Interim Director of Engineering (6 month FTC)

We strongly encourage applications from people of colour, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, neurodivergent people, parents, carers, and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

If there’s anything we can do to accommodate your specific situation, please let us know.

About Cleo

Most people come to Cleo to do work that matters. Every day, we empower people to build a life beyond their next paycheck, building a beloved AI that enables you to forge your own path toward financial well-being.

Backed by some of the most well-known investors in tech, we’ve reached millions of people to support them throughout their financial lives, from their first paycheck to their first home and beyond. We're hitting headlines too. This year, Forbes named us as one of their Next Billion Dollar Startups, and we were crowned the 'Hottest Tech Scaleup' at the Europas.

Follow us on LinkedIn to keep up to date with new product features and insights from the team.

The role

Cleo is radically different from the norm and we’re looking for an engineering leader to guide and further develop our engineers across our cross functional product squads. You will be responsible for the engineering team’s delivery, management of our senior engineers and engineering managers as well as ensuring we rapidly create exceptional products for our customers. Whilst this is a hands-off role, you were previously an engineer yourself and you understand what it means to be an outstanding engineer in a product-focused tech company.

About You

We are in search of an exceptional Interim Director of Engineering on a 6 month FTC, who possesses outstanding people leadership skills and a keen understanding of fostering a culture of technical excellence. In addition to these qualities, you will:

• Demonstrate a deep understanding of what constitutes excellent product-focused engineering and showcase a track record of collaborating with peers in product, design, and data to deliver exceptional consumer products.
• Bring extensive experience working on consumer products, actively participating in the development process from an engineering perspective, and collaborating closely with cross-functional teams.
• Be an outstanding coach and mentor, driven by the desire to develop and support teams to achieve their maximum potential.
• Showcase a proven history of building high-performing teams and successfully managing software engineers and managers.
• Exhibit a commitment to promoting and celebrating team successes both internally and externally, contributing to the attraction and retention of top-tier talent.
• Possess excellent communication and people leadership skills, allowing you to serve as the voice of engineering while effectively conveying your strategic vision to your team.
• Embody a compassionate management style, adept at nurturing talent and maximizing team potential.
• Demonstrate a proactive "can-do" attitude, displaying a bias towards action and a continuous commitment to improvement.

What You’ll Be Doing

As the Interim Director of Engineering, you will collaborate closely with the VP of Technology to shape our engineering strategy, expand the engineering team, and foster an outstanding engineering culture. Additionally, you will:

• Collaborate with the technology leadership team and cross-functional partners in product, design, and data to build, manage, and retain a high-performing engineering team.
• Play a pivotal role in developing a compelling consumer-facing product, partnering with product, design, and data science teams to drive the Cleo product forward.
• Lead the evolution of our recruitment process, ensuring the ability to attract and source top-tier talent and streamline the onboarding process for engineers to thrive at Cleo quickly.
• Work collaboratively with engineering managers, tech leads, and agile coaches to drive continuous improvement within teams.
• Iterate and enhance our engineering principles to empower engineers in making informed trade-offs, allowing them to focus on delivering significant value to Cleo's customers.
• Foster a vibrant engineering culture that is high-performing, providing an environment where individuals can develop and excel in a high-trust setting.

What do you get for all your hard work?

• Flexibility: We treat you as humans first, employees second. Because we can’t fight for the world’s financial health, if we’re not healthy ourselves. This means all the usual perks but it also means flexibility. We take pride in being a flexible workplace that trusts our Cleople to deliver their best work, giving you the autonomy to structure your day around morning drop-offs to school or daily dog walks.
• Hybrid-first: We'd expect our team members to be in our London office 1-2 times a week, for collaboration with peers and engineering teams. On Thursdays, we buy you lunch but you can come to the office on whichever days work best for you!
• 6 month FTC pro-rata'ed salary of up to £160k.