Vice President Software Engineering

Our client, a rapidly scaling fintech, is seeking an exceptional Vice President of Software Engineering to lead and evolve a large, high-performing engineering organisation.

This role sits at the intersection of technical leadership, organisational scale, and AI-driven innovation.

You will take ownership of an engineering function of 100–120 Software Engineers, supported by 6 Software Engineering Managers, and play a central role in shaping both capability and culture during a critical growth phase.

This is a true player-coach position—requiring deep technical credibility alongside proven leadership at scale.

Key Responsibilities

Lead, develop, and scale a multi-layered engineering organisation, ensuring strong leadership at every level
Own delivery against a complex product roadmap, driving measurable business outcomes
Define engineering strategy, architecture, and organisational design aligned to growth objectives
Maintain hands-on technical engagement, contributing to high-level design and decision-making
Champion AI-first engineering practices, building on an environment where 80–90% of code is AI-generated, with a roadmap to 95%+
Embed modern engineering excellence (CI/CD, trunk-based development, observability, and automated testing)
Partner cross-functionally across Product, DevOps, Security, and Platform teams
Build a high-performance culture grounded in accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement

Your profile

Our client is specifically seeking a candidate with a highly credible blend of leadership experience, technical depth, and modern engineering exposure:

Leadership & Scale

8+ years in software engineering leadership roles, with at least 3+ years operating at VP level (or equivalent)
Proven experience leading large-scale engineering organisations (minimum 50+ engineers)
Demonstrated success as a manager of managers, including developing senior engineering leaders
Track record of scaling teams and capabilities in high-growth environments, ideally within startups or SME organisations

Technical Expertise

Strong hands-on engineering background with the ability to remain technically engaged
Deep technical fluency across modern architectures and polyglot environments (including .NET/C#, with exposure to other languages such as Java or Ruby)
Experience defining architecture and engineering strategy at scale
Ability to challenge, guide, and influence technical decisions at all levels

AI & Modern Engineering Practices (Critical)

Proven experience working in an AI-enabled or AI-first engineering environment
Hands-on use of AI-assisted or agentic development tools (e.g. Claude or similar)
Clear understanding of how AI can accelerate delivery, improve quality, and reshape engineering workflows
Experience driving adoption of AI tooling across teams and embedding it into the development lifecycle

Delivery & Engineering Excellence

Strong background in continuous delivery environments, where software is shipped to production frequently or daily
Expertise in modern practices including:
CI/CD pipelines
Trunk-based development
Automated testing strategies
Observability and system reliability
Proven ability to use engineering metrics to drive performance and continuous improvement
Organisational Design & Methodologies

Experience designing and evolving engineering organisations using modern frameworks (e.g. Lean, Scrum, Kanban, XP)
Strong understanding of team topologies (stream-aligned, platform, enabling teams)
Ability to align organisational structure to product and delivery needs
Leadership Mindset & Approach

Excellent communication skills with the ability to influence executive stakeholders
Comfortable operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments
Strong problem-solving mindset with a willingness to experiment and iterate
Values transparency, continuous learning, and candid feedback
Demonstrates curiosity, innovation, and the ability to identify novel solutions to complex challenges

Why This Role?

Opportunity to lead a large, complex engineering function at scale
Significant influence over the evolution of AI-driven software development practices
Join a high-growth fintech at a pivotal stage of its journey
Work in an environment where engineering excellence and innovation are core to success

If you are a technically credible engineering leader with experience scaling teams, embedding AI into development, and delivering at pace, this is a rare opportunity to make a significant impact.