iR has partnered with a client of ours who is seeking a visionary and execution-focused engineering leader to take the helm of their Platform Engineering organization. This is a high-impact executive role responsible for building and delivering a cutting-edge, cloud-native platform that empowers thousands of financial professionals across multiple business lines.
The ideal candidate brings deep technical expertise, a proven leadership track record, and a bias for action. You'll oversee a high-performing, global engineering team and be accountable for driving product delivery from concept to launch - ensuring security, scalability, and reliability at every step.
This is a rare opportunity for a transformational engineering executive who thrives in fast-paced environments and is passionate about building scalable technology and strong teams that drive meaningful outcomes for clients.
What You get to go do in this exciting role:
1. Define and Deliver the Engineering Vision
- Set the long-term roadmap and architectural direction for the platform - including front-end interfaces, APIs, backend systems, mobile apps, and integrations.
- Translate product goals into flexible, modular, and secure technical solutions.
- Collaborate with executive leadership and product teams to align platform strategy with business priorities and user needs.
2. Foster Engineering Excellence
- Implement modern development pipelines, including CI/CD, test automation, and secure code practices.
- Champion Agile methodologies (SCRUM, SAFe, or Kanban) to drive speed, quality, and visibility.
- Establish and mature DevSecOps and Site Reliability Engineering practices to enhance platform performance and resilience.
3. Lead and Scale Global Teams
- Manage a distributed engineering organization that includes both internal developers and global delivery partners.
- Design and scale a team structure that supports product domains and platform architecture.
- Promote a culture of innovation, accountability, and collaboration.
- Partner with Talent to attract and retain top-tier engineering professionals.
4. Architect for the Future
- Make foundational architecture decisions including microservices, data strategy, security, and third-party integration frameworks.
- Establish reusable patterns and frameworks to ensure consistent development across teams.
- Lead efforts to modernize legacy systems and reduce technical debt.
5. Drive Security and Compliance
- Integrate security into all phases of development and delivery.
- Collaborate with InfoSec and Compliance to ensure secure coding practices, conduct routine vulnerability scans, and meet regulatory standards.
- Ensure the platform aligns with the expectations of governing bodies such as the SEC and FINRA.
6. Enable Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Work closely with Product, Infrastructure, Architecture, Cybersecurity, and Data teams to align on vision, execution, and delivery.
- Lead build vs. buy evaluations and effectively manage third-party platforms and vendor integrations.
- Optimize external vendor partnerships and API strategies for flexibility and cost-efficiency.
7. Oversee Budget and Delivery
- Manage engineering budgets across personnel, infrastructure, and tooling.
- Create transparent delivery roadmaps and maintain accountability for on-time, on-scope product releases.
- Continuously assess and optimize resource usage and development velocity.
8. Enhance Client Experience and Platform Adoption
- Partner with internal teams to plan releases, enablement, and communication strategies for platform rollouts.
- Use telemetry data, client feedback, NPS scores, and usage patterns to drive iterative improvements.
- Help ensure our clients adopt and benefit from the full platform capabilities.
What you need to be successful:
- 12+ years of experience in software engineering, with at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
- Strong track record delivering and scaling enterprise-grade, cloud-native platforms (Azure preferred).
- Deep technical knowledge in:
- APIs & microservices
- Kafka or event-driven architecture
- React or Angular frameworks
- Relational and NoSQL databases
- Expertise in managing distributed, Agile development teams with global presence.
- Fluency in modern testing strategies: unit, integration, security, and performance.
- Solid understanding of the financial services space - particularly in wealth management or fintech environments.
- Experience with tools and systems used by financial professionals (e.g., CRMs, trading platforms, performance reporting).
- Comfortable navigating regulatory and compliance-heavy environments.
- Strong executive presence with the ability to influence across functions and levels.
- Strategic thinker who can zoom in technically and zoom out organizationally.
- Collaborative leader who builds trust, inspires teams, and creates a high-performance culture.