Technology Lead

Our client, a London-based fintech firm, is looking to hire a Head of Technology to lead the end-to-end technology strategy and execution for their operations in merchant acquiring (POS/SoftPOS, online) and card issuing (settlement and consumer cards).

Skills, Experience, Qualifications, If you have the right match for this opportunity, then make sure to apply today.

This senior hire will be responsible for driving scalable, compliant, and resilient technology platforms while managing vendor ecosystems and building high-performing engineering teams.

Responsibilities:

Technology Vision & Architecture

• Design, define and communicate the overall technology roadmap for acquiring and issuing operations.
• Oversee system architecture decisions across payment gateway, card issuing, mobile, and web platforms.
• Ensure scalability, resilience, and security across all systems.
• Evaluate and adopt emerging technologies that align with business goals.

Vendor Management & Delivery

• Lead vendor selection, negotiation, and management across SaaS, Cloud, and On-Prem providers.
• Oversee vendor implementation, integration, and successful delivery into production.
• Establish vendor performance metrics and ensure SLAs are consistently met.
• Manage relationships with payment schemes, regulators, and technology providers from technical perspective.

Scheme Certifications & Integrations

• Drive scheme certifications (Visa, Mastercard, and others) across acquiring and issuing flows.
• Oversee integration with local switches, processors and ensure compliance with their requirements.
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of scheme mandates, certifications, and implementation roadmaps.

Leadership & Team Development

• Build, mentor, and lead engineering and technology teams.
• Establish a culture of excellence, innovation, and accountability.

Security, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure full compliance with international regulatory standards.
• Oversee PCI DSS, PCI PIN and local data protection adherence.
• Oversee fraud prevention, risk management, and transaction monitoring in the technology flows.
• Partner with compliance teams to proactively address regulatory changes.

Operational Excellence

• Define SLA/SLOs, observability standards, and monitoring practices.
• Drive resilience planning, failover, and incident response readiness.
• Manage technology budgets, infrastructure capacity planning, and cost efficiency.

Product & Business Alignment

• Partner with product and business leaders to align technology capabilities with merchant and consumer needs.
• Support the roadmap for new payment products, services, and geographies.
• Provide technical insight to strategic business decisions, ensuring scalability and compliance.

Requirements:

• 5-10 years of technology leadership in fintech, payments, or merchant acquiring/issuing operations.
• Good understanding of gateway architecture, card issuing systems, scheme certifications, and settlement flows.
• Hands-on experience with local switch integrations and payment network connectivity.
• Proven track record in vendor selection, implementation, and delivery across SaaS, Cloud, and On-Prem.
• Strong knowledge of regulatory frameworks, PCI DSS, and PCI PIN.
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams in regulated environments.

For a discreet and confidential conversation, please do feel free to either PM me directly on LinkedIn, email me at s.burke@integerexecutivesearch.com, or call me on my direct line +353 1 697 8631