Head of Software Engineering

OANDA Corporation; Warszawa; On-site; PLN 700,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

OANDA Corporation seeks a Head of Software Engineering to lead an ~80-person engineering organization across multiple product areas in a hybrid model with Krakow or Warsaw offices. You will own the strategy, culture, and execution, driving architectural excellence, reliability, and regulatory alignment.

You will partner with product, risk, legal, and compliance to embed requirements into development while building high-performing teams and delivering impactful fintech solutions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software engineering with at least 5 years in engineering leadership roles managing other managers.
• Proven track record building high-performing engineering organisations and improving culture, talent, and output.
• Experience owning complex, high-availability, distributed systems in production.
• Familiarity with CI/CD, observability, infrastructure-as-code, and platform engineering across multi-team orgs.
• Experience in regulated financial services environments with emphasis on security, auditability, and correctness.
• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to translate between technical and executive stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Lead a global department organisation: end-to-end performance of the software engineering function, hiring, team structure, and manager development.
• Build and sustain a culture of empowered, accountable teams with business context behind work.
• Set and communicate engineering strategy aligned to product and commercial direction; communicate up to C-Level.
• Raise the bar on engineering quality across architecture, code quality, testing, observability and incident response.
• Own the development lifecycle for AI-first product development from ideation to production and monitoring.
• Establish and drive metrics for delivery throughput, quality, and operational health; report to senior leadership.
• Invest in developer experience: CI/CD, internal tooling, local dev environments.
• Navigate regulated environment by partnering with Risk, Legal, and Compliance to embed requirements.
• Represent engineering externally to regulators, auditors, and governance committees.
• Build safety at scale with audit trails, controls, and accountability structures.

Skills

Engineering leadership

Software architecture

Distributed systems

CI/CD & observability

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder communication

Budget & vendor mgmt

Team building & mentoring

Job description

Head of Software EngineeringSkip to main contentWe use cookie files and similar technologies to help you better browse our website as well as to count the usage statistics. If you do not block those files, therefore you agree to use them and to store cookies in your web browser. Remember, you can manage cookies and cookie consent manually in your web browser settings. Read more about our privacy policy.# We are hiring!Head of Software Engineering page is loaded## Head of Software EngineeringApplylocations: Krakow: Warsawtime type: Full timeposted on: Posted Todayjob requisition id: JR000830**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. **Join us to:*** Help build the future of online trading* Be part of a culture driven by integrity and global impact* Become part of an award-winning company - check out our full list of awards here **We are only as good as our people. Luckily, our people are the best. Join us!** **How do we work?**This is a senior leadership role reporting to the CTO, working in close partnership with the heads of product, infrastructure, data, and security. You'll be responsible for the overall health, productivity, and direction of an ~80-person engineering department spanning multiple product areas.We work in a hybrid model from our offices in Krakow or Warsaw. Travel to build relationships with engineering teams and stakeholders in-person further afield is part of the role.**In this role, you will:*** **Lead a global department organisation:** Own the end-to-end performance of the software engineering function: 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: CI/CD pipelines, internal tooling, local development environments, and the 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.**What skills do you need to be successful in this role?*** 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.