Lead Engineer / CTO

Contech Systems; Remote; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A growth-stage technology company is seeking a Lead Engineer / CTO to own the technical vision and execution of their innovative platform. This role combines strategic influence with a hands-on approach, ensuring systems are compliant and scalable. The ideal candidate will have strong backend engineering skills and experience in regulated environments, leading a capable team in a remote-first setting. Competitive compensation and equity participation are offered.

Benefits

Highly competitive base salary

Equity participation

Hands-on leadership role

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• 2+ years in a senior technical leadership role.
• Experience building production systems in regulated environments.

Responsibilities

• Define architecture and guide development.
• Oversee a small engineering group and remain hands-on.
• Partner with executive leadership to ensure compliance and scalability.

Skills

Strong backend engineering experience (Rust preferred)

Experience with relational databases at scale

Hands-on DevOps experience

Good communication skills

Builder mindset

Tools

Terraform

AWS

Job description

Lead Engineer / CTO

Employment Type: Direct Hire

Location: Fully Remote (U.S.); hybrid/in-person collaboration as needed

Compensation: Highly competitive base salary + equity participation

About the Lead Engineer / CTO Opportunity

Our client is a well‑funded, growth‑stage technology company building a high‑availability, real‑time transactional platform operating in a highly regulated environment. The organization is engineering‑first, with all core systems developed in‑house, and is entering a critical scale and compliance phase.

We are conducting a confidential search for a Lead Engineer / CTO to own the technical vision and execution of the platform. This role offers the opportunity to shape architecture, influence regulatory‑facing systems, and build proprietary technology from the ground up—while remaining deeply hands‑on.

This is an ideal role for a senior technical leader who wants both strategic influence and direct technical ownership, rather than a purely managerial CTO position.

Lead Engineer / CTO Role

As Lead Engineer / CTO, you will serve as the principal technical authority for the organization. You will define architecture, guide development, and actively contribute code while overseeing a small but highly capable engineering group.

You will partner directly with executive leadership and work cross‑functionally to ensure systems are secure, compliant, scalable, and production‑ready. The environment demands strong engineering judgment, comfort operating in ambiguity and the ability to design systems that can withstand regulatory scrutiny.

This role is remote‑first, with the expectation that candidates are willing and able to collaborate in person on an as‑needed basis.

Lead Engineer / CTO Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Architecture

• Own end‑to‑end system architecture across backend services, data stores, infrastructure, and integrations
• Design scalable, resilient systems supporting real‑time data processing and high‑throughput transactions
• Establish engineering standards, best practices, and long‑term technical direction

Hands‑On Engineering

• Remain actively involved in backend development, debugging, optimization, and prototyping
• Serve as the escalation point for complex technical challenges across the platform

Regulatory & Security Alignment

• Design and maintain systems that meet stringent regulatory, audit, and data security requirements
• Partner with compliance and legal stakeholders to translate regulatory objectives into technical controls
• Ensure strong auditability, secure data handling, and system transparency

Team Leadership & Delivery

• Lead and mentor internal engineers and external development partners
• Conduct code reviews and guide technical decision‑making
• Balance speed, quality, and long‑term maintainability

Infrastructure & Reliability

• Oversee cloud infrastructure, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring, alerting, and incident response
• Ensure high availability, performance, and operational resilience

Cross‑Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with product, operations, and executive teams to align technology with business goals

Lead Engineer / CTO Required Qualifications

Experience

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience
• 2+ years in a senior technical leadership role (Lead Engineer, Head of Engineering, CTO, or similar)
• Proven experience building and operating production systems in regulated or high‑compliance environments

Technical Expertise

• Strong backend engineering experience (Rust strongly preferred; comparable languages acceptable)
• Experience with relational databases at scale
• Hands‑on DevOps experience, including CI/CD and infrastructure‑as‑code (e.g., Terraform)
• Experience designing and operating cloud‑native infrastructure (AWS preferred)
• Strong understanding of authentication, authorization, and security best practices
• Experience designing APIs and real‑time or event‑driven systems

Leadership & Problem Solving

• Builder mindset with a willingness to dive into the codebase when needed
• Strong technical judgment and ability to operate with minimal oversight
• Excellent communication skills with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders

Lead Engineer / CTO Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with distributed or remote engineering teams
• Familiarity with blockchain, cryptographic systems, or decentralized architectures (not required)
• Background in financial, transactional, or compliance‑driven platforms
• Experience contributing to proprietary IP or open‑source projects

Work Model

• Remote‑first within the United States
• Candidates must be open to periodic in‑person collaboration as business needs arise
• No fixed office requirement

Why This Role

• Executive‑level technical ownership with real architectural influence
• Opportunity to build and scale complex systems under real‑world regulatory constraints
• Hands‑on leadership role—not a “figurehead” CTO
• Competitive compensation and meaningful equity