Head of Software Engineering

OANDA Poland sp. z o.o.; Kraków; On-site; PLN 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

OANDA Poland sp. z o.o. is seeking a senior engineering leader to oversee an ~80-person department across multiple product areas.

The role, reporting to the CTO, is based in a hybrid model from Krakow or Warsaw with in-person travel to connect with global engineering teams. You will shape health, productivity, and direction of the engineering org, partnering with product, infrastructure, data and security teams to deliver high‑quality software.

Qualifications

• Proven track record of leading large software engineering teams.
• Experience in regulated financial services security and auditability.
• Ability to translate between technical and executive stakeholders without losing precision.
• Strong architecture fundamentals and experience with high-availability distributed systems.

Responsibilities

• Lead a global department organisation overseeing end-to-end performance of software engineering.
• Build and sustain a culture of empowered, accountable teams.
• Define and communicate engineering strategy aligned to product and commercial goals.
• Uphold engineering standards across architecture, code quality, testing, observability and incident response.
• Own the development lifecycle from ideation to production monitoring.
• Establish and drive metrics for delivery throughput, quality and health.
• Invest in developer experience through CI/CD pipelines and internal tooling.
• Collaborate with Risk, Legal and Compliance to embed regulatory requirements into development.

Skills

Engineering leadership

People management

Regulated environment

Strategic planning

Stakeholder communication

High availability systems

CI/CD practices

Tools

CI/CD tooling

Observability tooling

Infrastructure-as-code

Job description

Fancy helping to shape the future of FinTech? We have always been innovators. In 1996 we were the first company to share exchange rate information, free of charge on the internet. Today, we are a world leading online trading group.

About the Role

This is a senior leadership role reporting to the CTO, working in close partnership with the heads of product, infrastructure, data, and security. You will be responsible for the overall health, productivity, and direction of an ~80‑person engineering department spanning multiple product areas. The role is based in a hybrid model from our offices in Krakow or Warsaw, with travel to build relationships with engineering teams and stakeholders in‑person further afield.

Responsibilities

• Lead a global department organisation: Own the end‑to‑end performance of the software engineering function including hiring, team structure, engineering manager development, and senior IC growth paths.
• Build and sustain culture: Create a culture of empowered, accountable teams where engineers understand the business context behind their work, make good decisions autonomously, and take pride in what they ship.
• Set and communicate engineering strategy: Define a clear strategy aligned to the company's product and commercial direction, and communicate it credibly at all levels from individual engineers to the C‑Level.
• Raise the bar on engineering quality: Define and uphold engineering standards across architecture, code quality, testing, observability, and incident response. Build the processes that make those standards self‑sustaining rather than dependent on heroics.
• Own the development lifecycle: Drive the AI‑first product development lifecycle end‑to‑end from how work enters engineering to how it reaches production and is monitored in operation.
• Establish and drive metrics: Set clear metrics for delivery throughput, quality, and operational health. Report on them to senior leaders and the C‑Level, and use them to drive real improvement, not just to report green.
• Invest in developer experience: Enhance developer experience and productivity through CI/CD pipelines, internal tooling, local development environments, and systems that let engineers move fast with confidence.
• Navigate the regulated environment: Partner with Risk, Legal, and Compliance to embed regulatory requirements into the development lifecycle in ways that are rigorous without being obstructive.
• Represent engineering externally: Present systems, tools, practices, and risks clearly, accurately, and without jargon to regulators, auditors, and internal governance committees.
• Build safety at scale: Create the audit trails, controls, and accountability structures that allow OANDA to operate safely at scale.
• Drive commercial and business impact: Champion the client perspective within engineering; ensure that reliability, performance, and product quality are treated as first‑class concerns alongside delivery velocity.
• Manage budget and vendors: Oversee the software engineering budget, vendor relationships, and build‑vs‑buy decisions with a clear‑eyed view of total cost of ownership and strategic fit.
• Align with product leadership: Work closely with product leadership to ensure engineering capacity and roadmap are well‑aligned, and that technical constraints and opportunities are surfaced early in planning.
• Build trusted relationships: Work closely with stakeholders across the business, from traders and operations teams to finance and senior leadership, so engineering is seen as a genuine partner, not a service function.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering, with at least 5 years in engineering leadership roles that included managing other managers.
• A track record of building high‑performing engineering organisations, not just managing them (improving the culture, the talent, and the output of teams you’ve led).
• Strong instincts for when to push autonomy down and when to provide direction, adjusting well to the maturity of the teams around you.
• Deep enough architecture and systems fundamentals to earn the genuine respect of senior engineers, with the ability to go deep when it matters.
• Experience owning complex, high‑availability, distributed systems in production, understanding what operational excellence actually requires.
• Familiarity with modern practices: CI/CD, observability, infrastructure‑as‑code, platform engineering thinking, and knowing how to make these stick across a multi‑team org.
• Experience in a regulated financial services environment where security, auditability, and correctness are genuinely non‑negotiable.
• Practical knowledge of operating under regulatory frameworks covering retail customers. You know what regulators actually look for and how to prepare your organisation for scrutiny.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to translate fluently between technical teams and executive or business stakeholders without losing precision, and leading through influence.
• Comfort presenting to regulators, auditors, and board‑level audiences, representing the organisation well under pressure.

EEO Statement

We value the unique skills and experiences each individual brings to OANDA. We are committed to creating and sustaining a collegial work environment in which all individuals are treated with dignity and respect and one which reflects the diversity of the community in which we operate. We provide an inclusive and accessible environment for everyone.