Interim Chief Technology Officer (CTO) – Banking / FinTech
Role Summary
The Interim CTO will provide immediate senior technology leadership during a period of transition, transformation, or accelerated growth. This role requires a highly experienced FinTech/BFSI technology executive capable of rapidly assessing the current landscape, stabilising operations, addressing critical risks, and driving short‑term delivery milestones. The Interim CTO will ensure continuity, regulatory compliance, technology governance, and momentum across digital banking, payments, and core financial systems until permanent leadership is appointed.
Key Responsibilities
Rapid Assessment & Stabilisation
Conduct a concise but rigorous review of technology architecture, engineering capabilities, security posture, and vendor landscape.
Identify immediate operational risks and implement stabilising controls.
Ensure platform availability, resilience, and incident management are tightly governed.
Build trust with executive leadership, regulators, and key banking/PSP partners.
Technology Leadership & Governance
Provide hands‑on strategic and operational leadership across engineering, data, architecture, DevOps/SRE, and IT functions.
Implement or strengthen governance frameworks for change control, release management, cyber risk, and compliance oversight.
Act as senior technology representative for board, investor, and regulatory interactions.
Regulatory & Security Alignment
Ensure full compliance with standards such as PSD2, FCA/PRA requirements, GDPR, ISO27001, SOC 2, PCI‑DSS.
Review and uplift cybersecurity controls, vulnerability management, and monitoring.
Support ongoing audits, regulator queries, due‑diligence processes, or remediation programmes.
Delivery & Execution Management
Drive execution of high‑priority initiatives (e.g., onboarding/KYC flows, payment capability expansion, core platform upgrades).
Remove delivery blockers, improve engineering discipline, and ensure teams deliver at pace.
Improve reliability (SLAs/SLOs), incident response, and operational resilience.
Architecture & Platform Oversight
Validate or refine technology architecture for scalability, modularity, and future‑state strategy.
Oversee API ecosystem, cloud infrastructure, and data platform quality.
Make pragmatic decisions balancing short‑term stability with medium‑term strategic direction.
Transition & Handover to Permanent CTO
Create a clear technology roadmap, risk register, and capability assessment for the incoming permanent CTO.
Ensure a smooth, documented handover including architecture overview, operational processes, and key initiatives.
Skills & Experience Required
Technical & Industry Expertise
12–15+ years in senior technology roles within banking, payments, digital lending, or FinTech.
Significant experience with:
Core banking systems / BaaS platforms
Digital identity, KYC/AML, fraud engines
Payments (Faster Payments, SEPA, SWIFT, cards)
Cloud-native architectures and API-driven services
Leadership & Interim Capability
Proven success in interim or turnaround CTO roles.
Ability to assess, decide, and execute quickly with incomplete information.
Strong stabilisation and transformation credentials.
Skilled communicator with executives, boards, investors, and regulators.
Regulation & Security
Deep knowledge of financial services regulatory obligations.
Track record in passing audits, managing regulatory remediation, and uplifting cyber security.
Delivery Focus
Ability to rapidly organise teams around critical priorities.
Strong background in Agile delivery, DevOps, SRE, and operational excellence.
Adept at simplifying overly complex technology stacks and processes.