Engineering Functional Lead - Innovation

Brown Brothers Harriman; Kraków; On-site; PLN 300,000 - 540,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Culture Celebration Day

Community Service Day

Private medical care

Life Insurance

Employee Assistance Program

Professional trainings

Wellbeing Program

Online Social Fund benefit platform

Social events

Onboarding Program for new hires

Job summary

Brown Brothers Harriman seeks an Engineering Functional Lead to steer early-stage technical strategy, architecture, and feasibility for new product concepts within Cable 5. The role sits at the crossroads of business and engineering, guiding concept teams and aligning with external partners to translate market intent into scalable, technology-driven solutions.

The successful candidate will drive architecture decisions, lead cross-functional collaboration, and develop financial models to support

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience).
• 10-15 years proven experience leading technical design and architecture for complex, greenfield products, ideally with extensive experience delivering cloud-based and/or enterprise-grade B2B solutions.
• Strong experience with modern application architectures (cloud-native, APIs, SaaS platforms, AI/ML, Generative AI where applicable).
• Demonstrated ability to estimate complex, multi-layered projects and navigate uncertainty in new technology environments.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to break down complex systems and identify risks and tradeoffs.
• Intellectual curiosity and creativity, with the proven ability to communicate complex topics to non-technical and senior audiences.
• Comfort working in cross-functional environments alongside concept owners, designers, researchers, and engineers.
• Comfort working with abstract concepts, navigating ambiguity, lean testing, and agile ways of working in early-stage concept development.
• Experience in Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe).
• Background in financial modeling for technology investments or product unit economics.
• Industry experience relevant to digital product innovation.

Responsibilities

• Provide a strong engineering point of view during early-stage product design and iteration by translating ambiguous product ideas into concrete technical approaches, connecting market intent with feasible technical capabilities.
• Work collectively within a multidisciplinary group, syncing internal and external participants to keep technical direction aligned.
• Guide multiple concept teams through ambiguity, ensuring clarity on priorities, sequencing, and execution strategy.
• Assess technical implications of concept tests and product direction decisions, translating them into clear architecture strategies.
• Lead structured feasibility assessments to uncover risks, constraints, and dependencies tied to product direction.
• Explain technical choices and the reasoning behind them in clear language for non-technical peers and senior leaders.
• Develop financial models for technical aspects of a product’s business plan, including build cost, operating cost, and unit economics. Responsible for the integration into the broader build/operate cost model.
• Partner with internal and external groups to assess the state of technical capabilities across relevant sectors and determine whether our concepts have a differentiated technology-driven right to win.
• Partner with BBH enterprise architecture to ensure alignment and known divergence with broader IT and security standards.
• Support the development of prototypes, technical interfaces, and lightweight implementations to validate product concepts.
• Provide oversight and guidance of external development partners which can align to BBH innovation standards and practices.
• Collaborate closely with fellow Functional Leads (Design, Research Product, etc.) and senior leaders to ensure alignment with technical aspects of each product concept.

Skills

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science,

10-15 years leading technical design

Cloud-native architectures

APIs & SaaS platforms

AI/ML / Generative AI knowledge

Estimating complex projects

Problem-solving and risk tradeoffs

Communication to non-technical leaders

Cross-functional collaboration

Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)

Financial modeling for technology

Digital product innovation experience

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field

Job description

At BBH, Partnership is more than a form of ownership—it’s our approach to business and relationships. We know that supporting your professional and personal goals is the best way to help our clients and advance our business. We take that responsibility seriously. With a 200-year legacy and a shared passion for what’s next, this is the right place to build a fulfilling career.

Brown Brothers Harriman has a long history of transformation and evolution driven by deep expertise, a passion for solving client problems, and smart applications of technology. Our dedicated innovation practice, Cable 5, is responsible for identifying, investigating, and incubating potential future new businesses, applying a disciplined, stage-gated innovation process from idea sourcing to MVP.

