Overview

Futureheads have exclusively partnered with a leading political intelligence business who are looking for an experienced Director of Engineering to help lead the next stage of their technology journey. Over the past year, they’ve transformed from a business relying on manual processes into an AI-driven, technology-first organisation. They’ve unified multiple units onto a single cloud-native platform, cleared technical debt, rolled out multi-agent AI systems, and launched a product roadmap that sets the stage for rapid growth. This role is central to shaping that future. You’ll join the Product Leadership Team, working alongside the Chief Product Officer and Director of Product as part of a strategic trio driving product and engineering decisions.

You’ll lead their engineering team, set the architectural vision for our platform, and balance hands-on technical leadership with building for scale. You’ll also have direct visibility with the Board and investors, giving you real influence on the direction of the business.

What you’ll do

• Lead the technical roadmap in partnership with product leadership.
• Guide architecture for their cloud-native, AI-powered platform.
• Foster a high-performing engineering culture focused on innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
• Scale and develop an engineering team, with clear career growth and mentorship opportunities.
• Oversee best practices in DevOps, CI/CD, testing, and deployment.
• Ensure systems are secure, scalable, and performant by working closely with IT and Cybersecurity leadership.
• Build productive partnerships with technology vendors and cloud providers while keeping ownership of key decisions.
• Manage engineering budgets, resources, and capacity planning.
• Set and deliver against clear metrics for engineering performance and velocity.

What they\'re looking for

• 10+ years of engineering experience, with at least 5 in leadership roles.
• Strong expertise in modern .NET development.
• Deep knowledge of AWS or other cloud-native architectures.
• Hands-on experience with modern front-end frameworks (e.g. Angular, React) and databases (e.g. PostgreSQL, MySQL, Pinecone).
• Background in AI/ML systems, microservices, and event-driven architectures.
• Track record of scaling engineering teams and delivering digital transformation.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts to non-specialists and work confidently at Board/C-suite level.
• Experience managing budgets, resources, and external technology partnerships.

Nice to have

• Experience in information services or regulated environments.
• Exposure to AI platforms, semantic search, or NLP.
• Knowledge of data governance and compliance.
• Prior track record working with cloud providers or development partners.

What they offer

• Competitive salary with performance bonus and future equity opportunities.
• Comprehensive benefits including healthcare, pension, and learning budget.
• Hybrid working: 2 days a week in a central London office.
• Direct exposure to cutting-edge AI and cloud technologies.
• Opportunities for conference speaking, thought leadership, and industry engagement.
• A collaborative, ambitious culture with plenty of room to make your mark.

This is a rare chance to help define the future of an industry at a pivotal moment, building both the technology and the culture of engineering from the ground up. Salary is £120k plus a 20% annual bonus along with equity.

We encourage applicants from all backgrounds, so if there is anything we can do to make our recruitment processes better for you and to allow you to show your best self, let us know. We also understand that some people require extra time to complete assessments, require alternative application methods and can also benefit from having interview questions or a guide to the type of questions pre-interview. We are open to any suggestions or requests that you may have and are always looking for creative ways to assess talent. Our commitment to you is that you should always feel safe and secure when you’re working with us. Futureheads is a B Corp accredited digital recruitment agency based in London. We specialise in recruiting permanent, contract and freelance digital and tech professionals in creative, data, design, digital marketing, engineering, product, project and programme management, UX and service design jobs.