Head of Engineering Reporting to : Chief Product & Technology Officer About the Role WSD is seeking a Head of Engineering to lead our engineering organisation and take accountability for how software is designed, built, tested, deployed, and operated across the company. This is a hands‑on engineering leadership role, not a purely managerial position. We are explicitly looking for someone with recent, sustained production coding experience, who actively writes code, reviews pull requests, and sets standards by example. A strong bias toward AI‑assisted and AI‑native software development is essential. You will combine deep technical credibility with inclusive, people‑first leadership, working closely with Product, Architecture, Security, Platform, and Delivery leaders to ensure WSD delivers high‑quality, secure, and scalable solutions to tier‑one financial institutions operating in regulated markets. About WSD Leading provider of document and workflow automation software for the global structured products industry Trusted by tier‑one banks and asset managers in highly regulated environments Cloud‑agnostic, secure, and operationally resilient platforms Private‑equity backed, headquartered in London, with global engineering teams Engineering culture centred on quality, accountability, and continuous improvement Key Responsibilities Own and lead the engineering function at WSD, with accountability for execution, quality, and outcomes Ensure engineering practices align with product strategy, regulatory obligations, and operational resilience Set, enforce, and continuously improve standards for: Code quality, maintainability, and testability Automated testing and CI/CD pipelines Release management and production readiness Provide clear technical leadership to Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, and senior engineers Remain actively hands‑on in code, particularly in: Core platform components Complex integrations AI‑enabled features and workflows Review designs and code where scale, risk, or complexity requires senior judgement Drive adoption of modern engineering tooling, including AI‑assisted development workflows Partner closely with the CPTO, Product, Architecture, Security, and Platform leadership Be accountable for engineering productivity, predictability, and operational performance What you'll bring Non-negotiable: hands-on engineering Recent, sustained hands‑on coding experience in production systems Comfortable committing code, reviewing PRs, and refactoring existing systems Strong bias toward readable, testable, long‑lived code Ability to step into complex codebases and improve them pragmatically Experience designing and implementing RESTful and GraphQL APIs Engineering judgment & systems thinking Experience building and evolving business‑critical platforms Strong understanding of: Monoliths and distributed systems Microservices and event‑driven architectures Sensible modernisation strategies Ability to make trade‑offs that balance speed, risk, and long‑term health AI-first development mindset Strong, practical bias toward AI‑augmented engineering as part of daily work Hands‑on experience using AI tools for: Code generation and refactoring Test creation and coverage improvement Documentation and internal tooling Experience applying LLMs to real production use‑cases such as: Document automation Content generation Intelligent workflows Clear understanding of AI risk, governance, and explainability in regulated environments Cloud, DevOps and Operations Experience building and running systems on AWS, Azure, or GCP Strong hands‑on experience with Docker and Kubernetes Practical use of Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or Bicep) Deep understanding of CI/CD pipelines and Git‑based workflows Strong operational mindset covering monitoring, alerting, incident response, and resilience Security and Regulated environments Strong understanding of secure coding practices and frameworks such as OWASP and NIST Experience implementing authentication and authorisation (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML) Familiarity with GDPR, ISO 27001, SOC 2, and regulated delivery environments Ability to embed security and compliance directly into engineering practices Leadership style Leads through clarity, presence, and technical credibility Sets high standards without micromanagement Inclusive, people‑first approach with clear accountability Comfortable challenging teams constructively when quality or ownership slips Why Join WSD Senior role with real accountability for how engineering operates day‑to‑day Clear mandate to improve delivery through pragmatism, discipline, and AI‑enabled development Complex, regulated problems with direct client and commercial impact Strong alignment between product, engineering, and architecture Environment that values engineering quality, ownership, and continuous improvement If you have the skills, experience and drive to excel in this challenging and rewarding role, we would love to hear from you. Apply today and take the next step in your career with us! WSD is an employer that values diversity. We highly encourage applications from appropriately qualified and eligible candidates irrespective of age, race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, veteran status, disability, or any other status protected by applicable law.