We are currently seeking an Engineering Functional Lead (FL) to join the Cable 5 team. This role is responsible for leading early-stage technical strategy, architecture definition, and feasibility validation for new product concepts. The Engineering FL operates at the intersection of business and engineering across early-stage concepts from idea to Product launch. They sit within an innovation design studio charged with deciding whether a product is worth building before code is written. The Engineering FL leads through technical influence in a multidisciplinary group of largely non-technical peers. As a key technical resource in our innovation discipline, this role will also support the exploration of market opportunities and act as a technical advisor in discussions with external fintechs.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide a strong engineering point of view during early-stage product design and iteration by translating ambiguous product ideas into concrete technical approaches, connecting market intent with feasible technical capabilities
• Work collectively within a multidisciplinary group, syncing internal and external participants to keep technical direction aligned
• Guide multiple concept teams through ambiguity, ensuring clarity on priorities, sequencing, and execution strategy
• Assess technical implications of concept tests and product direction decisions, translating them into clear architecture strategies
• Lead structured feasibility assessments to uncover risks, constraints, and dependencies tied to product direction
• Explain technical choices and the reasoning behind them in clear language for non-technical peers and senior leaders
• Develop financial models for technical aspects of a product’s business plan, including build cost, operating cost, and unit economics. Responsible for the integration into the broader build/operate cost model
• Partner with internal and external groups to assess the state of technical capabilities across relevant sectors and determine whether our concepts have a differentiated technology-driven right to win
• Partner with BBH enterprise architecture to ensure alignment and known divergence with broader IT and security standards
• Support the development of prototypes, technical interfaces, and lightweight implementations to validate product concepts
• Provide oversight and guidance of external development partners which can align to BBH innovation standards and practices
• Collaborate closely with fellow Functional Leads (Design, Research Product, etc.) and senior leaders to ensure alignment with technical aspects of each product concept

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 10-15 years proven experience leading technical design and architecture for complex, greenfield products, ideally with extensive experience delivering cloud-based and/or enterprise-grade B2B solutions
• Strong experience with modern application architectures (cloud-native, APIs, SaaS platforms, AI/ML, Generative AI where applicable)
• Demonstrated ability to estimate complex, multi-layered projects and navigate uncertainty in new technology environments
• Excellent problem-solving skills with the ability to break down complex systems and identify risks and tradeoffs
• Intellectual curiosity and creativity, with the proven ability to communicate complex topics to non-technical and senior audiences
• Comfort working in cross-functional environments alongside concept owners, designers, researchers, and engineers
• Comfort working with abstract concepts, navigating ambiguity, lean testing, and agile ways of working in early-stage concept development.
• Experience in Agile frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe)
• Background in financial modeling for technology investments or product unit economics
• Industry experience relevant to digital product innovation

What We Offer

• To encourage cultural awareness and philanthropy, BBHers have 1 Culture Celebration Day and 1 Community Service Day in addition to their paid standard vacation allowance
• Task based working system
• Private medical care
• Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program - offering independent and confidential counselling services for you and your family. You can get support for topics including family, marriage and relationships, finances, and legal issues.
• Professional trainings and qualification support
• Wellbeing Program
• Online Social Fund benefit platform
• Social, sport and integration events
• Onboarding Program for new hires

We value diverse experiences. We value diverse experiences and transferrable skillsets. If your career hasn’t followed a traditional path, includes alternative experiences, or doesn’t meet every qualification or skill listed in the job description, please do go ahead and apply.

About BBH

Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) is a premier global financial services firm, known for premium service, specialist expertise, technology solutions and partnership approach to client management. Across Investor Services and Capital Partners, we work with an enviable roster of sophisticated clients who make BBH their first call when they are tackling their hardest challenges. Delivering for our clients and each other energizes us.

We believe that how we do our work is just as important as what we do. We are relentless problem solvers who know our best ideas come from collective debate and development—so we are never possessive about our ideas. Every day we come together as a diverse community of smart and caring people to deliver exceptional service and expert advice—creating success that lasts. No matter where you sit in the organization, everyone is empowered to contribute their ideas. BBHers can pick up the phone and call any colleague, and they are happy to help. Expanding your impact beyond your daily role is part of how we operate as trusted partners to one another.

We believe stability is a competitive advantage, but being stable means having the knowledge, skill, and discipline to evolve, often—pushing the boundaries of innovation. As a private partnership, every investment we make is in the relationships, technologies, products and development we believe are in the long-term interests of our clients and our people. Our long-tenured leaders are experts in their areas and are actively involved in the day-to-day business, taking the time to provide guidance and mentoring to build the next generation of BBHers. Because we know, our success begins with yours.

Go to BBH.com to learn more about our rewards and benefits, philanthropy, approach to sustainability or how we support you to thrive personally, physically and financially.