Head of Engineering (Software & Data)

We are looking for a Head of Engineering to own the strategy, people, and process that will build the foundational technology required to deliver this mission at scale. If you are passionate about using world-class engineering leadership to solve high-stakes global challenges, this is your opportunity.

The Opportunity: Strategy, Scale & Systems

Reporting directly to the Chief Product & Technology Officer (CPTO), the Head of Engineering is a pivotal leadership role responsible for defining and executing the technical roadmap. This is a role for an experienced leader who can elevate a talented team and architect a future-proof platform.

You will have complete ownership of the strategy, people, and process for our software and data engineering functions, ensuring we build the robust infrastructure and intuitive, client-facing capabilities that translate complex forensic data into actionable supply chain intelligence., Engineering Strategy & Architecture

• Define and Champion the Technical Vision: Establish a clear, scalable, and secure engineering roadmap that aligns directly with our mission and commercial goals.
• Architectural Oversight: Direct the architectural evolution of our platform, ensuring resilience, performance, and security across all data pipelines, cloud services, and client applications.
• Technology Leadership: You will be the ultimate technical authority, evaluating and driving the adoption of new technologies (e.g., Azure services, advanced data processing tools) to maintain a competitive edge.

People & Team Leadership

• Cu ltivate High Performance: Lead, mentor, and inspire a growing engineering team (10 people currently), fostering a culture of ownership, technical excellence, continuous improvement, and deep collaboration with our Science and Product teams.
• Scaling & Recruitment: Define the team structure, identify capability gaps, and lead the recruitment of top-tier software and data engineers to meet ambitious growth plans.
• Performance Management: Implement effective processes for objective setting, performance reviews, and career development within the engineering function.

Process & Delivery Excellence

• Establish Best Practices: Introduce and refine agile methodologies, CI/CD pipelines, QA processes, and operational best practices to maximise quality, velocity, and predictability.
• Operational Excellence: Oversee the operational health and observability of our platform, ensuring high uptime and establishing strong DevOps principles.
• Cross-Functional Alignment: Act as a core member of the leadership team, working closely with Product Management and Data Science leads to translate complex research and business requirements into deliverable engineering sprints., * Core Technologies: Azure (Paas/IaaS), .NET, React, Angular, SQL/NoSQL databases. We maintain a clear appetite for adopting new, market-leading technologies to enhance our platform.
• Team: A focused, high-performing team of engineers, with plans for strategic growth.
• Work Style: We operate a hybrid model, requiring a minimum of three days per week in our London office to maximise collaboration and leadership presence., * Paid Leave- 35 days (inclusive of public holidays)
• Birthday Off
• Volunteering Leave Allowance
• Enhanced Parental Leave
• Life Insurance
• Healthcare Cash Plan
• Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
• Pension
• Monthly Wellbeing Allowance
• Breakfast, Snacks, Friday lunch & Barista Coffee Machine in the office
• Learning Portal with over 100,000 assets available to support professional development
• Hybrid working set-up (Farringdon, London)
• Plenty of friendly 4-legged pets in the office!

• Proven Engineering Leadership: Extensive experience (typically 5+ years) leading and managing software and data engineering teams, ideally within a high-growth or high-compliance sector (e.g., FinTech, DeepTech, Science/Data).
• Strategic Cloud Expertise: Deep, practical experience defining strategy and scaling solutions on Microsoft Azure .
• Full-Stack & Data Domain Expertise: Strong understanding of modern software development practices across the stack (including current exposure to or knowledge of .NET, React, and Angular ) and the ability to oversee complex data engineering pipelines (ETL/ELT, data warehousing).
• Process Mastery: Demonstrated track record of establishing and refining robust engineering processes, including CI/CD, DevOps, security, and agile methodologies.
• Excellent Communication: Exceptional ability to negotiate and communicate technical strategy and trade-offs clearly with all stakeholders.

Desirable Attributes

• Experience in organisations dealing with physical data, scientific datasets, or supply chain/logistics technology.
• A passion for our mission and the application of technology to solve real-world problems related to sustainability and ethical sourcing.