Contract | Swindon (Hybrid -3 days onsite per week) | Outside IR35 | 6 month Contract + (with perm conversion potential)
THE OPPORTUNITY
This is a genuine transformation role — not a caretaker position at a leading Financial services firm
A new CTO has been appointed with a sharp brief: restructure the engineering function, retire a significant legacy estate, and build a modern, AI-enabled engineering capability that directly supports business growth. The Head of Engineering role sits at the heart of that ambition. You will inherit a team of around 45 engineers and reshape how it operates — introducing squad-based delivery, embedding quality into engineering, and leading the function towards genuinely modern practice.
WHAT YOU'LL ACTUALLY BE DOING
* Taking ownership of an engineering function of ~45 people and restructuring it into mission-aligned squads with clear backlogs, accountabilities, and outcomes — including legacy retirement, process automation, and new digital proposition delivery.
* Driving a real step-change in engineering practice: introducing DORA metrics, embedding DevSecOps, integrating quality engineers into squads, and building a culture where engineers own quality end-to-end.
* Leading the adoption of AI development tooling — including GitHub Copilot and agentic development tools — in a way that is thoughtful, secure, and sustainable in a regulated financial services environment. This is not a 'switch it on and see' brief; it needs someone with a clear point of view and the authority to execute it.
* Working closely with a newly appointed Chief Architect to establish coherent engineering and architectural standards, and ensuring delivery teams are building to agreed principles from day one.
* Assessing the capability of existing engineering leadership — Technical Leads and Engineering Managers — and making clear, fair judgements about where people can grow into the new model and where changes are needed.
* Representing engineering at senior stakeholder level, with visibility up to Board level.
Why This Role Is Interesting
* Real authority — you'll have the mandate and the CTO's backing to make changes that stick, not just recommendations.
* A clear brief — the CTO knows exactly what good looks like and has already secured Board alignment. You won't be fighting for direction.
* High pace - The board wants outcomes, not process. The bureaucracy is low; the expectation of delivery is high.
* Permanent conversion potential — this is a critical long-term leadership role. The right interim will be a serious candidate for the permanent position.
WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR
You are a hands-on engineering leader — technically credible enough to challenge your team's decisions and forward-thinking enough to know where engineering practice needs to go. Specifically:
* Deep .NET and Azure background — the legacy estate is .NET and the infrastructure is Azure-first. You don't need to be writing code every day, but you need to be able to when it matters.
* Proven experience leading engineering transformation in a regulated financial services environment — not just running a stable function, but changing one.
* A genuine, practiced point of view on AI-assisted development — candidates who treat this as a checkbox will not thrive here.
* Experience with DORA metrics and modern DevSecOps — ideally having implemented them, not just been aware of them.
* The personal authority to assess capability fairly, have difficult conversations where needed, and build trust quickly with a team going through significant change.
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