Head of Engineering

About the role

The Head of Engineering will be responsible for leading the product engineering strategy and execution for the organization. This individual will work closely with the executive team, product managers, and other stakeholders to ensure that all product engineering efforts align with business objectives, market needs, and technical excellence. You will build, manage, and mentor a high-performing engineering team, providing leadership across various product development initiatives. As a hands-on leader, you will oversee the entire product development lifecycle, from ideation to deployment, ensuring the delivery of robust, secure, and user-friendly crypto solutions. You will act as the primary technical strategist for the organization, setting the long-term vision for technology and product delivery. This role requires a proactive approach to identifying risks and opportunities within the engineering function and translating them into actionable plans. You will be accountable for fostering a culture of innovation while maintaining strict standards for quality and security.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Define and execute the technical vision and strategy for the platform, ensuring alignment with the company's goals and long-term objectives.
• Lead the engineering team to build scalable, secure, and high-performance features for the exchange, with a focus on availability, security, and usability in every release.
• Recruit, manage, and mentor a high-performing product engineering team, driving technical excellence, innovation, and accountability across all levels.
• Collaborate with executive leadership and product managers to create and refine the engineering roadmap, prioritizing key initiatives to drive business growth and market differentiation.
• Oversee the end-to-end product engineering lifecycle, from ideation to implementation, ensuring features are delivered on time, on budget, and to the highest quality standards.
• Provide leadership in the architecture and design of scalable, low-latency systems, ensuring high throughput for trading operations and optimal user experience.
• Establish and refine engineering processes to enhance efficiency, transparency, and collaboration across cross-functional teams including product, UX/UI, security, and operations.
• Implement metrics and performance KPIs to measure the success of engineering initiatives and the overall health of the product engineering function.
• Ensure the platform is optimized for scalability, with the ability to handle high volumes of transactions, low latency, and seamless performance during peak market conditions.
• Champion best practices in software engineering, including automated testing, continuous integration, and robust monitoring to maintain system reliability.
• Manage and improve the platform's infrastructure, focusing on high availability, redundancy, and disaster recovery processes to protect business continuity.
• Ensure that platform security is a top priority, implementing best practices and industry standards for data protection, anti-money laundering (AML), and know your customer (KYC) compliance.
• Drive continuous product improvements, responding quickly to market changes and customer feedback while maintaining regulatory compliance and security standards.
• Stay at the forefront of emerging trends in fintech, blockchain, and digital asset exchanges, driving the adoption of new technologies to improve platform capabilities.
• Conduct research and development on innovative solutions to enhance the exchange's capabilities, such as enhanced trading algorithms, risk management tools, and blockchain integrations.

Requirements

• Minimum of 10+ years of experience in product engineering roles, with at least 5+ years in a leadership capacity managing engineering teams and delivering complex financial systems.
• Proven track record of leading the development of broker-dealer trading systems platforms or similar complex financial systems, including quantitative trading systems, order book engines, and risk management systems.
• Strong understanding of cryptocurrency and digital asset markets, trading systems, and exchange architectures, with the ability to apply this knowledge to technical decision-making.
• Experience in building highly available, low-latency, and high-performance financial applications that meet stringent security and compliance requirements.
• Expertise in software architecture and engineering best practices, including microservices, APIs, and distributed systems design patterns.
• Hands-on experience with modern programming languages such as Ruby, Python, Go, Java, and C++, along with relevant tech stacks used in production environments.
• In-depth knowledge of cloud platforms including AWS, GCP, and Azure, as well as containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes for scalable deployments.
• Familiarity with blockchain technology fundamentals, cryptographic principles, and distributed ledger systems relevant to digital asset platforms.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment while managing multiple priorities and tight deadlines.
• Strong leadership skills with the ability to mentor, coach, and develop engineering talent, fostering a culture of learning and accountability.
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with experience working closely with product, design, security, legal, and operations teams.
• Commitment to maintaining the highest standards of security, compliance, and regulatory adherence in all engineering initiatives.
• Willingness to engage in hands-on technical work, including code reviews, architectural discussions, and troubleshooting critical production issues.
• Understanding of agile development methodologies and DevOps practices, with a focus on continuous delivery and operational excellence.

Practical notes

This role is based in Singapore and requires full-time on-site engagement. Travel may be required within the region as needed for business purposes. Employment is subject to visa requirements and eligibility, and candidates must meet all legal work authorization requirements for Singapore. The position is open immediately with an urgent start date, and the successful candidate is expected to integrate with the existing engineering organization without delay.