Head of Technology: Spot

     Architecture and Technical Direction

• Own the end-to-end architecture across all Spot products: consumer app, wallet and card payments, MVNO and retail
• Define and evolve the technical roadmap in line with Spot's business strategy and Group Engineering direction
• Partner with Product to design scalable technical solutions, and turn requirements into technical designs and implementation plans
• Set and enforce standards for code quality, testing, documentation and design
• Evaluate and select tools, frameworks and platforms to improve delivery
• Record material architecture decisions and agree their expected outcomes with stakeholders
• Stay hands-on where it matters: design proofs, prototypes, code review, and direct contribution on complex or critical work

  AI Adoption and Enablement
• Drive an AI-first approach to how Spot builds and runs technology
• Set standards for safe and compliant AI use in engineering, in line with the Ignition Group AI policy
• Own the governed path from AI-assisted prototype to production-supported product, including guardrails and an architecture review gate
• Build AI capability across the engineering team and the wider Spot team

  Security, Compliance and Risk

• Own the design and operation of PCI DSS technical controls, and keep evidence ready for each assessment
• Embed secure development practices and run vulnerability management across the estate
• Maintain the technology risk register and drive mitigations to closure
• Work with the Group CISO, auditors and assessors on assessments, findings and remediation
• Lead technical incident response and post-incident reviews

  Platform Reliability, Performance and Cost
• Set and meet availability, performance and recovery targets for customer-facing and payment services
• Own AWS infrastructure: architecture, security, scalability, capacity planning and cost
• Understand and substantiate AWS cost per transaction against business outcomes
• Own Infrastructure as Code, CI/CD pipelines and automated testing
• Own monitoring, logging and alerting across the estate
• Design and regularly test disaster recovery

   Partners and Integrations

• Own the technical side of partner integrations, including card processing, banking and KYC partners
• Manage interface changes and certificate lifecycles with partners, so changes land without unplanned outage
• Monitor and test third-party dependencies for stability and performance
• Run technical due diligence on new vendors and partners
• Keep partner and vendor SLAs on track: monitor performance, fix Spot-side causes of breaches, and escalate vendor-side breaches to the relationship owner with evidence

   People Leadership
• Lead, develop and performance manage an engineering team of 10, mostly contractors
• Build technical ownership across the team, so knowledge and decisions do not depend on one person
• Manage team resourcing and the contractor/permanent mix within approved headcount, recommending new hires in line with the roadmap and budget
• Set clear objectives, run regular performance reviews, and provide technical coaching and career development
• Build a culture of ownership, collaboration and continuous improvement

   Business Alignment and Customer Outcomes

• Act as the technology voice in Spot business decisions
• Turn business strategy and OKRs into a prioritised technical roadmap
• Own the technical performance of customer-facing journeys (onboarding, activation, upgrade), working with Product
• Explain technical trade-offs, risks and outcomes clearly to non-technical stakeholders
• Represent Spot technology to Group Engineering and the wider Ignition Group

     Education

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or a related field, or equivalent experience

  Experience: Essential

• 8+ years in software engineering, including 3+ years in a senior technical leadership role (e.g. Tech Lead, Architect, Head of Engineering)
• Proven ownership of architecture across a multi-service, cloud-native production estate
• Strong AWS (or equivalent cloud) experience at production scale, including cost and capacity management
• Solid DevOps, CI/CD and observability background
• Current hands-on ability: credible code review, prototyping, and contribution to production code on complex or critical work
• Experience leading an engineering team, including contractors, while keeping technical ownership
• Experience driving AI adoption across an engineering team, not only personal use of AI tools
• Experience managing third-party technical integrations

  Experience: Advantageous
• PCI DSS or other regulated-environment experience, such as financial services
• Payments, fintech or card scheme experience
• Telco or mobile network (MVNO) experience
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams

   

  SKILLS AND CAPABILITIES
• Architecture for regulated payment platforms: designs secure, scalable multi-service architecture and balances technical debt, delivery speed and risk
• Cloud engineering and cost management (AWS): plans capacity and resilience, and manages cost per transaction as volumes grow
• Security and compliance engineering: applies PCI DSS controls, secure development practice, vulnerability management and incident response
• Engineering leadership: builds ownership and capability in a mixed contractor and permanent team through coaching, clear objectives and performance management
• AI-first engineering: introduces and governs AI tooling across the development lifecycle and measures its effect on delivery
• Technical communication and influence: explains trade-offs, risk and outcomes to non-technical executives and aligns Spot technology with Group direction
• Decision-making under uncertainty: decides with incomplete information and weighs risk against target outcomes
• Delivery and reliability management: plans delivery, manages cross-team dependencies, and runs incident and post-incident processes

   

  DIGITAL AND AI FLUENCY

  At Ignition Group, digital and AI fluency is not a nice-to-have — it is a core performance requirement for every role, at every level. As AI and automation reshape how work gets done, the ability to work confidently and responsibly alongside these tools is as fundamental as any technical or professional skill.

   

  What this means in practice:

• Digital fluency — navigating and using digital platforms, tools, and systems relevant to your role with confidence and competence
• AI tool adoption — actively using approved AI productivity tools (e.g., Microsoft Copilot) to improve the quality, accuracy, and efficiency of your work
• Data literacy — reading, interpreting, and applying data and AI-generated outputs to make better decisions, not replacing your judgement but sharpening it
• Automation awareness — recognising tasks and processes that can be improved through automation, and contributing to those improvements
• Learning agility — staying curious, upskilling continuously, and adapting as tools and practices evolve
• Responsible and ethical AI use — understanding data privacy obligations, the limits of AI-generated content, and applying sound human judgement at all times

How this is assessed:

Digital and AI Fluency is an important competency for all roles in Ignition Group and will be assessed as part of the hiring process. The expected proficiency level for each role is aligned to the requirements of the role.

Expected proficiency for this role: Advanced. The Head of Technology is expected to lead AI adoption, not only use AI tools: setting standards for safe AI use in engineering in line with the Ignition Group AI policy, running a governed path from prototype to production, and showing a measurable effect on how the team builds.