Founding Head of Engineering

Founding Head of EngineeringLead the development of a regulated digital-finance platform spanning mobile wallets, cloud infrastructure, payments, and next-generation financial products.Location: Remote (U.S.-based) Employment Type: Full-Time Reports To: CTO/CISO Compensation: $160,000–$220,000 (DOE) Hours: 40 hours per week Start Date: ASAPAbout the CompanyOur client is a newly established U.S.-regulated financial institution building next-generation digital finance infrastructure, including digital asset, payments, wallet, treasury, compliance, and transaction-processing capabilities.Backed by a well-established international financial services organization, the company offers a rare opportunity to join at the ground-floor stage while benefiting from the resources and long-term commitment of an established parent organization.Operating with startup agility and entrepreneurial energy, the organization is focused on creating secure, scalable, and highly regulated financial technology platforms designed to meet stringent regulatory, operational, and security standards.Position OverviewWe are conducting a confidential search for a Founding Head of Engineering to lead the architecture, engineering governance, platform operations, and technology execution of a regulated digital finance platform.This individual will serve as the company's senior internal engineering leader, overseeing the full technology stack, including mobile applications, backend services, cloud infrastructure, DevOps, vendor-delivered solutions, production operations, and engineering standards.The ideal candidate combines strategic technical leadership with hands-on engineering expertise and thrives in startup environments where processes, standards, and infrastructure are being built from the ground up.Key ResponsibilitiesEngineering Leadership & ArchitectureOwn the end-to-end engineering architecture across:Mobile applicationsBackend services and APIsCloud infrastructureInternal operational platformsThird-party and partner-delivered solutionsEstablish engineering best practices, development standards, and governance frameworks.Partner closely with executive leadership to translate business objectives and regulatory requirements into actionable engineering roadmaps.Cloud Infrastructure & Platform EngineeringLead the design and governance of cloud environments, including:Identity and access management (IAM)Secrets managementMonitoring and loggingNetworkingData protection and backup strategiesDisaster recovery capabilitiesDefine and enforce Infrastructure-as-Code standards, preferably utilizing Terraform.Ensure highly available, scalable, and secure cloud architecture.DevOps, CI/CD & Release ManagementBuild and oversee secure software delivery pipelines.Define release controls, deployment standards, rollback procedures, and change-management processes.Establish production-readiness criteria and deployment governance frameworks.Reliability, Security & Operational ExcellenceImplement observability practices across logs, metrics, alerts, traces, and dashboards.Establish incident response processes, escalation procedures, runbooks, and post-incident review practices.Partner with compliance and security stakeholders to ensure engineering controls align with regulatory requirements.Develop audit-ready operational documentation and evidence collection processes.Vendor GovernanceProvide technical leadership and oversight for external engineering and infrastructure partners.Review architecture designs, technical deliverables, and production readiness.Monitor delivery quality, identify risks, and drive remediation efforts where necessary.Organizational GrowthServe as a founding member of the leadership team.Help establish future engineering hiring plans, organizational structure, and technical culture.Communicate engineering progress, risks, and strategic recommendations to executive stakeholders.Required Qualifications10+ years of experience in software engineering, platform engineering, cloud engineering, DevOps, SRE, or related technical disciplines.5+ years of experience leading architecture, engineering standards, technical delivery, or production operations.Deep expertise with AWS cloud services and cloud-native architectures.Strong background in:Backend systems and APIsDistributed systemsInfrastructure-as-Code (Terraform preferred)CI/CD pipelinesObservability and monitoringProduction support and incident managementExperience operating within regulated, security-sensitive, or audit-focused environments.Demonstrated success managing engineering delivery through internal teams and external technology partners.Strong communication skills with both technical and executive audiences.Ability to review and evaluate architecture, infrastructure, deployment pipelines, cloud security controls, and production readiness.Preferred QualificationsExperience within fintech, banking, payments, financial infrastructure, digital assets, trust services, or regulated SaaS environments.Familiarity with:StablecoinsDigital walletsBlockchain infrastructureCustody platformsReal-time transaction processingExperience supporting React Native and TypeScript-based mobile applications.Knowledge of regulatory and control frameworks such as:OCCFFIECNISTSOC 2GLBAExperience with AWS services such as:ECS/FargateLambdaAurora PostgreSQLAPI GatewayEventBridgeSQS/SNSCloudWatchOpenTelemetryAWS certifications are a plus.Compensation & BenefitsBase salary: $160,000–$220,000Fully remote within the United StatesOpportunity to join a founding leadership teamDirect interaction with executive leadership and key stakeholdersSignificant career growth potential as the organization scalesEmployee benefits package currently being finalizedNo current bonus or commission structureIdeal CandidateEntrepreneurial and comfortable in a startup environmentFlexible and adaptable to changing prioritiesHighly accountable and hands-onCapable of balancing strategic leadership with technical depthExperienced in building processes, controls, and infrastructure from the ground upMotivated by the opportunity to help create a regulated financial platform at an early stageConfidential Search NoticeDue to the strategic nature of this opportunity, company details will be shared with qualified candidates during the interview process. Candidates must be authorized to work in the United States and able to maintain meaningful overlap with U.S. business hours. Occasional travel may be required.To apply, please email your resume to View email address on click.appcast.io