and use the leave elsewhere in the year)